IAN RUTTER

IAN RUTTER lives in Townsend, Tennessee, on the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He started guiding fly fishers full time in 1995 after graduating from the University of Tennessee where he majored in botany and minored in zoology, and along with his wife Charity has owned and operated R&R Fly Fishing since 2003. Ian has been involved with conservation since he was in college. He started sampling streams in remote locations for an acid deposition study in 1994 and continued to do so for many years. The national park continues the study and it has been instrumental in measuring water quality and sources of pollution. Ian has been very involved with wild native brook trout restoration in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including helping to backpack fish into the backcountry in support of restoration. Ian is also a prolific writer and has written six books including his most recent, Fly Fishing Guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which he wrote with his wife. Ian is an accomplished artist who draws and paints fish and wildlife. His primary medium is watercolor and his subjects are taken from his experiences on the water and in the woods. Ian can be reached at Info@NativeFishCoalition.org