“Fly Fishing is an interactive game with nature that will take you to beautiful destinations you would otherwise not see.” Matt Canter’s description of the sport he loves comes amid a career that has taken him wading and floating along countless waterways in N.C. but also to other parts of the U.S. and far beyond.
TWO AREA LOCATIONS When working, Canter travels between Brookings Anglers’ two locations as well as to fishing destinations throughout the mountain region. “The Cashiers shop was founded first, in 1988,” Canter explains. The charming cottage on Highlands’ Spring Street has been in operation for about seven years. With the tagline, “Where trout and happiness collide,” Brookings is a premier outfitter and fly shop with a well- known reputation for expertise and excellence within the industry. “Their guide staff is second to none,” Trout Unlimited published in a 2020 profile. “Fish with the folks from Brookings Anglers, and not only will you catch fish, but you’ll walk away a better fly angler and have stomach cramps from laughing all day.” Brookings offers fishing gear and two types of local, guided excursions: wade and float trips. Prices for wade trips range from $250 for a half day/one person to $500 for a full day/two or more people. Float trips for trout begin at $550 for a full day hosting one or two anglers. For those who want maximum solitude (and usually above average-sized fish), Brookings offers experiences on private waterways, thanks to agreements it has established with landowners. Fishing the private waters will cost from $300 (one person, half day) and $700 (two people, full day) and up. Want to go to school? Full-day fly-fishing schools held year round for private parties, are a wonderful way to learn the basics. “Fall to spring is the best time to learn,” Canter says. “Just get on a river and you’ll have room. And you don’t have to worry about the trees.”
Some of his favorite stories have happened close to home. There was the time he helped pull, push and carry 350 pounds of gear five miles into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park wilderness. The April weather presented a thunderstorm and snow. But the fishing was “downright amazing.” The High Point, N.C. native grew up fishing the waterways from the state’s mountains to its coast. He began fly fishing for bluegills and largemouth bass at age 11 and caught his first brown trout in a Western N.C. creek when he was 12, starting what would become a lifelong “addiction.” Canter migrated from High Point to attend Western Carolina University in Cullowhee (about 30 miles from Highlands) – and the journey proved to be life changing. Not only did he meet his future wife Natalie there, but he also spent as much time as he could on the area’s rivers. When he wasn’t in a classroom or on the water, he was tying flies. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in parks and recreation with a focus on outdoor leadership, Canter began working for Brookings Anglers as a full-time guide. He and Natalie had settled in nearby Brevard when a dream opportunity for Canter surfaced: to manage the Brookings shop. A decade or so later, Canter became majority owner in the business. “My wife deserves a lot of credit for supporting my dreams in the fly-fishing industry and putting up with the ongoing holiday and weekend workdays that the career requires,” he says. Today, the couple enjoy spending time in the outdoors with their children Emery, 12, and Tripp, 8. The family camps, hunts, hikes and – of course – fishes together.
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