Hello fellow anglers, my name is Chad Johnson, born in Mississippi in 1973, with rod in hand. I spent the next 32 years in Crystal Springs. My dad was an angler & raised me just a 4-wheeler ride away from two great warm water fisheries, where we spent most of our time fishing for Catfish, Bass, & Blue Gill but never with the passion that I have found in fly fishing.
I began coming to the White River area for the first time in the spring of 2003 to fish for trout and small mouth bass. That's all it took to get me hooked and I begin making as many trips as possible to fish the area. Sometimes getting sidetracked fly fishing for Redfish on the coast but was always drawn back to the White River area.
In 2006, I decided trips were not enough; I sold my house, left my business and moved to the White River Area to pursue a career in fly fishing. Not long after making the move I joined my new fly fishing family at Mtn. River Fly Shop in Cotter AR, which is now known as Dally’s Ozark Fly Fishers. They began letting me cut my teeth on guide trips with kids to Dry Run creek and teaching them the fun of fly fishing. I soon bought a Drift boat & began guiding on the White & Norfork Rivers in 2007. In the summer of 2007, I found myself guiding at the Rocky River Lodge in Port Graham, Alaska for Salmon & Dollies season & again in 2010. Meanwhile, I worked the rest of the year at Dally’s Ozark Fly Fishers and guiding part time. Over the last couple of years, I have found myself so busy with guiding that I have not been able to work in the Fly shop full time. I am now finding myself overwhelmed with the pursuit for big fish on big flies. I guess the bottom line is there’s no better place to be than in the boat with a customer sharing this sport. I love my job!
I had no idea that my move from Mississippi would land me on such a fast track to such an awesome fly fishing career. Now being an ambassador for Simms Fly Fishing and being picked up as a Rio ambassador and being picked as a Fly Designer for Umpqua Feather Merchants, this move has been the best thing that has happen to my wife, Tiffany, and I in the last few years. Thanks to all of the support of the fly heads out there.
