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DAVE TAYLOR

SKEENA ANGLER
ROB BROWN

Shop till you drop

nother Yule is soon upon us, so last

Friday night I stuck a notepad in a

pocket of my winter coal and

headed for the tackle stores after
gift tips for the outdoorsy, fisher-type person
that may be lurking somewhere in your life. My
first stop on this year’s hunt was Northcoast
Angiers, the rod and gun store appropriately lo-
cated at the confluence of Kalum and Lakelse,
second home to the Murays, Randy and Leona,
where I found plenty of tips to stuff this annual
stocking-like column.

Randy, who was resting after being washed
ashore by one of the first waves of Christmas
shoppers, put down a cold piece of pizza crust
he was unable to get to when it was hot, reached
under one of his counters, and pulled out a
Peetz Reel in response to my query about new
products.

For those of you new to angling, or unfamiliar
with the ways of salt chucking, Peetz reels are
wooden stalwarts in that sport, beautifully un-
adorned and beautiful in their simplicity. This
particular Peetz had the marbled hardwocd fin-
ish as well as the brass foot and fittings, but
where, on the fishingly functional models there
is only a depression centered by a wing nut, this
model had a clock face. On the flip side, a small
plastic cabinet with a miniature speaker grill
was inset, Randy produced a pair of triple A
batteries with a magicianly slight of hand and
inserted them deftly.

‘'Listen to this,”’ he insisted as he engaged the

+ alarm with the casy familiarity of someone who

had done so many times.

The reel began to run —~ or at least a record-
ing of the reel did. A gentle voice whispered,
“Wake up. You've got a bite,’’ whereupon the
warm resonant drag of metal wrapped in wood
increased in speed and volume. $129 and taxes
would not be too much to pay to free oneself
from the agony of the electronic buzzers and
bells of more conventional indoorsy alarms, but
another patron who'd been drawn by the demo,
revealed a potential drawback when he sug-
gested the peel of the Peetz might just as easily
encourage a newly wakened sleeping angler to
roll over and dream.

The Murrays also stock products made or
procured by the Orvis Company of Vermont.
Orvis is the American equivalent of the
venerable House of Hardy. They do not produce
junk. If you want the Mercedes Benz of trout
outfits, I urge you to buy one for a trout junkie
near and dear to you, but the price, naturally,

will be high. I was taken with an Orvis flask.

Made of pewter, thin, ergonomic and capable of
holding 8 oz, these vessels will give you some-
thing to nip at when the wind bites.

Both North Coast and my next stop, Fish

Tales, carry some of Don Horsfield’s leathery
handiwork. The stcelheader’s fy wallet, which I
designed and Don executed so beautifully, is a
useful item that will last a lifetime or two.

Dave Elkins manager of Fishtales on Highway
16, has assembled a selection of fly tying and
flyfishing equipment the equal of anything out-
side of the two largest shops in Vancouver. If
you want materials or tools this is the place to
buy.

Dave has also recently acquired the Patagonia
line of outdoor wear. When you fork over the
dough it may seem like you're being fleeced but
you simply can't beat this stuff, It’s impossible
to enjoy fishing or any other outdoor aclivity
when you're uncomfortable. The various layers
of fleece offered by Patagonia is light, wicks
and keeps you comfortable, not hot. The few
‘pieces [ have stand up like steel and it looks
good to boat.

If the fisher in your life wants to try some-
thing different perhaps a belly boat is the ans-
wer, I have spoken to more than few belly
boaters. All of them rave about the craft. A bel-
ly boat or float tube may cost anywhere from
$150 to $400, To operate one, fins and
neoprene, stocking foot waders are a must, so
take their price into consideration, Fish Tales
and Northcoast carry them as does the Misty
River Tackle Shop on Agar Ave.

Misty River was my last stop on the hint hunt.
There [ was shown around by Troy Bangay. If
you are looking for spinning gear, especially
reels, the large selection stocked by. proprietor,
Brian Patrick is worth browsing through. Misty
River, like the other two specialty stores, had
some high end single casting reels made by
J.W, Young of England. These beautiful, ald
fashioned reels sell for about $400,

All lackle stores are fine places to find stack-
ing stuffers. Misly River, for example, has three
different kinds of bar fishing bells, bags of pink
worms, scads of Krystal Bullets and a robust se-
lection of outdoor cutlery. Happy shopping,

COMBINE THE fast pace of hock-
ey with the great game of soccer
you’ve got one exciting sport — in-
door soccer.

The sport has really taken off in
Terrace. Our town now boasts six
teams im the men’s league and
some 35. players in the women’s
league.

Both groups will have cily repre-
sentatives at the Northen BC
Winter Games here in February.
And Lorenzo Campanelli of the
men’s league says that they should
do well.

“The Terrace team will be a
select squad of players chosen from
the league teams,’’ he says. ‘‘Kind
of like an all-star team,’”

Campanelli says that with the
growing popularity of the sport, be
expects to see some sliff compeli-
tion at (he games,

“It'll be pretty intense,’’ he says.
“A lot of towns now have
leagues.”

Campanelli says the popularity of
the sport in the north probably
stems from if being a fast-paced
version of soccer that can be played
in the winter.

‘Most of the guys are the same
people who play saccer,’’ he says.
“This way you can play all year
long.”’

The game is played in a gym-
nasium with five players a side, in-
cluding the goalie. The goals are
standard, hockey-sized nets, ringed
by a crease. Players aren’t allowed
in the crease,

All of the walls are in-bounds up

to about the six-foot mark and the
ceiling is out of bounds. Booting
the ball out results in a free kick by
the opposing team. And just like in
outdoor soccer, you can’t use your
hands.
‘ Twelve-year indoor — soccer
veteran Shelley Milton says the
fast-pace keeps her coming “back.
The 23-year-old is also a ski patrol-
ler at Shames who admits to being
a bit of a speed freak.

“7 love it/’ she says. ‘‘I’s
definitely not boring and you get a
Teally great workout.”’

That fast pace, combine with a
smal court means players are con-

TERRACE .

SPO

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 11, 1996 - C1

RIS

638-7283

INDOOR SOCCER enthusiast Shelley Milton takes a shot during a practice at Veritas School. Milton will
be one of the players on tlie women's team for the Northem Winter Games.

stantly drilling balls at the goal-
tenders from close range, but
Millon says padded gloves help to
ease the pain.

The ball is also specially
designed for indoor soccer. It’s
slightly smaller and softer than its
outdoor counterpart, with a fuzzy
coating that gives il some grip and
makes it a little casicr to control.

Milton says the Terrace women’s
team should also be competitive at
the games,

“We have 35 eitls to narrow

down lo a team of 11,” she says.
**We should be able to put together
a good, strong team.’’

Bul Milton cautions that some
recent injuries have taken a few
veterans out of the lineup for the

season.
“‘And we lost our best goalkeeper
when she moved to Prince

Rupert,”’ she says. ‘‘So we have
quite a few new faces this year,’’

The women play every Tuesday
and Thursday evening at Verilas
school, while the men have three
lcague games on Sunday nights at
Caledonia.

Inexperience curbs Cal girls

LAST BUT not least,

That was how the
Caledonia girls’ volleyball
squad finished off their sea-
son two weekend ago in the
lower mainland.

‘The girls were in North
Vancouver for the Provin-
cial Girls AAA volleyball
finals. They faced 15 other
teams representing zones
around the province.

The team faced a grueling
three-day, 11 game schedule
thal pitted them against the

best teams in B.C. They
fought a hard battle, but
when the smoke finally
cleared, the girls had to
settle for 16th place in a
field of 16,

However, last —_ place
doesn’t necessarily mean
the team played pourly,
Coach Jackie Thomsen says
she’s quite proud of the
team’s performance.

“Every game they played
was really good,’’ she says,
“T was quite happy with

haw they did,”

Thomsen says the dis-
appointing finish doesn’t ac-
curately represent the
team’s effort.

“They were in every
game,’’ she says, “If you
look at the points for and
against, we actually did
quite well. The games were
very close,”’

Thomsen points out thal
Cal had a hard-fought game
against Centennial High out
of Coquitlam. The Terrace

. 3 . _ . .
= Special delivery
LAST WEEKEND saw curlers come from all over for the Senior Men's Zone

Playdowns at the Terrace Curling Club. Winners of the tournament go to the
Provincial Championships tater this month,

team played well in the
match, losing by respectable
15-11 and 15-8 scores.

Yet it was Coquillam who
ended up taking lop spot.
The southern girls walked
over many of their ap-
ponents to win the Provin-
cial Championships,

That shows how well
they stacked up,’? says
Thomsen. *‘We just didn’t
have the finish to put the
other teams away, cven

when we were on top.”’

Thomsen says that a big
part of the probiem was that
half the team consisted of:
rookic players.

“Our lack of game experi-
ence really did us in,’’ she
says. ‘‘That- was probably
the biggest factor,”’

Thomsen says that with a
number of good rookies
returning, the Cal girls
aren’t likely to be in the
basement next season.

Free lifts
lure skiing
enthusiasts

SHAMES MOUNTAIN
opened up last Friday with a
dump of fluffy white stuff
and a plethora of skiers
looking for a Free day of fun
on the slopes.

The day started overcast
with some 17 centimetres of
new snow to give skiers
some powder to play in, and
play they did,

“It was just a batg-up
day,” says Shames
Mountain manager Tim
Mellon. ‘‘Full of fun and
frolic.”’

Mellon says the Salvation
Army really benefited from
the food bank, It was set up
all day, and received heaps
of donations.

“They got everything
from Kraft Dinner to Shred-
dies to baby food,’’ he says.
“It was great to see that
kind of support.”

Seventeen oul of . the

mountain’s 19 mins were
open. And although the
base, at 50 centimetres,
wasn’t tremendous, Mellon
says he got nothing but
favourable comments about
the conditions,

“It was beautiful powder
and packed powder,’ he
says, ‘We had flurries off
and on all day which added
toi’?

This is Mellon's first sea-
son at Shames and he says

. he was impressed with bow

the staff worked together to
help hundreds of anxious
skiers,

“‘] was really impressed,’
he says. ‘‘They're a great
bunch,”

Shames Mountain is now
open from Wednesday lo
Sunday. To find out about
daily ski conditions, call the
snow liné at 638-8754 or
638-8775,