1998 Jackson Hole One Fly Event
Back to Jackson Hole
It was back to Jackson Hole for the 1998 One Fly, but
it seems that we brought the bad weather with us from Montana.
The first day, Saturday, was a gorgeous fall day except for the violent
late evening thunderstorm! The next morning a wall of muddy water
greeted the anglers as the river rose almost a foot on the upper
sections of the Snake and the canyon sections below the Hoback. This
left only the Wilson to South Park and South Park to the Hoback sections
of the Snake River clear. Farther down river the South Fork section
remained clear as Palisades Reservoir buffered the high water.
The Sunday water conditions added a special wrinkle to the event as each
team had at least one angler on the South Fork in clear water and
possibly only one angler in the clear sections of the Snake. Again as in
Montana, black Wooly Bugger style streamers worked best in the muddy
waters. Strong scores on the clear water Saturday and good Sunday South
Fork scores made the difference on who placed high.
Each One Fly event produces "firsts" and the 1998 event was no
different. It was the first time that two anglers, each fishing one day,
combined to receive the high point angler award. Peter Moyer set a high
point single day record (since the rules were changed to measure only 8
trout) on a size 18 Rusty Spinner, a daring feat in itself. On the
second day in the muddy water Moyer chose a California Leech to score
big again. Peter scored well the next day to end with a high score which
led The Boys to another One Fly team championship. At the awards
banquet, Moyer concluded that it was "dumb luck" not skill that earned
him the title. "The reason fishing is so much fun has nothing to do with
prowess," Moyer told the crowd of participants, "its just fun!"
The highest individual score was turned in by Mike Fitzgerald and Brad
Downey, each fished one day and scored a combined total of 1140 points.
Both used rubber chernobyl type hybrids to lead the Frontier Fly Fishers
to a third place finish in the team standing. Second place went to The
Homeboy's, a team sponsored by Columbia Sportswear. Team captain Dave
Robinson scored big to win the Top Gun award. Mike Lawson also scored
well to help The Homeboy's.
Two new awards were given to the top guides. Elden Berrett of Idaho
Falls, whose clients racked up 1744 points in two days was honored as
South Fork top guide and Gary "The Wedge" Willmott scored 1566 points to
become the Snake's best scoring guide.
Adam Cohen received the Carmichael Memorial Award as the guide of the
year and Mike Beckman won the Crosby-Carlsberg Award for sportsmanship.
1998 One Fly Event Winning Fly
The Rusty Spinner
The 1998 event was back at home on the Snake and South Fork. Peter Moyer
led a close group of anglers by catching an amazing 44 fish on a Rusty
Spinner. Day two allowed Brad Downey to score numerous points on a
Chernobyl Ant variation. Brad Downey's day two score combined with Mike
Fitzgerald score the day before to clinch the individual award. Peter
held on however to receive the highest point score for one person. It is
a tough decision between Brad's Chernobyl Ant and Peter's Rusty Spinner.
We called Peter's high point fly, the Rusty Spinner, the winner. |
