Document text
MT file photo Dr. Jim Hall of Medford, a local fly-fisherman and author, was one of 38 anglers to take part in Oregon Trout's Rogue River Steelhead Single Fly fishing derby on the upper Rogue River. Flying in face of logic made this pair winners in first single fly competition By MARK FREEMAN Bob Johnson and Gary Enoch were not about to let the pressures of competing in a special one-fly fishing tournament change how they attack the upper Rogue River's summer steelhead. Conventional wisdom said to fish conservatively so you don't lose your fly and knock yourself out of the tournament. "We decided the hell with it," says Johnson, a 49-year-old Ashland real estate salesman. "We're going to fish the way we normally would and when the fly is gone, it's gone." This stiff-arming of conservative angling turned Johnson and Enoch into the winners of Oregon Trout's inaugural "Rogue River Steelhead Single Fly" fishing competition Sept. 26. Other anglers used heavy leader and steered clear of snags so they would not lose their one artificial fly and knock themselves out of this unusual fly-fishing fund-raiser. But Johnson and Enoch stuck with tying their heavy flies on light leader and casting them into snag-laden waters. The result was Johnson landed three steelhead together totaling 70 inches, far and away enough to sweep top honors in the special fund-raising event. It was the best single day of steelhead fly-fishing Johnson has experienced on the Rogue. And it almost didn't happen, had Enoch not rescued Johnson's fly barely 30 minutes into the all-day fishing tournament. The catches earned Johnson the tournament's grand prize of a copper steelhead wall hanging he will keep for a year. It will be a traveling trophy for each future single-fly derby winner, but Johnson's name will always remain as the trophy's first winner. Enoch, a Grants Pass guide, also won the guide's top prize -- a collection of donated fly-fishing and camping equipment. "We just fished aggressively, and it really paid off," Johnson says. The tournament also proved a nice pay-off for Oregon Trout, which turned to this steelhead version of a trout-fishing tournament as a unique and fun way to raise money. Nineteen two-person teams fished in the derby, whose participants caught just 16 steelhead but raised between $15,000 and $17,000 in entry fees and a post-derby auction. The money will help fund Oregon Trout activities in southwest Oregon, which include projects that help native fish habitat as well as a popular Salmon Watch environmental education program in local schools. The Rogue River Steelhead Single Fly event is a steelhead version of a so-called "One Fly" trout event held in Wyoming since the 1980s. But Jackson Hole, Wyo., fly-fisherman Jack Dennis owns the rights to the term "One Fly," so this imitation is called the single fly. Teams of two anglers fitted with a single fly fish all day, or until they lose their fly. All steelhead over 16 inches that get caught are measured and released, with anglers penalized for releasing dead or dying fish. Lose your fly, and you're out -- and that makes Phil Paden's day stand out. Paden landed honors of fishing the biggest fly and earning the fastest exit. The Medford ophthalmologist fished a 4-inch-long marabou leech-like fly called the Popsicle. "I wanted a fly that could not be ignored," Paden says. Unfortunately, it wasn't. On Paden's first cast of the day, a chinook salmon -- a fish off-limits to fall fly-fishers on the upper Rogue -- took a liking to the Popsicle and gave it a lick. The hooked chinook ran downstream, with Paden tying in vain, somehow, to stop it and get his fly back. "It became apparent I'd be there forever trying to get that fly back," Paden says. "And I'm not a patient man." So Paden did the fly-anglers' surrender. He pointed his fly rod tip toward the salmon, held the reel spool taut and let the fish break the leader and swim away with his fly -- leaving Paden the infamy of the first man to lose a fly in the first-ever steelhead competition of this kind. "And proud of it," Paden says. On the opposite side of the spectrum sat E.G. Eilertson, who joined guide Dave Teitzel in perhaps the most expensive fly-rescue of the tournament. Eilertson, a 45-year-old G.I. Joe's executive from Tualatin, found his egg-sucking leech fly stuck in a snag in fast water. After floating in Teitzel's driftboat about 100 yards downstream of the snag, the men stopped and tried to retrieve the fly. The leech was tied to a 15-pound leader. As Teitzel tugged on the four-piece rod, it snapped near the butt. Somehow, Teitzel was then able to dislodge the fly and tugged the leech, which was tied to a new rod so Eilertson could resume competition. "The moral of the story is, the hell with the rod; we still got the fly," Eilertson says. "We were still in the hunt for the winning fish -- but we didn't catch any steelhead anyway." Johnson found himself in a similar predicament just 30 minutes into the tournament. His stonefly nymph imitation hung up on a snag in fast current near Rattlesnake rapid, downstream from Dodge Bridge. Enoch waded into swift water for a unique fly rescue. Enoch cast his fly across the water to snag Johnson's line dangling in the water. Enoch then pulled Johnson's line upstream, and the fly dislodged without breaking his 8-pound leader. Johnson then proceeded to hook four steelhead and land three: a 25-inch wild fish, a 19-inch wild fish and then a 26-inch hatchery fish that sealed victory. Johnson, who had never caught more than two adult summer steelhead a day while fly-fishing the upper Rogue, did not expect his 70 inches of steelhead to win. He was just hoping not to embarrass himself. "Heck, I was just hoping not to get skunked," Johnson says, "so when we were sitting around drinking beer afterward, I could say at least I got one." (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at [email protected] ) Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA