Send Off for Kevin Hutchison
Representing TFF, Puck and I traveled to Living Waters Fly Shop in Round Rock yesterday evening to join with approximately 20 other friends and acquaintances of Kevin Hutchison to wish him well in the next phase of his life. Kevin has been a fly fishing guide, mentor, and a mainstay of the fly fishing industry in Texas for the last 3 decades. He also has been a faithful member of the Texas Fly Fishers and has given copious amounts of his time and resources in helping our club and individual members develop skills in this sport that we love so much. He will be missed, but he promises not to be a stranger.
Kevin and his wife, Terri Couteau, will be relocating to Bull Shoals, Arkansas, where they will develop two other business ventures related to the fly fishing industry. They have spent the last year updating their residential property and remodeling a commercial building in “downtown” Bull Shoals. He also has future plans of guiding for small mouth bass in the many waterways of Arkansas. Kevin’s cell number, business name, and email address will remain the same.
We wish them Godspeed in this new life and endeavor.
Tom Strawther
From Kevin:
“Change is good….Kind of!
Grab a drink and settle in, this is going to be a long post.
As most of you know by now, I am moving to Arkansas and “retiring”. Since this has come out, I have been getting a lot of questions and I thought that this would be the best way to answer them so here goes.
As some of you know I purchased a house in Bull Shoals Arkansas a few years back with the intention of retiring there, that time has come. As far as the retirement part of this story that’s a bit misleading, I plan on taking a few months in the spring, learning the water and starting to guide for Smallmouths in the area. That being said, I will be cutting way back on the number of days I spend on the water. My main focus will my partnership with Textreme, the largest manufacturer of fly tying materials in Europe. I will step into the role of North American distributer. Along with my work with Textreme I will continue to rebuild and rebrand Tuffleye. As you can imagine, I will have my hands full!
One of the most asked questions is what’s going to happen to my guide business. I am happy to announce that Ryan Schaper, from “Go Outside Expeditions Co.” will be taking over my “Book”. I looked long and hard to find someone that would maintain the high quality of our trips and Ryan fits that requirement 100%. I would encourage all of my former customers to reach out to Ryan for all their guiding needs, I know you will be pleased with the quality of service he offers. He can be reached from his web site, http://www.gooutsideexpeditionco.com. I will retain the name, web site and phone number for Hill Country Flyfishers, restarting it in Arkansas this spring.
Another question I am asked is about the book, “Fly Fishing the Texas Hill Country”. Again, I’m pleased to announce that Chris Johnson and I have agreed to co-author the next edition. We have already had some very productive planning meetings and have come up with a game plan to bring you an updated and expanded edition that we know you will find as useful as the last one. We will keep you updated as things progress. After this next edition I will be stepping away from the book and Chris will take over. Just as Bud would have wanted, it will continue far into the future.
So, that should cover it. If any of you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. My E-Mail address and phone number will stay the same so I’m easy to reach. If you would like to join me one last time, Chris Johnson and Living Waters are hosting a going away party for me at the shop, Wednesday, December 6, 6:00pm-8:00pm.
In closing I would like to thank the entire Texas fly fishing community for the support that allowed me to make a living, doing what I love, for over 30 years. I have had the honor of teaching hundreds of you how to cast, tie your first fly, catch your first fish on a fly rod or just spend some amazing time with you in the beautiful Texas hill country. I will miss these times but it’s time for me to step aside and let the next crew take over. My only regret is that I can’t start it all over, it was a great ride and I thank all of you for that.”
GOOD MORNING TO ALL,
MY FLY FISHING ADVENTURES STARTED 21 YEARS AGO IN LA PORTE, TEXAS, WHEN I MADE A TRAFFIC STOP. THE GENTLEMAN THAT I STOPPED WAS I.D. WITH A TEXAS DRIVERS LICENSE, AS CARY MARCUS…. 🎉 TA DA..
AS I WAS TALKING TO CARY, I ASKED, WHAT KIND OF RODS ARE THESE. HE REPLIED, FLY RODS….
LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT WITHIN WEEKS I WOULD TAKING CASTING LESSON FROM HIM. WE STILL SEE EACH OTHER OFTEN AND OCCASIONALLY MAKE A FLY FISHING TRIP..🎣
WITH THIS BEING SAID, TO ME, FLY FISHING HAS INTRODUCED ME TO SOME OF THE FINEST PEOPLE I NOW KNOW AND MOST ARE CLOSE FRIENDS…. MY FLY FISHING MENTORS ARE …..
CARY MARCUS
KEVIN HUTCHISON
ANDY PACKMORE
LESTER LEHMAN
CHRIS PHILLIPS
BARRON BOYETTE
MARCOS ENRIQUE
CHUCK NAISER
J.T. VAN ZANDT
SCOTT NULL
ERIC GLASS
ERIC KRAIMER
MARK USYK
BRIAN LITTLE
I AM A LUCKY MAN….
THE ABOVE LIST ARE JUST A FEW OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TAUGHT ME THE JOY OF FLY FISHING AND FLY TYING.. THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING IS GROWING AND I AM SO BLESSED TO HAVE LEARNED, IT IS ALWAYS ABOUT THE SUNRISE AND BEAUTIFUL COLORS THAT OUR HEAVENLY FATHER GOD PROVIDED FOR EACH MORNING.
AS I REFLECT ON THIS TRAFFIC STOP, I CAN SAY THAT THIS SPORT OF FLY FISHING HAS MADE ME TO BE A BETTER PERSON,
TO ENJOY THE SUNRISE AND THE SUNSETS 🌅, TO PRACTICE CONSERVATION – C.P.R.. AND FINALLY IT HAS TAUGHT ME THAT NO ONE CANNOT BEAT KEVIN HUTCHISON HOMEMADE “HUMUS”…. O.M.G… THANK YOU KEVIN, YOU WILL BE GREATLY MISSED, AND THE TIME WE SPENT ON THE SAN MARCOS RIVER WILL BE FOREVER EMBEDDED IN MY MEMORIES…
TIGHT LINES MY FRIEND AND STAY SAFE,
CAPT. J
Tell him he should look up a friend of mine, Duane Hada. He is a legend as to smallmouth in AR and owns an art gallery in Yellville.
Thanks for all the great fly fishing trips with my family and TFF, your great power point presentations of all sorts of interesting fly fishing stuff, and your great fly tying demonstrations! All the best in your new venture and new home in AR.