Tony Brooks

Tony Brooks has been reading water and casting flies for over 50 years — and if you ask him, he'll tell you he's still learning. That rare combination of deep experience and genuine humility is exactly what makes Tony one of the most effective and beloved fly fishing instructors in the Western North Carolina region.

An East Tennessee native, Tony has called Hendersonville, North Carolina home since 1999, where he lives with his wife Charlotte. Together they have raised a grown son and daughter, and now enjoy the added joy of a granddaughter — a family that, knowing Tony, has almost certainly been introduced to a fly rod at the earliest possible opportunity.

Tony's fly fishing roots run deep in the Southern Appalachians. He learned the sport on two of the region's most storied waters — the Davidson River in the Pisgah National Forest and Big Santeetlah Creek in Graham County, North Carolina — waters that have a way of instilling a lifelong reverence for the craft in anyone lucky enough to fish them young. From those mountain beginnings, fly fishing has carried Tony across the country, from the saltwater flats of Key West, Florida to some of the finest trout water the Southeast has to offer.

Tony holds the credential of Certified Casting Instructor through Fly Fishers International, a certification that reflects his technical mastery and his dedication to the teaching side of the sport. That dedication shows up in everything he does. He is an active member of Team Stonefly, a competitive fly fishing team, and demonstrated his competitive abilities as a participant (2016) and sector judge (2024) in the U.S. National Fly Fishing Championships. He is also a proud President and member of the French Broad Fly Fishers.

Guiding professionally since 2009, Tony approaches every outing with the same philosophy that has defined his angling life: fly fishing is simultaneously simple and endlessly complex, and there is always something new to discover on the water. One skill builds on another, and Tony finds deep satisfaction in passing that layered knowledge along — whether to a seasoned angler chasing their next breakthrough or a complete beginner picking up a fly rod for the very first time. On the water with Tony Brooks, you are never just fishing. You are learning, growing, and falling a little more in love with the sport.