Powell ice fishermen will attempt to defend their title in the Meeteetse Ice Fishing Derby this weekend. Win or lose, they’ll have a blast

Posted 2/6/20

Almost exactly one year ago, three Powell fishermen had a very good day. Possibly their best ever.

The three men, Don Adams, Tim Large and Butch Hanson, won the 2019 Meeteetse Ice Fishing Derby. …

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Powell ice fishermen will attempt to defend their title in the Meeteetse Ice Fishing Derby this weekend. Win or lose, they’ll have a blast

Posted

Almost exactly one year ago, three Powell fishermen had a very good day. Possibly their best ever.

The three men, Don Adams, Tim Large and Butch Hanson, won the 2019 Meeteetse Ice Fishing Derby. It wasn’t the first time they made the podium, but, in a decade of competition, it was the first time they took home the big check.

At 8 a.m Saturday, they’ll look to defend their title.

 

‘We just go out and have fun’

The fishermen aren’t professionals, though their tools suggest a serious approach — trailers loaded with all-terrain vehicles and heavy duty pickup beds.

“They’re just toys. At our age you need them just to get you there,” Hanson, 72, said about the most expensive part of their gear — trucks and ATVs.

Other items are either recycled summer gear (broken poles fixed to work for winter hard water fishing), fish finders purchased so long ago they aren’t manufactured anymore or items handmade for convenience. The trio does not use ice fishing shelters; if a cold wind comes up, they simply turn their backs to the wind, put up their hoods and endure.

The only new item purchased since last year is a 10-inch gas-powered auger. After a “big one” got away in the 2019 contest, Hanson wanted a bigger hole “just in case.”

“We have a recreational style,” Large said.

“We just go out and have fun all the time. That’s what we do,” Adams added.

As a matter of fact, in more than four decades the friends have only had one bad day of fishing. During a tournament seven years ago, the trio dropped a side-by-side through the ice. It was their best mode of transportation at the time. “It had a Sirius radio, air conditioning, heat and everything,” Large said.

They “plucked it out” of Lower Sunshine Reservoir just before midnight. Now, like every adventure, the near tragedy has become a laughing matter. They’ve been friends since the late ’70s and constant laughter is the bond that has kept them together.

There’s a fourth member of the group not fishing. Matt Elliott, also a Powell resident, has taken to spending the winters in Florida.

“He’s the one that lost the four-wheeler in the ice,” Large said. “He’s younger than us, but that makes him a good target [of jokes].”

Once, while Elliott took a break on shore, the others tied a can of beer to the end of his line. When he returned, they told him he had a bite. It wasn’t until he brought in his line that they started to laugh. That was years ago and they’re still laughing about the look on his face when he got his line in.

Lifelong friends, they call themselves the “bullet brothers.” The only problem with being friends for so long is that age is catching up with them. As they look at their futures, the men realize the importance of maintaining their friendship.

“You never know how much longer we’ll be able to do this,” Large said.

 

Making preparations

Last weekend, Adams, Large and Hanson set out to pre-fish Upper Sunshine. The upper reservoir — heavily stocked with Yellowstone cutthroat trout — is known as the easier fishing of the two, but has smaller fish; an 18-inch cutthroat is a rarity. Last year, the team didn’t weigh-in a fish from the first day of the tournament, held at the upper lake.

In contrast, on day two, the trio landed three fish over 24-inches from Lower Sunshine — not including the one that got away. The lower lake has several species, including tiger, cutthroat and lake trout and splake.

However, there are some new rules this year. One change: teams must weigh-in three fish each day, putting the upper reservoir in play. The trio decided it was time to get serious about day one of the tournament and set out to find larger fish.

They started out early drilling a few holes on Saturday, checking depths, looking for structure and then moving on after wetting their lines. Adams started out strong, catching two before his buddies could even get a shrimp on their lures. After checking a half-dozen areas, they settled for a spot with a “grassy” bottom. The ice was 16 to 20 inches thick on a warm day. The fishing was off a bit.

“Maybe the front that’s rolling in has slowed the bite,” Large suggested.

A cold front promised to thicken the slushy top of the ice and maybe even add an inch or two to the thickness. But with dramatic changes in weather, “the bite” can slow or shut down completely. Hanson finished the day out-fishing Large and Adams by a 2-1 margin.

Why so much effort in finding big fish on the upper reservoir? Most teams will catch their three fish on Saturday and most of the fish in the lake are 12- to 14-inchers. The team that catches three 16-inch fish could have a lead of up to 6 inches going into the second day of the tournament. Last year, Adams, Large and Hanson won the tournament by a total of 9 inches.

None of the trio would admit the importance of the first day of fishing.

“Leaving day one, we’ll all be pretty even,” Large said.

Yet, they have already fished Upper Sunshine a half-dozen times this season.

 

Setting the stage

Another rule change for this year’s event is that only the length of the fish will count. In previous tournaments girth was also measured. Meanwhile, every team will be looking to catch a tagged fish. Those who do will share $6,300 in prize money for the few fish that were put in the two reservoirs late last week, said Kristen Yoder of the Meeteetse Visitor Center, which is putting on the event.

Two things can be counted on this weekend: Everyone will have the same weather come 8 a.m. Saturday and everyone will be looking to unseat Powell’s power trio or the husband and wife team of Terry and Brenda Mari, also of Powell, come Sunday’s weigh-in. The Maris finished in second place last year after winning the tournament six times in the past 12 years.

Both teams hope to sneak in unnoticed during the tournament to avoid fishing in a crowd. For some, their strategy is to drill holes close to the top teams from Powell.

“Don’t take pictures of [our vehicle],” Adams asked last weekend, before baiting his poles. “We don’t want the other teams to know what we’re driving.”

It was a busy weekend at the reservoirs, as several prospective teams looked to find their favorite spots on the ice. More than half the slots of the 100-team limit were filled last week, Yoder said. In previous years it hasn’t been a problem signing up before 8 a.m. on the first day of the tournament. But the smart bet is to get an application in early this year.

No matter the outcome, you can bet Hanson, Large and Adams will be given away by laughter as they poke fun at each other with every strike.

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