It's probably the most poetic scene witnessed in clear mountain waters. It's certainly one of cinema's most iconic moments. In the 1992 film A River Runs Through It, Brad Pitt, portraying Paul Maclean, walks a sun-dappled riverbed, casting to what author Norman Maclean described as "a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise."
Norman Maclean’s semi-autobiographical short story and its film chronicled fly fishing in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. But the Great Smoky Mountains have their own remarkable story. The national park tracks 800,000 anglers who visit annually to fish for brook, brown or rainbow trout in one of the last remaining wild trout habitats in the eastern United States.
And when they do, many of them look to the #5 guide service in the USA Today Top 10 BEST Fly Fishing Guides—R&R Fly Fishing—in Townsend, Tennessee. The 800-plus miles of wild trout streams in the national park are just minutes from the back door of veteran fly fishing guides, Ian and Charity Rutter.
Nominated by an expert panel and voted on by newspaper readers, the elite 10 national list recognizes “deep knowledge and experience, understanding of local waters, confidence-building teaching style, ability to coach anglers at all skill levels, and creating personalized trips with quality gear.” For almost 25 years, this East Tennessee husband-and-wife team has taken, taught and guided thousands of novice, earnest-but-still-learning and experienced anglers on the rivers and streams of the Smokies.
Many anglers, here in the States and visiting from abroad, rate the Smokies as a favorite place to cast a fly and find that trout in its waters, though less than a foot long, are scrappy fighters. Fortunately, East Tennessee weather extends the season. According to Ian and Charity’s Fishing Report & Blog, “First of all, fly fishing in the Smokies remains very good well into November. Every year, it seems like Thanksgiving week is when there seems to be a significant slowdown. That doesn’t mean fishing is bad, but it tends to go from very good to okay based on colder weather. Fishing will usually remain quite good as long as the weather remains mild. Mornings may not fish great, but afternoons usually fish really well.”
Ask any fly fisher. Along with river knowledge and expertise, compatibility and hospitality matter on a guided fishing trip. And as USA Today explains in their top 10 criteria, anglers seek out guides with “a knack for creating relaxed, personalized trips that stick with you long after the waders come off.” This accomplished guide team knows how to deliver that kind of exceptional experience. Catering to both individuals and groups, Ian explains, “We take you to water that best suits your capabilities. We mainly guide along roadside streams but are thrilled to hike into one of many locations if it suits you.” Charity adds, “People think they need to already know what to do, but we love to help people figure it out. We love to teach and create independent anglers.”
Together, they’ve written several books on fly fishing; the latest, released in 2024, was Fly Fishing Guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But Charity and Ian have individual achievements that make them sought-after experts in their field.
A native of Oklahoma, Charity met Ian in 1998 when she moved to Tennessee and took up fly fishing full-time shortly after. She is one of the few women who holds a guide permit in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A guide since 2002, she was recognized in 2014 by Field & Stream magazine as one of the top female fly fishing guides in the nation. In addition to leading guided trips with her husband, she leads women’s fly fishing and yoga camps. Charity volunteers for Trout Unlimited and serves as outreach coordinator, an AmeriCorps steward position, for Freshwater's Illustrated, educational storytelling on freshwater ecosystems, biodiversity, conservation and culture. She supports the nonprofit’s K-12 interactive curriculum [WaterTeachers.org] for the classroom. A professional graphic designer, she’s created graphics for the couple’s business, books and numerous other professional publications.
Ian, who has guided fly fishers since 1995, is equally comfortable fishing on the streams of the Smoky Mountains and the large tailwaters of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina and has logged many hours fly fishing in the Rocky Mountains. He is the author of Great Smoky Mountains National Park Angler’s Companion, Tennessee Trout Waters: Blue Ribbon Guide, and co-wrote Rise Rings and Rhododendron: Fly Fishing the Mountain Streams and Tailwaters of Southern Appalachia with Charity.
And to round out his creative pursuits, Ian is an accomplished artist, working in watercolors, graphite and charcoal, taking inspiration from the woods, waters and wildlife from his life as a guide. “I find watercolor an intriguing medium because I spend so much time around water fly fishing,” Ian explains. “It’s a tricky medium that can be difficult to control and has a mind of its own … a perfect medium to represent trout, which any angler knows, also have a mind of their own.”See his work at IanRutterArt.com.
Ian and Charity leave their home base in the Smokies to make regular trips to saltwater destinations like Florida and Belize for bonefish, tarpon, permit and redfish. They’ve also taken larger groups to Yellowstone National Park and Patagonia, Argentina.
In September, 2025, Ian and Charity led 18 fly fishers on their annual trip to West Yellowstone, Montana, where they fished with Ian’s and Charity’s own favorite guides from Big Sky Anglers. The group, whose anglers came from all over the country, included Knoxville City Lifestyle Publisher Marc Rochelson and Managing Editor Amy Campbell. The trip allowed them to check off a long-held wish on their own fly fishing bucket list. The group had the opportunity to sample waters such as the Madison River in Montana, the Henry’s Fork in Idaho, and enjoy great fishing and scenery inside Yellowstone National Park. Ian says, “West Yellowstone is an incredible place for trout fishing, located smack in the middle of so many quality rivers, streams and lakes. It sits at the junction of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, right at the western gateway to Yellowstone National Park.” Ian and Charity are leading a group again to Yellowstone this coming September.
This past February,Ian and Charity led a group of fly fishers to Patagonia for nine days of fishing across three lodges and hundreds of miles of landscape. Their online field journal records, “The variety of waters was incredible, ranging from impossibly small spring creeks to large rivers and a variety of lakes, both small and large. It was an incredible blend of scenery, beautiful trout, food, culture and new fishing methods.” They are making plans to return with another group in 2027. “The fishing was very similar to what we have here in the Smokies. The brook trout were a bit bigger than what we have at home, but relatively small for Argentina. Regardless, it’s a place I would love to see again, and we were right at home with the tactics.”
At the end of the day, why explore the art and sport of fly fishing? Charity has a ready response.
“You become completely connected with nature … Senses come more alive and notice more … things moving in the water, where bugs are moving on the surface; how to imitate them. You have to be really aware and tuned in. It’s a mental escape from everything in your everyday life. You hear things in the woods … notice the birds overhead. You have to see where the fish settle.”
Ian sums it up simply, “We have chosen to spend our lives fly fishing and invite you to come join us on the water.”
For more information, visit RandRFlyFishing.com.