Fishing Opportunities for the Adventurous

Duane Hada presents "Fishing opportunities for the adventurous angler:  small creeks, overlooked waters, and a variety of species" at our June  1st meeting.



Member Meeting at El Chico's Restaurant, Mountain Home
Social Hour 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.  Meeting starts at 7:00

Buffet menu (around $12) varies each month or you can order off the menu. Cash bar.

 

 

 

Duane Hada brings a unique, aesthetic appreciation to the sport of angling. Duane credits his life-long passion as artist and angler to being raised close to nature in the rural Ozarks’ Buffalo River country. Growing up surrounded by some of God’s greatest handiwork fuels the creative inspiration that has blended beautifully into a career as both angler and artist. 

 

Rivertown Gallery, Duane’s studio and guide service, is located in Mountain Home, Arkansas. When asked about his vocation, he’ll quickly tell you some days he’s an artist who guides, and some days he’s a guide who paints. Either way, his clients cherish another memory of a great day spent on the water. 

 

Duane holds a BSE in Art from the University of Central Arkansas. He has also received certification from the Federation of Fly Fishers as an instructor. He has taught numerous courses and workshops at local colleges and universities in fly fishing and art. Duane is a guest instructor at the University of Arkansas Winthrop Rockefeller Institute.  His various slide presentation programs are popular with fly fishing clubs and conservation organizations.

 

Duane’s recognition as both artist and angler has been honored with numerous awards and accolades, locally as well as nationally. He is a member of the Mid-South Watercolor Society.  His art has graced trout stamp designs, wildlife calendars, and trout regulation manuals.  A very prolific artist, Duane’s originals adorn banks, famous trout and saltwater lodges as well as many private homes and offices.  His highly sought after art has helped raise funds for FFF, Trout Unlimited,  Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, St. Jude Hooked on a Cure, and numerous other conservation groups and organizations. He is the illustrator for Ozark Trout Tales, Home Waters, Somebody’s Gotta Do It; and created the popular 2005 Arkansas Game & Fish Foundation license plate with a White River rainbow trout scene.  Duane is an Umqua fly pattern designer as well as a design artist for Columbia Sportswear.   His angling peers have honored him with the first fly-rod Master Angler Award from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in 1989. He received the Silver Medal for the coaching the US Youth fly fishing team in the FIPS Mouche International Fly Fishing Competition in Wales. Duane’s art and fly fishing has allowed him to travel and experience many of the great angling destinations of the world.  His combination fly fishing/painting travels have included Christmas Island, Ireland, Wales, Western and Eastern Canadian wilderness, throughout the Caribbean as well as western United States and Alaska.  This firsthand knowledge and on location research allows Duane to captures the true essence of the experience. 

 

Duane’s clients are often eager to have their outdoor adventures memorialized by him. His sketches, acrylics or watercolors frequently become prize possessions as souvenirs for his angling friends. Upon receiving his recently finished flats scene, one client stated: “I may never own a Homer, but I’ve got a Hada.” No matter where his travels may take him, Duane’s first and deepest love is the quiet gentle beauty of his Ozarks.  “The greens, the river mist, the bluffs, the layered hills and valleys, springs leading to rivers are a never ending path and journey that I love and learn from every day.  God has blessed me with a talent that I wake up every morning and pursue.  Whether I’m in the studio, canoeing the river, or driving the back roads, my mind and soul constantly work as a creative engine ever mindful and thankful of what my place is in His great plan.”  Duane lives with his wife Marlene and daughter MeKenzie near his loved Buffalo River a place he never tires of painting and loving.

 

 When you see Duane streamside staring into the water mesmerized by the sight of a wild finny creature suspended over a kaleidoscope palette of swaying rock and moss, he’s just contemplating whether to reach for the rod or the brush, or hopefully both.

 

“I am an artist”