B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 3, 2002 SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN S TERRACE STANDARD PORTS | 638-7283 | ' ROB BROWN Trout Travels 4 t was mid afternoon, and a few fruit- less trips to the dead ends of fenced and ditched farm roads, before Kenny got his first glimpse of the river and discovered it was a canal. As he beheld the wide ditch and flat farmland, it struck him thal this vista was probably similar to that a Dutch farmer might see after doing the day’s chores. It was a gentle, comforting view, a meatloaf and mashed potato landscape. The canal was shallow and featureless, a conduit with skittish fish would slip through furt- ively, dodging from shadow to shadows in low light like fugitives. The wind had its winter teeth. it was strong enough to bend the neat rows of poplars shelter- ing distant white farmhouses and red barns; it pulled dead leaves from old cottonwoods nearby and sent them rattling through their branchcages to the ground; it skitlered over the canal and along the dyke where Kenny stood, and, in short time, sent him, shivering, back to the track. It was dark before the headlights of the old Chev lit up a sign advertising Lickman Road. Kenny turned and drove until the road turned into a wide parking area that had seen plenty of use. He parked then walked around the truck to the camper, stopping to turn the tap on the pro- pane bottle. Once inside, he put together a quick goulash of macaroni and cheese garnished with the bratwurst left over from lunch. After dinner he found the large tackle box that once held his dad’s Lucky Louies and Tom « Macks, along with dodgers, flashers, hoochies;4 stainless hooks and lead. Now the box was jam- med to overflowing with wool, tinsel, fur, other fly parts, and the tools to assemble them. He set out the vice and tools, selected some materials and spread them out on the table. He poured a cup of coffee, lit a smoke, then sat down amid the remnant odours of dinner to build a few flies. Not because he needed more, or be- cause the ones that filled his boxes to overflaw- ing didn’t catch fish well enough, but because he was in the process of refining his abilities and finding his style, in the way a sculptor does. Soon after his Uncle Bill had shown him some basic moves, Kenny had tracked down a fly dressing manual. He slavishly followed the blueprints inside, building Mickey Finns and Woolly Worms first, then Tom Thumbs and some crude floating flies as his skills increased. Over time the lines of his creations were mod- ified by the demands of the rivers he fished. After a few seasons they had grown from ado- lescent copies to individualistic adult patterns. The art of dressing steelhead flies was still in its infancy. Kenny examined the work of its most prominent practitioners, realizing quickly that they had obviously been heavily influenced by the Atlantic salmon traditionalists. Kenny climbed up on the shoulders of these men. He * built hundreds of flies, torching those that didn’t pass muster with a lighter while they were still in the vise then removing their charred remains - with an exacto knife so he could reuse the hook. Still, even the flies that seemed salisfactory at first soon began to dissatisfy him, Before leaving on his odyssey, he picked up a fishing guide to B.C. written by the dean of the pro- . vinee’s outdoor writers, Lee Straight. In the middle of the little guide, he came across a * grainy plate of steclhead flies. The picture was too green, as if it had been held up to the sun . and a pale algae had grown over it. Neverthe- less the beauty of the flies shone through. Featured were a Woolly Worm, a Golden Spey, a Skunk, a Thor, and other well-known patterns, Kenny hadn’t heard of Bob Taylor, the artisan credited as the flies’ dresser under the photo, but he was bowled over by his artistry. The flies of the master dressers Kenny had studied were beautiful in the way a stunning woman in a ball gown is. Taylor’s dressing were balanced. They had smooth lines and perfect proportions; they were alluring, in the way a ra- diant woman in simple black dress is. Kenny opened the book to the plates and carefully put together a Skunk then inspected it against Tay- . lor’s. It was good, Not perfect, but good enough "lo be taken for a swim in the morning, After building a few more flies, he climbed into the bunk and read a chapter from Roderick Haig-Brown’s A River Never Sleeps then fell . asleep nestled in his down bag with the cold - night air blowing gently through the screens. He woke late, pulled on his pants, slipped his bare feet into his gumboots, then set out to ex- amine the river before breakfast. The pround was carpeted in frost. He crunched down the trail and found a river: a series of gravel runs with deep water along the dyke. Kenny raced back ta the camper to gear up. To be continued... LIAM FORAN from Grouse Mountain blazes through a gate at the top of the men’s slalom course Mar. 24. Foran placed second in the men's Super G qua- lifying him for the Whistler Cup. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO. B.C.’s best alpine racers battle for top spot here By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN IT WAS a first for Shames Mountain and a first for the the north. The K2 Provincial Alpine Championships held here Mar. 22- 24 have never been held in the north, and the three-day event here was a success, It’s less ‘expensive to hold major events like this down south so hosting the provincials was a rarity, said chief of race Dennis Lissimore. “It did give everybody a sense of how big the province is and how far our ath- letes have to travel to pet to races,” Lis- simore said. Over 150 local people volun- teered for the eveat. Five Terrace athletes took part in the provincials which included Slalom, Giant Slalom and Super G races. The tap three skiers in each race would advance to the Whistler Cup this coming weekend. Stacey Blake did well under the pres- sure of the races finishing in the top 10 in each event, The weekend's highlight came Mar. 24 when she sat in third place after the first run of the women’s slalom. She had a slower second run leaving her in very respectable sixth place out of 32 racers in her division. She placed sixth in the Giant Slalom and claimed ninth spot in the Super G. Local ringette teams return from tournamen SEVERAL local ringette The event’s focus is not This was Terrace’s Ryan Monsees’ second K2 provincials and he said racing at home is a whole new ball game com- pated to racing away. “It’s a bit different because you feel more pressure because everyone you know is watching you,” Monsees said. Monsees was competing with a broken wrist at the provincials. With his wrist in a cast he worried about breaking his exposed thumb if he took a fail, “We made a fibreglass thumb, like a cap, we could put over my thumb so if I . fell on it the pressure would be put on my cast,” he said. Despite the injury Monsees finished each of his races in good style placing 23rd in the men’s slalom, 22nd in the Super G and 43rd in the Giant Slalom. Teammate Ron Mackenzie also put in a good performance finishing 39th in the Super G, 40th in the Giant Slalom and taking home a 29th place finish in the men’s slalom. Brittany Greenwood finished 30th in the Super G, 28th in the Giant Slalom and 22nd in the Slalom. Britnee Thomson nabbed 37th spot in the Giant Slalom and 30th in the Slalom. Evergreen nails oldtimers’ title THEY HAVE a new name and a new sponsor but for the second year running the same team has claimed the championship title in the Terrace men’s oldtimers hockey league. The Evergreen Pub (known as Canadian Tire last season) claimed top spot in the playoffs again this year. The team won four straight playoff games ta pet in to the Mar. 23 championship game against the SRD Blues. SRD gat on the board first with a goal in the first period of play, but that’s all they would get thanks to some great goaltending by Evergreen’s Ross Smith. Evergreen managed to put six shots between the pipes winning the final 6-1. “We just all come to- gether I guess,” said Ever- green team member Brad Owen. “Everybody pulls their own weight.” He said the playoffs were tough for a number of the teams because they took place over spring break and several players were out of town and un- able to play. “SRD was missing some of their better play- ers because of spring break so that hindered their game,” Owen said. Among the missing players was that team’s top scorer during regular season play, Darcey Alli- son. In the recreational divi- sioa the round robin com- petition was heated with All Seasons Lightning, the Chapter One Aeros, Back Eddy Pub and Nuyens Blasting Caps sitting very close together in the play- off standings. The final game saw Nuyens Blasting Caps take on All Season Lightning. Nuyens went on to overpower All Seasons defeating that team 5-2. Sports Scope Track athletes wanted YOUNG PEOPLE interested in taking part in track and field competitively have a new opportunity to make that happen. The Terrace Track and Field Association is looking for people aged 12-17 to train with other young com- petitors this spring and summer. The organization plans to send members to two big mects this. spring, “> ‘The first meet is-set-to go-May 11 in Kamloops ‘and the second is June 8 in Prince George, For more information contact Dighton at 635-2925. a Sieanceeebe COLIN DAVIES accepts his prize for winning the men’s open division at the Ruins Cup Mar, 17. Correction THE Mar. 27 Issue of The Terrace Standard incor- rectly identified the winner of the men’s open for the Ruins Cup boardercross as Colin Hansen. It was in fact Colin Davies who won the $500 prize, Karate clean up SEVERAL athletes from Terrace’s Shogoun dojo eamed top marks for their performances at this year’s prestigious Tiger Balm Martial Arts. Highlights include Val Jeffery’s gold in point fight- ing and silver in continuous. Mike Diana picked up a gold medal in point fighting and Liam Murphy picked up two gold medals in point fighting and con- tinuous fighting, Mario Furtado Sr. also received a gold for his point fighting and a silver in continuous. The Shogun dojo has three outlets in Smithers, Rouston and Terrace. All told Shogun athletes picked up 27 medals: 15 gold, 4 silver and 8 bronze. teams wrapped up the sea- son this year playing in two major tournaments Terrace sent two deve- lopment teams to the Tim Hortons Tournament of Nations in Sherwood Park, Alberta Mar. 22-24. The tournament brought logether a whopping 374 tingette and development hockey teams from Alber- ta, B.C., Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territor- ies, The Bunny division, ages 5-7, sent two teams of nine to the the event and one Petite team con- sisting of players aged 10 and 11. “Our kids loved it, they had a blast,” says Julie Wafzig a co-manager for one of the Bunny teams. sO much on competition but fun play and sports- manship. “It wasn't just the play- ing it was the team spirit and staying at the hotel, having a team dinner and — spending time together,” Wafzig said. The tournament fea- tured an Olympics-style opening ceremonies at Ed- monton’s Skyreach Centre complete with teams marching in and a torch being lit. Some of Terrace’s older players also took part in the provincial Tween championships in Vernon over Spring Break. The players aged 13 and under came home with a fourth place finish from the event. action rye TERRACE'S Bunny ringette players practice at home betore going to wood Park, Alberta for the Tim Hortons Tournament of Nations Mar: 22-24, : It was a development tournament for young players. Sher- =