2005 Jackson Hole One Fly Event
Bonehead Conspiracy earns
first-ever back-to-back team title; Allen repeats as top guide
By Michael Pearlman
There was no
sight more welcome to anglers and guides participating in the 20th
annual Jackson Hole One Fly than the mayfly hatch that took place on
Saturday.
After enduring
cold, rainy weather and slow fishing in the morning, the spectacular
afternoon hatch included mayflys of various sizes, bringing big fish
to the surface and helping anglers accumulate some of the highest
single-day scores of the weekend.
“We were down
right about Elbow campground and the river was literally boiling,”
said veteran guide Scott Hocking of Teton Troutfitters. “It was
going on for as far as you could see – one of those fantastic
moments to be on the water. It wasn’t accompanied by wind, and all
those magic things lined up and it was amazing to be out there right
then. It leaves you grinning, especially when you’ve been wearing
everything you own to stay warm.”
Hocking was
honored with the Carmichael-Cohen memorial guide award at Sunday
night’s banquet. Along with Tom Coy and Phil Steck, Hocking has
guided in every One Fly competition held in Jackson Hole since the
first competition in 1986. Also receiving awards for their long-term
commitment to the event were Stan Chatham and Tom Chrystie, who have
competed in the One Fly every year.
Sponsorships,
entry fees and an auction held during the One Fly raises
approximately $100,000 annually for stream improvement projects in
the Snake River drainage. Those funds are matched by the nonprofit
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and together nearly $1
million was raised in 2004. Last year, the One Fly Capital
Foundation awarded $50,000 for the rehabilitation of Flat Creek,
while past projects have included funding of the Willow Creek pack
bridge, constuction of restrooms at the Pritchard Creek boat launch
and restoration of tributaries along the South Fork of the Snake.
For the second
year in a row, the talent-laden Bonehead Conspiracy team took home
the team title, amassing a two-day total of 2,550 points to defeat
the Royal Wulffs, who finished with 2,298 points. Team member Mike
Lawson was the first place pro angler, finishing with a two-day
total of 637 points while team member Larry Bashford raked in 640
points on Saturday on the Moose to Wilson stretch of the Snake with
guide Trey Scharp.
Bashford said
his success could be attributed to “Having the good guide, on the
right stretch on the good day.”
It probably
didn’t hurt that team member Jimmy Gabetas’ fly, the famous Jimmy Z,
was the fly of the year. Gabetas’s size 10 Turck Tarantula featured
speckled legs and was used by all the competitors who fished with
guide Boots Allen on the Moose to Wilson stretch. Allen’s boats
earned a two-day total of 1,765 points to give him top guide honors
for the second year in a row.
“It’s these
center runs on the Snake that are the hot sections,” said Allen.
The
invitation-only event features 40 teams of four fishing 12 river
sections stretching from Jackson Lake Dam to the South Fork of the
Snake in Idaho. During the competition, participants select and use
one fly each day. If that fly is lost or destroyed, competitors must
retire from the day’s competition. Points are awarded according to
the size and number of fish caught.
Steve Peet of
New Canaan, Conn., was the first place amateur angler, scoring 329
points on Saturday with a Parachute Adams and 500 points on Sunday
with a stonefly nymph, contributing 829 points to his team, the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Drifters. On Sunday, Peet also
reeled in the two largest trout caught in the competition, a 21 1/4
and 21” cutthroat on the South Fork of the Snake River, a section
that traditionally holds some of the largest fish caught in the
competition.
“It was the
fattest cutthroat I’ve ever seen,” Peet said. “I wanted to use a
Parachute Adams and he convinced me to use a stonefly nymph. He was
right.”
Other anglers
who scored over 600 points on Saturday were valley physician Mike
Menolascino, who had 621 points for the Royal Wulffs and Bob
Williamson, who led all competitors with 713 points on the lower
section of the South Fork of the Snake.
“If you had
the right fly, you slayed them on Saturday,” said guide Jason
Balogh, who was working the Moose to Wilson stretch. In his first
year as a One Fly guide, Balogh managed to rescue one client’s fly
from a tree after instructing the angler to toss his rod onto the
bank after he’d played out nearly his entire line. The angler
bounced back a short time later and landed an 18 inch fish.
Hocking said
that his long term involvement with the One Fly has allowed him to
be exposed to different fishing styles from all over the country,
and pointed to the new toilets at Pritchard boat launch as an
example of the improvements generated by grants awarded by the One
Fly Capital Foundation.
“I’ve enjoyed
being able to fish with people from around the country and around
the world,” Hocking said. “They bring different ways of fishing and
techniques they’ve learned somewhere else, and some portion of that
is going to be applicable. As a guide it’s great to have that kind
of experience.”
In discussions
about overall fishing conditions on the Snake this summer, there was
nearly unanimous agreement that fishing has been excellent.
“This is the
best year I’ve seen in 33 years,” said Steck. “It started early and
water’s been low, clear and stable for the entire summer. We thank
the Bureau of Reclamation for considering us in their water
management plan.”
Third place
amateur Henry Clement of the Frontier Flyfishers team said fishing
conditions were the best he’d experienced in the three One Fly
competitions he’s entered since 2001.
“Besides, if worst comes to
worst, you look at the mountains,” Clements said with a grin.
The article is reprinted
with the permission of the
Jackson Hole News and Guide
2005 One Fly Event Winning Fly
The BSF
 This
is another variation of the Chernobyl which Bob Williamson had been
attempting to tie and tweak for five years. The idea was born while
fishing in the 1998 One Fly on the South Fork with guide Darren
Puetz. Bob was having a good morning using Donna’s Chernobyl
variation. When they stopped to net and then release a cutthroat,
Darren took the time to dig in the gravel for a stonefly to
demonstrate what these trout really think the Chernobyl is.
Bob
says, “The first creation of this bug was quite ugly, yet it caught
over 100 trout before I retired it. I simply looked at the bottom of
a stonefly shuck picked off a rock on the shore of the Snake and
tried to make the fly look like that from underneath.” The palmered
hackle on the fly is from a suggestion that Paul Bruun once made
stating that it needed something underneath to make it more “buggy.”
When occasionally asked what the fly was named, he said it is just
Bob’s Stonefly, which doesn’t have much of a ring to it. So this
year it was dubbed the “BSF”. |
