It’s no doubt a reflection of the fortunate life I live that the saddest I feel each year is usually 364 days until the next One Fly. It’s ridiculous, but when the One Fly is over, I’m like a Mayfly at a Cliff Swallow convention–just a hopeless mess. This misery could only be rivaled by playoff losses from my Golden State Warriors and San Francisco 49ers.
Understanding this is a tad childish, I’ve decided to dive into my feelings a little more. Why, Bud, do you love the One Fly so much? Perhaps because it’s the best excuse to fish for 4 days in a row in the most beautiful place on earth? Definitely.
But, it’s more than that. It’s dawned on me that The One Fly embraces the same teamwork magic that I love so much in sports. Side note: You should know, I am addicted to watching sports, following sports, dreaming about sports. Whether watching the mini-kickers of JH Youth Soccer pinball around the field on a Saturday morning or Steph Curry of my hometown Warriors, draining 3’s from the logo, loving sports is my Olympic-level skill.
And the very best part of sports is the beautiful energy of a great team; and that’s why for the last 15 years I have loved, I have cherished, I have reveled in being a part of the One Fly. I love being a part of one of the remarkable teams of all time.
You can just feel the energy the moment you walk into the tent perched on Snow King Thursday evening and see Sue Bashford’s squad in action. It’s like March Madness with the excitement of the committee about to reveal their brackets. Sue functions as the cool and calm General Manager behind the scenes, expertly coordinating every element and crazy request of the competition while graciously letting others take the spotlight. The guides huddle together, feverishly comparing notes about the “sticks” they will be guiding, and teams are gathered around, conferencing over the different sections of river they’ve drawn and who they will be fishing with. Everyone is dreaming of the big days ahead!
Like Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 pit crew, prepping the best car in the world to hit the track, John Holland, Greg Case, Joe De Briyn, John Mortenson, Tom Smith and board members race around the tent on auction night. The efforts of them and many past board members have helped raise an amazing $24 million for trout habitat over 38 years of the event. Nearby, the magical artistry of Mike Sudal, Paul Puckett, and Fred Stivers transform a blank canvas into a fly-fishing, river-loving masterpiece, like Lionel Messi painting the field and creating extraordinary goals. All the while, Neal Henderson, documents the glory of the night and weekend with his lens.
There is really no MC like Fish…he’s Chris Berman, Bob Uercker, and Al Michael’s all wrapped up in one. With booming commentary, witty banter, and heartfelt tributes, Fish brings the laughter, the hoots and hollers, the joy to every One Fly Event.
Over the 38 years of One Fly events, so many characters past and present, have helped build this incredible team culture.
Paul Bruun is the John Wooden of the One Fly. Paul’s mastery of the Snake River is legendary, but similar to Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, Paul is just as famous for his pearls of fishing wisdom and mentoring of young guides. Paul’s early guidance in conservation and camaraderie are core principles of the One Fly that have made the event what it is today.
The Jerry Jones of the One Fly has to be Jack Dennis, right? Just as Jerry Jones captivates football fans with his unmatched charisma and enthusiastic storytelling, you can always see Jack Dennis holding court, telling his tall One Fly tales of the past.
Peter Moyer, a brilliant and eccentric figure in the One Fly world, has to have some blood relation to the best college basketball player of all time, Bill Walton. I’m sure the Grateful Dead loving, tie-dye wearing Walton would chuckle at Peter’s iconic ferret and his epic One Fly wins with a San Juan Worm and an Alaskan mouse.
Harry Spooner is the Ironman Cal Ripken Jr., Team USA’s Walter Ungerman is Mark Spitz, John Simm’s record 26 inch Cutty on Wilson to SP is the Wilt Chamberlain 100 pt game. And my uncle Stan Chatham, who I owe my One Fly and Jackson Hole love to, is Yogi Berra “Boys, That’s why they call it fishing and not catching!”
The fly-tiers of the One Fly act as the genius play-callers for an offense, innovating and bullet-proofing patterns. Scott Sanchez’s convertible is like an Andy Reid-designed miss direction play…you think it’s one thing, but it can also be another. The creativity in the purple patterns of a Bruce James’ tied fly are like a Greg Popovich designed last second play for the game winning 3!
As the quarterback and point guards of the boat, the guides make all the action possible for us players. Being a river guide and raft company owner for most of my life, I am in awe of what the guides in this event can do on the sticks. They are the most talented athletes on the field…I mean river!
All-pro South Forker Mike Bean navigates the river with the precision of Tom Brady, bouncing from bank to bank, calling the drifts of big fish like he's directing a game-winning drive down the field.
I swear Sean Baker is the guide version of Magic Johnson. He can row through a class II wave, tie a fly on for one of his anglers, and lead the other angler into an 18-inch cutty all at the same time!
Josh Gallivan, the Simone Biles of river floor routines, ferries across the river, slides into a side channel, hops out, spins you around a strainer, jumps back in, rows up 50 yards, pogos back out of the boat to hold his Clacka at the perfect 45 degree angle, so you can catch your biggest fish of the day–a perfect 10.
No one knows the BTNF sections of the Snake like Jean Bruun…”Up here on our left, there’s a 15-incher living just behind that submerged rock. You know, right under the nest of Benedict and Beatrice.” “Downstream is a school of 32 little cuttys we can play with for a bit.” It’s like watching Sue Bird set up her teammates for the perfect alley-oop pass without even looking.
You want to see the focus and determination of Lindsay Vonn skiing the Super G? Be lucky enough to draw Josh Cohn as your guide. He maneuvers through the river like Vonn weaving through the gates, timing each spot based on water temperature, time of day, and what he knows will be hatching. It's unreal.
Everything that Sue Talbot does on a boat is so effortless it's like watching Caitlin Clark draining 3s from any spot on the court, “Oh, you're about to lose your 19-inch rainbow in the fast current on your size 18 mayfly; let me hop over these slippery boulders and wade downstream and net him real quick for ya!” Yep…that’s Sue!
Having Boots Allen as your guide is like training for a decathlon with Jackie Joyner Kearsey. He will have you running from side channel to side channel, hurdling trees, scaling boulders, and jumping in pools all to fill out your card with some yellow belly cuts.
And these guides assist some of the best anglers in the world!
Trey Sharp maneuvering his Skunk Works Minow is like seeing Tiger Woods in his Sunday reds at the Masters, both leaving you scratching your head and muttering, “How does he do that?”
Arm Bob Williamson with a rod and a rubber-legged StoneFly nymph on the South Fork and it’s like Kareem Abdul Jabar and his skyhook…unstoppable! Whitney McDowell and Libby Alcorn are synonymous with swimmers Katie Ledecky and Janet Evans, showing up year after year and making the rest of us wonder if they’re secretly training in a high-altitude fishing center.
I truly idolized my cousin Dave Stanley and Michael Jordan equally when I was a kid. The only difference was I did not have 5 posters of my cousin in my bedroom growing up! But no doubt Dave is as great at fly fishing as MJ is at playing basketball…and I get to fish with him on our team.
Streamer fishing with Jonathan Lancaster is like watching Serena Williams pound forehands inches before the end-line at the US Open. His "one fly" is put in constant jeopardy all day long, landing centimeters from logs, boulders and branches in pursuit of the big fish.
Jeff Currier on the river is like Wayne Gretzky on ice—both make their craft look so easy that you wonder if they were born with a rod or a stick in their hands.
You have Will Dornan, Dave Deardorf, Zach Peyton…the Shohei Ohtanis of the fishing world. No matter if they are guiding or fishing in the tournament, they are elite.
What’s funny though, is that you can have the best fisherman in your boat and the best guide on the planet… but just like a great team…if you do not have fantastic energy and chemistry among each other, then your boat will not come close to reaching its potential.
Your partner lands a 14-inch cutty? Everyone better be high-fiving because if not, there is no way that 19-incher is being landed later on that day. You just switched positions but rolled into a hole that’s better for the fly of your boatmate…let her have the first few casts. It's time to switch places, but you are out of the boat and your boatmate is in a riffle and on a heater…you let them keep going. Kiss every fish, scale a tree for your partner’s fly…Your boat is doing everything right for the last hour with no results, it's time to take the shirts off and jump in the river to get some good Snake River Karma on you!
So, yes, I am sure I will be in the dumps again the day after this year’s One Fly ends (Please give me a hug.); but conversely this week of the One Fly feels like Christmas…or March Madness or the Super Bowl. I could not be more excited to be a part of one of the greatest events of all time!
Bud Chatham