Longtime IEFFC member Hugh Evans, who died March 15, will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va., at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 9 with full military honors. That evening, the Evans family will host a dinner from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Clyde’s of Gallery Place, 707 7th Street Northwest, in Washington, D.C., to celebrate Hugh’s life. The restaurant is across the street from the National Portrait Gallery. A no-host bar will be available.
Hugh, called by many members the best poacher the IEFFC ever had, was known for his unerring sense of humor, his captivating story telling, and his way of leaving club members wishing he would poach them again. He was a fine fisherman, who particularly loved the Methow River. He provided unfailing good company to his fishing partners. He loved fishing so much he often was the last to quit for the day, and on his best days, he introduced himself to many steelhead.
Hugh was a successful attorney and a good litigator. He rarely talked about his military service, which like many things about Hugh, was extraordinary.
Hugh, an attorney at Evans, Craven & Lackie for many years, was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action on Nov. 29, 1968, in Viet Nam when he continued to direct his men in a firefight with the Viet Cong even after he had been shot in the right arm–and for then helping to evacuate casualties out of the intensely contested area even after he was shot a second time that day, in the left shoulder. “Ignoring his injuries, he continued to supervise his elements’ fire and movement until the aggressors retreated,” his friend, Bill Maxey, wrote in the Spokane County Bar Association’s Calendar Call publication in 2014.
Hugh also was awarded the Bronze Star with a “V” for valor for heroism in action on Oct. 30, 1968, when he led his men through dense jungle and on a heavily mined road to help embattled forces, “directing the deployment of his men, and directing them through a hail of hostile rounds with complete disregard for his personal safety and exposure of himself to enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire, while encouraging his men and directing their fire on the Viet Cong.”
In a moving tribute to Hugh at his services in Spokane, Jim Craven, Hugh’s law partner and friend for more than 40 years, said, “Hugh was quietly–without any sort of fanfare–kind and generous, whether taking home a homeless veteran for a good meal and a warm place to sleep, or tapping into his network of friends to help an acquaintance find a job.” He added that Hugh “always believed in managing one’s priorities and referred to golf played during business hours as ‘mandatory real estate inspection.'” He remembered that Hugh loved people and parties, and would say, “I’d rather be a liver than have one.”
Craven also said, “Hugh loved to fish and was passionate about it. When he was on a river he was at peace with the world and immune to all its challenges. The picture of Hugh standing on the river with a steelhead in his hands–recently in the newspaper–was to Hugh a snapshot of the Heaven to come. That was Hugh at his happiest.”
Jerry McBride was honored by the Washington Fly Fishing Club by receiving their highest award, the Letcher Lambuth Angling Craftsman Award.
Jerry is a retired mechanical engineer and has created many new fly patterns, but his real claim to fame is in designing the “balanced leech”. Realizing that “most insects move in a horizontal position”, Jerry sought to come up with a way to fish leeches under an indicator. His invention was introduced to the fly-fishing world through Fly Tyer Magazine in the summer issue of 2006. As you likely know, balanced leeches are now available in virtually every fly shop in the nation. Promoted heavily by such fly-fishing personalities as Phil Rowley, the balanced leech has become an essential fly for those fly fishers frequenting still waters.
should be commended. The access routes to both bridges are safe and the bridges are both attractive and functional. With safety being the most important factor, the project was certainly overdue and the replacement bridges have accomplished their purpose.
closure of Scatter Creek Road, but an alternate route has been readied and the campground is now open.
The upturned, bloated bodies of mountain whitefish litter the banks of the Yellowstone River at a spot typically thick with anglers and drift boats. The native species is being killed by a parasite that affects their kidneys. So far it hasn’t been found inside Yellowstone National Park itself, and the river’s prized wild trout appear to be fighting it off. But Patrick Byorth with the conservation group Trout Unlimited says the fish killed downstream of the park still hits like a punch in the gut. The magnitude of this kill is unlike anything our fish health specialists have seen before in Montana.
the fishing at Long Lake, near Republic, might be affected. It looks as though prospects for this year have improved quickly.