t (hat would have left Halfo BROWN _ Whiskey hits spot WET FLY is dry until it gets fished, A dry fly is never really dry when it’s oul fishing. At the very least it gets its feet wet. Modem. dry flies are dressed to float on their . bellies upon the river’s skin. Their. ancestors floated in the same stratum, but delicately perched on. legs and a tail made from the stiffest _ fibres from the feather of a rooster. The classic image is of a dry fly purist casting a \ wisp upstream on the end of a perfectly formed loop. The classic execution has the fly floating freely downstream, tethered but unfettered, a . fraudulent immitation of a mayfly, good enough, the angler hopes, to irigger the instincts of a trout So, dry fy fishing as first set out four centuries ago, tefined and defined by the father of the dry fly, Frederick M. Halford, is the practice of fish- ing floating flies downstream free of drag. Since the interaction of fish and fly is seen * plaitily,-this is a pleasant way to find fish when ‘the bite is on. When there is no hatch, itis neither practical nor pleasant, And in this area, big hatches of aquatic insects are rare events. Hf finding feeding trout in coastal waters is dif- figult, finding feeding salmon or steclhead is near impossible since they don’t feed in fresh water. A few of us have seen mature steelhead chasing insects, probably because the activity of the bugs has triggered some instinctual feeding response. But to go out to find steelhead with a traditional dry fly is likely to be an exercise in futility. Surface fishing is another matter. For some rea- son steelhead are attracted to the wake of a big, bushy fly dragged through. a Manner tate eee his head, Hunting fish*this: Way Is one'd¥ the: greatest bx a periences in all angling. Steelhead will come boldly to the surface, smack the Oy with their tail sometimes and sometimes a dorsal fin will mark the passage of a gray ghost as it tracks the fly across a rocky tun. Other times a white mouth will appear suddenly and engulf a bushy dry fly. If finding feeding trout in coastal waters ts difficult, finding feeding salmon or steelhead is near impossible. There. are no 0 heavy lines in this fishing, just a floater ‘and @ long leader attached to fanciful, bouyant fraud. It’s wonderful, addictive stuff. - It’s not clear where the practice of surface fish- ing for steelhead originated, but B.C.’s fly fishing historian Art Lingren indicates it may have begun the then untamed Capilano, Paul, Moody Smith, Frank Darling, Bill Cun- liffe, Cliff’ Welsh and King White were the pioneer steelheaders who had the good fortune to fish the Capilano from the turn of the century and though two wars when the river was at its best, , Prominent anglers of the aext generation who “fished Out of Bounds, Snake Ranch, The Pockets - and many others drowned by the Cleveland Dam - still carry recollections of fine fishing there. B.C.’s first dry fly, Lingren has discovered, was developed for fishing the Capilano by provincial game warden Austin Spencer, Rather than christen the fly Austin’s Fancy, or Spencer’ 8 Special, he humbly named his dressing Whiskey and Soda since its black and white coloration reminded him of the two Scottie. dogs that adored the label of Black and White scotch, " the drink of’ preference of Capilano steslheaders __ at the time. “The Whiskey and Soda is a simple fly with two hackle tips, one white and one black, for a tail and ag many black and white large hackles as it takes to: wind a full: body on a size four, six or tight standard wire steelhead hook. -The advent of fast sinking lines made of poly vinyl chloride and the bait fishers notion stecl- heading success is directly related ta how close a Hy is to the bottom, have inhibited the spread of surface fishing. But it has gradually migrated to all parts of the province and the western States. In the Skeena: drainage, the Morice River, with ) its ‘trouty steelhead, has had a tradition of surface fly: fishing since parties of Americans flew into the waters below Morice Lake and caught sieel- bead on floating Royal Cozchmen. Skating fies over steelhead has become com- monplace on the Bulkley, Kispiox and Upper Skeena over the past 20 years. As far as I can discover, I was the first angler to search for summer steelhead on the Zymoetz, Kalum and Lakelse using the technique pioneered _by:the Capilano fishermen of yesteryear. It has proven to be as pleasant and productive a - way of fishing the rivers here as one can find. _ Tie up a Whiskey and Soda and give it a try. TERRACE STANDARD. The Terraca Standard, Wednesday, January 12, 1994 - BS 7 _, SECTION C MALCOLM BAXTER 638-7283 . Dress rehearsal for Cal? KERMODES BOYS basketball squads have been making a habit of winning the zones in recent years. But qualifying for the provin- cials and actually playing in them have always been quile different. And it’s the quality of the oppo- sition that makes that difference, Based on early season results, Cal laoks a good bet for a provin- cial berth again this year. This weekend the team will get a laste of the calibre of opponents that’ll be waiting for them if they do make the mips south. fea an we tke Veto : Biers Bits FB cn Tesi ¥ In town for a two game seiies will be the North Delta Huskies, second in last’ year’s championship and currently rated #4 in the provincial ‘AAA? rank- ings. “They're very tough,”’ Kermode coach Cam McKay says of the Huskies, especially given _ the accuracy of their shooling, Even though the Kermodes have strung together the victories in early season action; McKay’s not been overly impressed with their performance. While winning ts fine, realisti- @ Skeena hosts JUNIOR GIRLS basketball teams from across the region were in Terrace Saturday for a tourna- ment hosted by the high-flying Skeena squad. Above, action from the game between Terrace’s Centennial Christian (dark uniforms) and the Orcas from Kitimat’s Mount Elizabeth Sr. Secondary. Tween tide turning THE DAYS of coming off the ice on the wrong side of the scoreline have ended for Terrace’s Tween tingetters, Now in its fifth season here, the Sport appears to have come of age. Involved in local ringette from the beginning, Sharon Prinz recalls the early years were ’ marked by a succession of losses. ‘No suprise really, given Terrace was always up against teams from northern communities’ which could boast well established leagues. Now, however, the experience of local players - and the. skills that come with it — ~ have: turned the tide. So much so that the Tweens have yet to lose this season, They sounded the warning in their opening tournament at Prince George in November. Burs Lake were the first to fall to the Terrace juggernaut, swept aside 6-1. The Tweens, coached by Dave Smyth and Natalie Christensen, then obliterated Vanderhoof 10-0 and clinched ‘the gold with a 13-9 trumph over a strong Quesnel tcam, It was the same story last month when the team travelled to Burns Lake for a league play event. Having outgunned the host team 12-5, Terrace hammered Prince © George 7-1 = then completed the sweep by ckeing out a7-6 win over Quesnel, ‘Beating Prince George was quite. a feat,’ Prinz said, noting that city has an extremely strong ringette organization. The Tweens — 15 years and under — will be looking to keep the streak alive Jan. 21-23 when they host a league — play cally Cal does not face truly test- ing opposition when playing most northwestern teams. “Charles Hays (Prince Rupert) is the only really comparable tcam up here,” he explains. — Which makes this weekend’s encounter all the more important. ‘They (Kermodes) haven't had the pressure of playing a big team yet. Hopefully, they’l] be ready.”? Whatever reservations McKay has about Cal’s performance to date, he notes this year’s Kermode crop is a relatively young one with only five grade — emenoee tournament, Prinz said invitations have gone out to teams from across the north including fer flung comers such | as Chetwyad. For Terrace’s junior team, the Petites, wins have been harder to come by but the 7-11 year olds have put in promising performances, In Prince George they shut out Burns Lake 9-0 before falling 7-5 to Prince George and 8-2 to Quesnel.’ The Burns Lake weekend saw them take on Prince George in all three games but they couldn’t _ get by their opponents. However, the _—- Blaine MacKenzie and Tom Metcalfe coached squad are not without poiential. As the narow loss to Prince George showed, they — are certainly no pushovers. Full calendar for gymnasts THE NEW ‘YEAR ‘signals a quickening of the pace at the Ed Fairless gym in Thornhill, That’s the home. of the lacal Peaks Gymnastics club where members ate preparing for. the heavy schedule that lies. ahead. Firat up is this Friday’s display - night. It gets under way at 6:30 © p.m. and gives family and fends an opportunity to see what sklils the: gymnaals have learned. over the season’s first session. The following day . sees pres registration for Session ta and ais Same, week also Bring-a-Friend day for all Peaks Saturday recreational members. That runs from 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. and gives visitors an Intro. duction to the sport and cquip- mentused, - ]’s also the first of several such days. All boys classes and devel- opmental program gymnasts get their chance Tuesday Jan. 18, Wednesday recreational classes’ turn is. the next day ahd Thurs- day’s teen class rounds it out ut that Session U registration continues Friday, Jan. 28 (5:00-9:00 p.m.) and Saturday, Jan. 29 (10:00 a.m. ~ 4:00 p.m.) at the Skeena Mall, There’s also a late registration opportunity at the Ed Fairless gym Saturday, Feb, 5 (10:00 a.m, ~3:30 p.m.). Also scheduled is a NCCP Level I technical coaching clinic, Jan, 21-23, That’s open to anyone" in the northwest 16 years. or older. For miore information, con-- tact Peggy, Kris or. Marla at 638-0 12s on the 16-manrosier, And he’s confident they'll be a better team in the second half, The weekend's action begins at” 6:15 p.m. Friday night when. the Kermode and Huskies junior players tip off. The first string teams for both hit the court at 8 p.m. with the same formal being followed Sat- urday night. Admission is $3 for adulis, $2 forstudenis.. : Terrace Mini-basketball players get in free if they show up wear- . - ing their uniforms. Short bench ~ hurts - - SIXTH OUT of eight teams may ee : ‘nol be a stellar result, but then it: °° “wasn’t really the Kermades who. _ took part in the Christmas break . - ‘tourney in Alaska. With a couple of players ‘out ' with injuries, two more felled by Illness and several others unable to make the trip to Ketchikan be- cause of family team. And that short bench got even shorter during a couple of the games as players fouled out. That problem reared its head in the Kermodes opening game against Sitka. Cal having led throughout, a tumover allowed Sitka to tie it. with cight seconds lef. The Alaskans then ran away *., with it in overtime, 58-50, foul- ouls having reduced the ~— Kermodes to just five players, ..~ Shs even worse inthe closing. pattie’agelnst Esquimalt with just four Cal players on the court for . the closing minutes of a 67-50 loss, “Once Dean (Beeson) and ‘Jas _ sie (Osei-Tutu} were out, we were cooked in terms of height,” coach Cam McKay pointed out. The Kermodes lone win came. 7 against Belmont of Victoria, a 65- 47 walk against what McKay de- | scribed as “a weak team”, Beeson and Osei-Tutu, both of whom. scored 45 points over the. three games, were named to the," tournament all-star team. comimitments, Cal found itself with only half a” Wade Flaherty Locals make all-star team LOCAL MINOR Hockey pro- ducts Wade Flaherty and Geoff ihis month. When. the puck is dropped at. ‘the = International = Hockey League All-Star game, Jan, 26, Flaherty will be between the while Sharples will patrol. the blus line, The duo were teammates last year with the’ Kansas City Sharples accepted a beiler of- fer from rivais Las Vegas. _The starting line-up for: the. Fort Wayne All-Star game wits selected by TE THL ¢ couches, i pipes for the Western team | a Sharples will be reunited later |: ae Blades but that ended when’ cue