Wilson Took Unusual Route to Guiding

LAKEVIEW — The first time John Wilson came to Gaston’s Resort, he didn’t know it was located on the White River, and he had no clue there were trout swimming anywhere in Arkansas.

“My grandparents held a family reunion at Gaston’s,” said Wilson, who was about 16 years old at the time. “I remember watching Jim Gaston put on an air show.”

Wilson grew up in San Angelo, Texas, and he was interested in flying. After Gaston flew his plane through a series of loops and dives above the resort’s grass runway, Wilson remembers somebody mentioning “the river.”

“I hadn’t seen the river,” Wilson said. “It was one of those days where the fog was thick over the water. I was interested in the air show, so I didn’t even think about it. Finally I said, what river are you talking about?”

The White River and trout fishing is almost all John Wilson thinks about now. In some areas, he knows every boulder, log and riffle. Wilson has always been interested in fishing. But over the past three years, the life-altering combination of divorce and career change have led him to work on the White River as a trout fishing guide.

“When I was in the construction business, I never had anybody call and say, we’re so glad you finished the job on time and within the budget, we’re just going to give you some more money.” Wilson said. “Now, something like that happens all the time.”

Wilson has become a prominent figure in Arkansas’ growing trout fishing industry — a sector that saw the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission sell a record 165,928 trout permits in 2004 (at $5 each or $829,640 total).

So 29.5 percent of the 561,683 anglers who bought Arkansas fishing licenses last year also bought the trout stamps.

By comparison, only 41,886 Arkansas trout permits were purchased in 1971 in addition to regular licenses. That equates to about 6.3 percent of the 660,205 total licenses sold that year.

Sporting Obsession

Although introduced to fly fishing at an early age by his father, only in the past 10 years has Wilson, 42, become immersed in the sport.

Wilson became familiar with the Ozarks as a child. His grandparents owned a farm on Illinois Bayou and Wilson enjoyed spending time there during the summer. That led him to college at Arkansas Tech in Russellville.

Upon graduation, Wilson managed a construction company doing military base restoration work. His spare time was often spent volunteering for various civic causes in Russellville, like Boys and Girls Club and United Way.

Around 1990, Wilson and his father took their first guided fly-fishing trip in Arkansas.

Wilson’s dad hired Duane Hada, a well-known Arkansas fly fisherman and guide who was then working at The Woodsman, a sporting goods store in Fort Smith.

“I thought I knew how to fly fish,” Wilson said. “But I found out I really didn’t know anything, especially about these waters in Arkansas.”

Wilson became obsessed with the sport — at all levels. The friendship with Hada led to them teaming with an accomplished European angler, Davy Wotton, to coach the U.S. team to a silver medal at the 1998 World Youth Championships in Wales. (Wotton has since moved to Arkansas.)

International fly fishing competition has a long history in Europe, but competitive fly fishing overall and success, in particular, are foreign to the U.S.

Wilson fished as part of a U.S. team that finished seventh in the world in Spain in 2003. Last year, Wilson qualified for ESPN’s Great Outdoor Games fly fishing competition, where he finished fourth overall after setting a record in the casting distance and casting accuracy event. It was last summer also when Wilson became certified as a master casting instructor — he’s one of only 100 in the U.S.

Creating Enjoyment

If there were such thing as a “typical fishing guide,” Wilson wouldn’t be a candidate.

“I don’t know many fishing guides that have to stop by the dry cleaners to pick up their pressed shirts on the way home from the river,” laughed Dale Fulton, who owns Blue Ribbon Flies in Mountain Home.

Fulton worked for 20 years as a guide and outfitter in Colorado and Montana. Between Wilson hanging out in his fly shop and Fulton booking Wilson for his guide service, Fulton has observed Wilson’s obsession with the sport.

“John is an incredibly quick study,” said Fulton, adding with a smile, “He can discuss any subject, from classical music to castrating horses. He’s got an incredible range of knowledge.

“Seriously, one thing I envy about him is the speed that he can pick things up. To rise like he has to the top of the heap of those guys that compete in the distance casting events is impressive. There’s only a handful of people in the country that can do that. I sure couldn’t compete at that level.”

Fulton, only half-kidding, describes guiding as “in a lot of ways, one of the most wretched jobs you can have.” He wonders how long Wilson can remain so enthusiastic about the work. But there is no doubting his enthusiasm now.

“I wanted some quality of life,” said Wilson. “When you’re in the construction business, you’re creating something on a daily basis, and I like that. But now what I’m creating is enjoyment. To me, there’s nothing more enjoyable that helping someone catch a fish or have the experience of a lifetime.”

It costs $400 a day to hire Wilson as a guide. That’s at the top end of the daily rate for fly fishing guides in the Ozarks.

With the ESPN experience in 2004 and appearances on other fly-fishing TV shows, Wilson has become relatively well-known. If nothing else, the chance to spend some time learning from a certified master-casting instructor has an appeal. Almost every angler knows that improved casting equates to catching more fish.

“A lot of time someone will book me and say they want to fish for four hours, then get a full casting lesson,” Wilson said. “But they almost always end up fishing all day. If you can learn something new and catch a big fish at the same time, that’s a quality experience.

“I think this White River system is incredible. And there’s nothing more enjoyable to me than putting someone on the fish of a lifetime.”

Wilson may be reached through his Web site at www.flyfishingarkansas.com.

Wilson, Fly-Fishing Attract Droves to ASUMH Campus

MOUNTAIN HOME — The more the phone rang, the more obvious it became there was a crisis on the Arkansas State University-Mountain Home campus. With the idea of offering a hands-on fly fishing class, modeled after a successful program at Penn State University, vice chancellor Mick Spaulding and fly-fishing guide John Wilson hoped to attract 15 to 25 people with their first effort. It was called “Fly Fishing A—Z”. For the $50 enrollment fee, it offered 11 Tuesday evenings of instruction by Wilson that covered all the basics of the sport — from fly-tying to reading water.

Flyers handed out around town and publicity in various fly shops and tackle stores led to a feature story in the Mountain Home newspaper, The Baxter Bulletin.

That’s when the crisis occurred. The idea of a hands-on class for 15 to 25 disappeared quickly. When enrollment surpassed the capacity of the 123-seat McMullen Hall auditorium, some decisions had to be made.

After initially closing enrollment, Spaulding secured Wilson’s services and use of the auditorium on Wednesdays as well. Official enrollment in “Fly Fishing A-Z” is 165. The class began Feb. 15 and concludes April 27.

“It’s the largest continuing education course in the history of ASU-Mountain Home,” Spaulding said]. “The class has definitely raised awareness about the interest for something like this in the community.”

ASU-Mountain Home is a two-year school that moved from an old location downtown to a new campus on the west side of Mountain Home six years ago. Its enrollment is about 1,650, according to Spaulding.

Spaulding, an avid fly fisherman, was working in administration at a small college in Fayette, Mo., when he hired Wilson as a guide a few years ago. When Spaulding came to Mountain Home as a vice chancellor, they began talking about offering a course on fly fishing.

Obviously, it was a good idea. Spaulding isn’t promising anything yet, but the interest in this first course has at least sparked an investigation into offering more fly fishing courses at the college in the future. The ultimate goal would be a series of courses modeled after the for-credit program at Penn State.

“That’s down the road,” Spaulding said. “But at least we are certain the interest is there.”

Most of the students in the fly fishing class are adults from the Mountain Home area. They include several local fishing guides who are obviously accomplished trout anglers but are unfamiliar with fly fishing techniques. The class has also attracted people from as far as the Springdale/Fayetteville area, southern Missouri and Little Rock.

(Steve Wright is a freelance writer in Fayetteville. He is the author of “Ozark Trout Tales” and co-author of “The Arkansas Duck Hunters Almanac.”)