Lower Mountain Fork River Foundation

ONE FLY

2008 ONE FLY EVENT       

One Fly 2008 Winners and Report
by:   Robert Woodruff
(One Fly Committee Chairman and Judge)

On Saturday, February 23, 2008, the Lower Mountain Fork River Foundation held it's fifth annual One Fly Event.  Twenty-nine anglers fished this years event, and a great time was had by all.  To keep everything honest, LMFRF President Sandy Maris, Board of Directors Member Mike Love and Advisory Board Member Rob Woodruff served as officials.

In order to simplify score keeping on the water, a new scoring system with lower point values was introduced.

First place went to Ken Smith, second place was Roy Mackey and Pat Waters took third.

Thanks to generous donations by Simms, Orvis, Templefork, Cortland, Rio, Fishpond, Three Rivers Fly Shop, Pine Meadow Cabins, Hochatown Country Lodge, Russell and Dana Willingham, Shady Oaks Restaurant and others, every participant received a prize.

Most importantly, the event raised $1,135 (when matched 3:1 becomes $4,540) to aid the LMFRF in improving and protecting the Trout fishery on the Lower Mountain Fork River.

Make your plans now to attend the 2009 One Fly Event!

Fear and Loathing at the One Fly
by:  David L. Vanderwerken (participant)

His name is Ken Smith and we are matched up as partners and he is fishing what he calls the mattress fly and he wins the damn thing.

Since Karen flew off to San Diego on Friday to hang with the daughter, I dropped Karen at Terminal D, and turned the 4Runner east on I-30 to Broken Bow to try my novice hand at the one fly tournament the next day, February 23, a fundraiser for the Lower Mountain Fork River Foundation. I needed to wet a line and forget about my 80 students for a weekend, at least. The entry fee was a modest $30.00, and the cause was certainly worthy for anyone who loves this Eastern Oklahoma trout fishery.

38 guys gathered at the Spillway Creek parking area by 7:00 a.m., showed the judges their killer fly, ate a donut, and made small talk. No women were part of the action, since—being significantly more intelligent than men—women were not going to fish in 32F weather. Good call. The head honcho then randomly paired off fishermen to referee each other, and so I met my new fishing-buddy-for-a-morning, Ken Smith from Denison, TX, where Ken operates a plastic salvage business. He had brought his adult son with him for a nice father-son weekend, but then Ken got saddled with me. One tidbit not on the information sheet concerned buying a mulligan for $20.00 whereby you could change flies once or tie on a second of your declared fly if lost. I jumped at that, figuring I would break my fly off anyway in fifteen minutes or less.

Ken wanted to know if I had a game plan:

“Well, I got into Broken Bow early enough yesterday to fish for a couple of hours, and I caught a few nice rainbows at the top of Spillway Creek.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ken says. “Let’s do it.”

“There might be fewer guys up there, too.”

And that was the case when we drove in below the dam. I suggested he fish the very first hole, which he did—for all five hours, catching fish after fish, totaling up 55 points, which I told Ken should be high score. It was, by four points.

His deadly one fly was his own creation, the “mattress fly,” so named because he found a mattress by the roadside, stopped, grabbed a handful of cotton stuffing, threaded a few strands around a size 14 hook, and voila—the Ken Smith Mattress Fly. Now, I’ve heard of fly tiers braking for road kill, but this was ridiculous. Once I saw how effective it was, my skepticism vanished. My choice for the morning was the beadhead Y2K, a conical green and orange piece of fluff created for and very attractive to the trout in the Arkansas White River. No one knows why this pattern works because it resembles nothing in nature. My own theory is that it emulates rainbow Berkley PowerBait, only without scent or taste. Since I used it on Friday during my practice round, I went with the Y2K in the competition. That afternoon, I learned how excellent the Y2K was on the Spillway Creek system. However, as a morning cold water and air fly, it was a total dud.

However, I did not completely disgrace the Fort Worth Fly Fishers; by noon, I had managed to accumulate10 points, thanks to my one 4-pointer rainbow, finishing 25th. Yes, 12 guys did worse, including several skunks. I also took a swim recovering my snagged fly, which took me out of action for an hour to fight hypothermia and change clothes at the truck. But I saved my fly, so I was still in the hunt. Even my drowned cell phone survived. I do wish my waders hadn’t shrunk. That wet wading at 32F is an idiot’s delight.

The afternoon warmed considerably and so had I. Ken, his son, and I went over to the new Lost Creek, part of the wonderful “Evening Hole” enhancement that a number of groups constructed collaboratively, where I proceeded to kill them. The worse my Y2K looked, the better it fished. 40 fish in 45 minutes. I know where I’ll fish the one fly next year. And maybe I had better invest in larger waders or Weight Watchers, one.

2009 ONE FLY EVENT

The LMFRF will host its sixth annual “One Fly” event on Saturday, February 28, 2009 from 7:00 a.m. until noon on the lower Mountain Fork River. The entry fee is $30 for those who pre-register and $35 for those who register on the day of the event.  All proceeds will go toward the conservation efforts of the Lower Mountain Fork River Foundation. Entries are non-refundable and can be accepted at any time. Event coordinators have the right to reschedule in the event of bad weather. The first 36 entries will receive a One Fly cap!

2009 ONE FLY REGISTRATION AND GUIDELINES