Tom Rueping

Tom Rueping has cast a fly on some of the most extraordinary waters on the planet. From the wild rivers of Alaska to the saltwater flats of the Bahamas, the Rocky Mountain West to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, and deep into Mexico and beyond — Tom is a true global angler whose pursuit of fish across vastly different environments has given him a breadth of experience that few instructors can match.

Tom holds the distinction of Fly Fishers International Master Certified Casting Instructor, the pinnacle credential in fly casting education, and his peers have taken notice. The FFI Southeastern Council nominated Tom for Instructor of the Year in 2014, recognizing his remarkable success in training and developing other casters. Two years later, the FFI nominated him for Mentor of the Year in 2016 — an honor driven by his exceptional rate of candidates successfully passing their Certified Instructor and Master Certified Instructor exams under his guidance.

That gift expresses itself in a casting style that longtime students and fellow instructors describe as exceptionally smooth — a caster whose loops and timing seem to make the whole thing look effortless, and whose ability to break down the mechanics behind that effortlessness is equally impressive. Everyone who steps into a lesson with Tom comes away enriched, regardless of where they started.

Tom serves as the Casting Instructor Certification Program Coordinator for the FFI Southeastern Council, a leadership role that includes coordinating testing events and instructor gatherings. He is also the lead instructor for fly fishing courses at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, an instructor at the Atlanta Fly Fishing School, and an Assistant Program Lead for the Chattanooga Project Healing Waters program — where he brings the same rigorous, patient instruction to veterans that he brings to his most advanced casting students.

A past President of the Appalachian Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Tom's commitment to conservation is as deep as his commitment to teaching. Whether he is coordinating a certification exam, guiding a veteran to their first trout, or helping a struggling caster finally find their loop, Tom brings the same steady, generous, and enriching presence to everything he does.