Powell’s dynasty at the Meeteetse Ice Fishing Derby is over — at least for a year.

In 2019, Don Adams, Tim Large and Butch Hanson had enough fish on the stringer to pull the win at the derby, but the Powell men lamented about “the one that got away.” At the 2020 event on Feb. 8-9, the story grew.

“It was about time to go for the weigh-in and when we pulled up our stringer of three fish, half the stringer was missing and two of the fish were gone,” Large said.

It wasn’t the first time the trio have had stringer issues. In response to a previous mishap, Large was given a stout stringer, but he didn’t bring it. The fishing team known as the “Bullet Brothers” didn’t even bother to take their one fish to the final Meeteetse derby weigh-in.

“We packed up and went home,” Large said. “It turned out to be just another day of fishing.”

But it wasn’t just another day of fishing. The two-day tournament tested all who entered this year — and, despite a blinding snowstorm, a record 112 fishermen and women checked in to fish the Upper and Lower Sunshine reservoirs.

“We thought we were at full capacity, but it turns out the 100-fishermen limit was more of a suggestion rather than a rule,” said Kristen Yoder, tournament spokesperson and director of the Meeteetse Visitors Center.

Weekend weather hit fishermen hard. Many had to put chains on their vehicles to navigate the rural roads; others got stuck. Yet they endured.

“Nobody let the weather bother them too much. We had a four-hour whiteout — a lot of snow in a small amount of time,” Yoder said.

The top Powell finishers this year were Brenda and Terry Mari, who came in 30th with 104.876 inches of fish. That was some 15 inches less than tournament winner Austin Triplett of Basin. Corey Guthrie’s team, from Meeteetse, and Sam Korhel’s team, of Thermopolis rounded out the top three. Team Bullet Brothers, led by Adams, finished in 74th place with just three fish measured at 46.750 inches.

Guthrie caught the largest fish of the tournament — a 27.25-inch lunker. He claims it was a lake trout, but Yoder said it was a splake. To determine which species it actually was at that size, someone would have had to count the giant’s anal bones. That didn’t happen.

“It was a long weekend for everybody,” Yoder said.

Yoder’s husband, Cole, also had a fish story to tell: The one that got away also dragged his rod and reel down his hole. Fortunately, the fish and gear were caught a short time later, about 20 yards away.

One fish eluded all the anglers, however: Nobody caught a tagged fish worth $6,300.