CLAY HENRY: Trout are the star of the show at Gaston’s

Jim Gaston is smiling these days when he looks down to see the way Gaston’s White River Resort continues to delight guests.

It’s one of the crown jewels of Arkansas tourism. It has been since 1958 when his father sent Jim from Kansas to Arkansas to manage a six-cottage resort.

Jim’s grand son Clint has made some subtle changes since taking over 10 years ago. But it’s the same gorgeous thing that has attracted 100,000 tourists annually to the White River for the last seven decades. The Gaston family — with a fifth generation learning the ropes from Clint — continues to do amazing things for the state of Arkansas.

“It will be the 10th anniversary of my grandfather’s passing in a few weeks,” Clint said in the small office his grandfather occupied for almost 12 hours a day.

“So that’s my official anniversary (as owner).”

A wide view of the resort. / Gaston’s White River Resort

Unofficially, Clint, 35, was running things before that because of his grandfather’s poor health.

It helped that general manager Ron Branaman was a solid right hand for both Jim and Clint. Clint has best friend Jacob Hanson as GM now.

“Ron was our GM for 41 years, almost like a father for me,” Clint said. “I’ve known Jacob since high school.”

That Branaman was like a father makes sense. Clint spent more time at the resort than at home as a youngster. He did every job imaginable. He grew up there the way his sons are now, doing everything.

“I started as a kid out picking up cigarette butts,” Clint said. “What I really liked was working on the dock. I can remember catching sculpins and selling them to the guides as a young boy. I’ve taught my kids how to do that.

“I loved guiding. I did that for four years and built up some regular clients. But there came a time when I was needed elsewhere. It was tough when they would call for reservations and ask for me.”

Where was he needed? It could be anywhere on the 400 acres of the resort. He learned skills that would come in handy as a home builder. He knows how to pour concrete and service airplanes.

A wide view of the restaurant and boat dock. / Gaston’s White River Resort

His grandfather was a stunt pilot among other things. Clint is into flying, too.

Incredibly, he’s done everything needed to become a pilot near his office desk. He did his flight checks out of the 3,000-foot grass strip at Gaston’s.

This will blow away most. There have been over 10,000 air crafts on that grass strip annually. Some of them are Blackhawk helicopters from nearby air bases. It’s not unusual to see multiple Blackhawks parked on the landing strip as pilots break for lunch.

“It might be from training missions, but there are also times when a promotion or a retirement trip is made here,” Clint said. “It’s pretty cool when we get a fly over for a retirement.

“I grew up in aviation here and I’m excited to have my pilot’s license. To do it all here — all my checks — is really cool.”

It culminated in his first airplane purchase in the last month. Clint brought a bush plane to Gaston’s.

“It’s an Aviat Husky A1B with big tires and a lot of power,” Clint said of a plane perfect for a grass strip with short dimensions.

“I love the aviation part of what we can accommodate. It never gets old to see planes land and take off here.”

Ace Gaston, 5, sits in the pilot’s seat in Clint Gaston’s new Aviat Husky A1B bush plane. Ace’s dog Broski lays nearby. / Gaston’s White River Resort

Lots of cool things happen at Gaston’s, just four miles below Bull Shoals Dam. There are weddings, conventions and retreats for college football coaching staffs.

But mainly it’s about the trout fishing. As one of the Gaston’s Resorts radio ads says, trout are the star of the show. The White is a destination trout fishing river known world wide.

It doesn’t hurt that there is also a five-star restaurant. Executive chef Rick Gollinger has been rolling out gourmet meals at Gaston’s for 10 years. Anniversary dinners are his specialty. There is always a special touch and the river is on display through two stories of windows.

Gaston’s Resort hosts dozens of guided trout trips a day and it could be bait fishing or fly fishing. It’s a special place that attracts A-list celebrities.

Retired fly fishing guide Hank Wilson, Gaston’s lead man for four decades, wrote in his book on the White River about hosting Jack Nicholson for multiple trips before the movie star revealed his real name. Nicholson eventually hosted Wilson at Los Angeles Lakers games.

“Our guests might be movie stars or in the music business or politicians,” Gaston said. “We have a lot of pro athletes, too. Some of them use phony names and we don’t share them, but we recognize them. We know to let them be regular people.”

Country music star Luke Bryan visited the restaurant for lunch on a guide trip last summer and became a hit with the staff and guests.

“He led everyone in one of his hit songs during his lunch,” Clint said. “We were all excited.”

Justin Moore, an Arkansas country music artist, debuted an album at Gaston’s Resort with a concert.

Clint loves what he does, but bemoans the work load that has slowed one of his passions.

“I love to fish,” he said. “I just don’t get the time as much. I’m needed elsewhere. I do go in spurts but not enough. I might fish every day for a short while, then can’t go when we are (in peak occupancy).”

Gaston family with Trey, Clint, Cruze, Nicole and Ace / Gaston family photo

Wife Nicole helps him carve out some days on the river for their three sons; Trey, 14; Ace, 5, and Cruz, 3.

“Ace has gotten to the point he can bait his own hook,” Clint said. “I’ll take Ace and Cruz and run the boat while they fish. I count that as fishing for me, too. I might be able to throw a stick bait a few times while handling the boat and you never know when a trophy brown hits that.”

Clint Gaston driving the boat outside the resort / Gaston family photo

There are massive brown trout in the White River. Some are caught almost every day, but it’s large numbers of rainbows that fill out the limits for guests.

“That’s what is so great about our river, you are almost sure to catch fish,” Clint said. “Sure, you can come here and target big browns. But you can also bring kids here and they are going to catch something even on a slow day.

“I loved working the boat dock when the guide boats came in and you heard the stories. We have 15 to 20 boats out every day. I enjoyed cleaning fish. I could clean the fish for 15 boats in 10 minutes.”

Clint’s grandfather wasn’t a fisherman. But he was a major watchdog for the fishery. He was a big advocate for the Norfork National Fish Hatchery when it was targeted for closure during the days of President Ronald Reagan.

In 1973 Gov. Dale Bumpers appointed Jim Gaston to the first Arkansas State Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission. He was re-appointed at the conclusion of every term until he was made an emeritus commissioner.

“He was the first to be appointed and first to be named emeritus,” Clint said. “It was extremely important for him to meet with business men from around the state.”

The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission named Clint Gaston to a 14-member “stake holders advisory” committee to re-write the state’s trout management plan last winter.

“It was a chance to provide feedback to a government agency,” Clint said. “I hope the (AGFC) commission takes our feedback.”

Gaston praised AGFC lead trout biologist Christy Graham, officially Trout Management Program Coordinator.

“Christy did a great job with this committee,” he said. “I am especially pleased that we recommended a way of gathering more data on the river for future plans.”

Data is important in any project. Clint has the data on what his resort means to the community and knows the health of the river is every bit as important.

“We have 79 accommodations, anywhere from a hotel room to a 10 bedroom, 10 bath lodge,” he said. “We can easily have 250 to 300 here for a night. I can’t tell you exactly how many we have here in a year, but I’d make a conservative guess of 100,000 in a year.”

Looking at Gaston’s White River Resort. / Gaston family photo

How they find Gaston’s is diverse. Clint uses lots of marketing techniques. Everyone knows there are dozens of signs within a 200-mile radius of the resort, but Gaston has a strong belief in radio, too.

“We scatter eggs everywhere,” he said. “We push all things digital and are heavy with social media, but word of mouth is important. We buy print ads, too.

“But what ESPN Arkansas does for us is really important. (General manager) Tommy Craft has done a great job for us. His (live read) commercials are just awesome.

“We have seen lots of videos of families listening to Tommy’s commercials and the kids on the way to school tying to finish his signature line with him.

“That’s so cool when he says it’s a first class time … Every time. It’s really helped us.”

It’s all in that wonderful, long pause. That’s what you get when you spend a few days at Gaston’s Resort — plus maybe a monster 30-inch brown trout.