The Green River, Daggett County • The reality of the Single Fly tournament hit me on the fourth cast. Suddenly that annoying whipping sound that sometimes happens on my back cast became much more menacing.

The 2011 Utah Single Fly fishing tournament was all of five minutes old, and I was already praying that the High-Viz Beetle fly pattern I had chosen to fish for the day was still on the end of my line.

The splat on the water when my fly landed came with a sigh of a relief and the realization that fishing in the Single Fly would take me back to the basics and, frankly, that time was long overdue.

So I adjusted my casting technique and found a rhythm that reduced the whipping sound to about every 30 or so casts. I figured once I had the casting issue under control that I could settle down and focus on the fishing.

Wrong. Other things started to freak me out.

Did that last fish nick my tippet?

Is that a wind knot, or two, in my line?

Eventually I realized that these were all things I should be doing all the time; things I was taught to do, but had given up through the years. It was going to be a long day.

I had been invited to fish in the third annual Utah Single Fly Tournament, an event sponsored by Trout Unlimited as a fundraiser for the national nonprofit's Aquatic Invasive Species program and for in-state conservation projects, by my good friends Nick and Stefanie Jones. Joining us as the fourth member was Nate Miller of Fish Tech Outfitters. Our team name was Three Rods and a Hooker.

The challenge of the tournament, other than being limited to one fly from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., is trying to figure out which of the two fish you catch to count in your limited tally. Anglers are allowed to measure and count only two fish. Each inch of the fish translates to one point. A point is also awarded for every fish brought to the net.

Some anglers decide to count the first two fish they catch and then go after big numbers. Others set a size limit for their keepers and stick to it. The obvious danger is losing your fly before you catch large fish.

Our dory was masterfully rowed by volunteer guide Charles Tatton, and about 90 minutes into the tournament, Stef landed our first fish. She ended up landing five and measured two 16-inch browns.

Somewhere among retying my fly on four times because of wind knots, I managed to land nine fish and record trout of 16 and 17 inches. That was another thing I appreciated about the Single Fly. It is easy to say you caught a bunch of 18-inch fish if you think a 15-inch fish looks like 18. Having a measuring board on the dory provided an interesting honesty to the size of the fish we were landing.

Finally in cellphone reception from the long drive out of the B section, Nick phoned in his team's score. They had fared a little better than we had and, again, we were pretty happy with our score.

At Red Canyon we saw our score posted and then watched as two teams, Stonefly Society and One Fly-WTF, bettered our effort. Still, third place was a respectful finish considering there were 13 teams with some good anglers among them.

In the end it felt good to be part of a team of friends who care about contributing money to conservation of the resource we all love so much. We vowed to return and move up in the standings in 2012.

In the meantime, I'll take the reminders the Single Fly provided me and apply them to future fishing trips. I wonder how many more fish, how many more big fish, I would have landed if I had checked the tippet after every fish or pulled on that wind knot the first time I noticed it. —

Results from the 2011 Utah Single Fly Tournament held Sept. 30 on the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam.

TEAM SCORES

201 - Stonefly Society; 172 - One Fly-WTF; 165 - Three Rods and a Hooker; 162 - Cabelas; 150 - Green River Medved; 126 - Holland & Hart - Team 2; 125 - Team Green Machine ; 119 - Park City Bugmen; 117 - Hyde Drift Boats; 114 - Cache Anglers; 111 - Holland & Hart - Team 1; 111 - Jones Waldo; 109 - State Street Irregulars.

AWARD WINNERS

1st Place Team - Stone Fly Society - 201 - Team Members: Paul Stay, Erik Ostrander, Jed Stewart, Herb Patterson. Guides: Brian Hoskisson and Scott Barrus

Largest Recorded Trout - Dave McDonald (One Fly - WTF) - 21"

Most Trout - Lance Egan (Cabelas) - 43

"Biggest Loser" (first person to lose their fly) - Rick Knuth (Jones Waldo) - 10:30 a.m.

Ugliest Hat (or in this case ugliest outfit) - Bob Dibblee (Park City Bugmen) - shorts, tights, sandals

"Bomar" Tipton Award (for the Guide with the highest score from his boat) - Ryan Russell - 123 - Rowing Brad Peterson and Lance Egan from Cabelas.