Lines In Winter -SKEENA ANGLER ROB BROWN ne shivery late afternoon in February 1986, I threw my rod over the top of a steep bank and onto the crusty snow above with the kind of reckless nonchalance that accompanies fati- gue at the end of a long, arduous day. After a “couple swallows of cold air, I tested the resi- lience of a twisted young alder, put a toe into a root then hoisted myself up and over, clawing into the snow for the last few feet to narrowly avoid losing all the icy ground I'd gained. ' The snow clawed back. In the time it took to ' bring feeling back to my fingers the last shaft of " pale light was crushed and then extinguished between the ponderous sky and the bleak, . austere landscape. I dug around in the back of my pintail for my soggy mitts, pulled them on for no good reason, then picked up the rod and crunched through the failing flat tight toward the truck. I might have parked closer to the head of the trail, but the little Japanese diesel was growing increasingly mocdy and unpredictable as it died ‘of rust, so I left it perched, goat-like and in gear, on the top of a steep hill as a hedge against starting problems. - Being out alone on the river in winter is con- dusive ta somber reflections and restive imagin- ings. Thinking of the worst case scenarios on such outings is probably a natural prophylaxis at a time when breaking a leg at the bottom of an icy canyon will be an angler’s last accident. | thought a lot of those kind of thoughts over the course of that short day, and instead of limning the outing with excitement as they had in the past, they just exacerbated my irritability. .. 1985-86 had been a good season for fishing. I'd brought three more steelhead to the beach that day, pushing my total catch to over a hun- dred, most of them caught in the winter on a berry sized piece of latex molded in the shape of salmon eggs garnished with a teased length of chartreuse yarn. I’d fished hard, obsessively, until my motions became mechanical and the fishing predictable. Now, riding home I realized I’d overindulged. I felt that [’d eaten so much of my favourite food, I’d lost my taste for it, That spring I sold my casting rod and Silex ‘reel at a fire sale price and gave away all the other drift fishing gear, and with it any hope of fishing steelhead during the winter, for nobody “fly fished the rivers of Skeena during the cold months. The sabbatical lasted until F read that some hardy Brits routinely ventured out after salmon in the winter with two-handed fly rods. Waving a fly rod and wet fly iine around in frigid air soon caused them ta seize up as the rod guides plugged with ice in much the same way the fuel line. of my deceased Datsun did. But, thanks to the mechanics of Spey casting, the two handed rod could be cast without shoot- ing line, thus avoiding iced guides. Two fisted poles were neither inexpensive or plentiful then, But the ancient angling houses of Hardy and Orvis made them. The next’ problem to overcome — and it was considerable — was to get a lure down to the fish. With my rubber roe and split shot suspended from a balsa float, I could get down deep to dour steelhead and stay there. Even in the sluggish winter currents and low winter water, it proved impossible to get down to the fish with factory built sinking lines. To overcome this hardship it was necessary to knot together homemade lines built of fast sinking shooling lines called “Hi-speed Hi-D, the “ID” standing for density. These hybrids per- formed better than their commercial counter- parts, but not much better until] Doug Webb started augmenting them with short lengths of lead core trolling line. There were lots of bright fly patterns around when we first starting pursuing winter steelhead with our fly rods, but we reasoned that since the fish didn’t like to move very far, the best pattern to seduce them required as much built-in motion as possible, For that reason, we assembled them from soft marabou feathers lashed to heavy hooks. I came up with a pink concoction called Seafood, then Webb came up with a black and orange variant we dubbed Trick or Treat. -Fly rodders need to wade more than spin or drift fishers do, so cold became a real problem. Doug solved his with hand warmers on his feet, and by gluing large boots on neoprene stocking foot waders. I kept comfortable by layering _ under latex boots. Thanks to breakthroughs in line manufacture, a winter flyrodder can now buy lines that will prdbe the depths as effectively as our home made models, and there’s an array of two handed rods to choose from. The winter fly fish- ‘ Ing steelheader will never catch as many steel- head as a competent drift fisher, but the chal- “lenge is greater and the sport more rewarding. It _ tejuvenated winter steelheading for me. one another, TERRACE STANDARD x: SPORTS The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 5, 2001 - BS 638-7283 m@ Hamming It up A MEMBER of the Harlem Crowns hams it up during a game against area emergency workers. The Crowns entertained a nearly full Caledonia gymnasium Nov. 24 wowing the crowd with their basketball playing ability and a big dose of humour. Spectators were drawn out of the crowd to play along with the Crowns’ antics. The Crowns came to town as a fun- draiser for the Skeana boys basketball team. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO, # a ey, on a, ag tg He: ve eg ag Pata ent ae on eae aetna an he pout SABRENA HARVEY and Nicole Lindsay took to the ice two weeks ago as they earned their gold dance accreditation, It’s the highest level of dance achieve- ment for figure skaters in the northwest and it marks the beginning of the girls’ last year with the Terrace Skating Club. “We've competed against cach cther since we were little,” says Nicole Lind- say, The two girls, now 17, started in the Canskate program at the age of five. They continued through the ranks of figure ska- ting, travelling together, billeting together and competing against one another. NICOLE Lindsay and Sabrena Harvey both earned their gold dance this year. Last year for senior skaters “At first it was competitive,” says Sa- brena Harvey. “But now, il’s like, you beat me, oh well.” Both girls found solace in their years with the skating club. Travelling to meets introduced them to new friends and a sense of friendly competition. But it’s the feeling of being on skates . that means the most to them. : “For me, it’s the freedom,” says Lind- say. “I love going out there, skating to the music and expressing myself.” Both girls are going in different direc- tions after they graduate in June, but one thing’s for certain — they’l! keep skating. White back on top. AFTER WEEK 9 Team While and Blue were tied for top spot in Midget House Hockey, but in Week 10 the two teams looked to pet ahead of | AT THE ARENA TYLER NOBLE Mean- while, Team Red has yet to get out of third place this. season. They were looking to do just that in their pair of games in the season’s 10th week. Team Red's first game was against Team White, in the Monday night match- up. After beating up an Team Blue 9-1 in week 9, it was important for White not to get too relaxed for Team Red. Red had a short bench and it showed. With three minutes to go in the opening frame, and White up 1-0, Kory Yamashita scored on an untouched point shot to make the score 2-0, Red was able to hold off White in the second with many great chances to get on the board. But, in the third things fell apart. With 7:34 on the clock, Ryan Nixon posted his third of the season to put White up 3-0. Team Red continued pressing to at least score one goal, but they could not solve White goaltender Donny van Dyk, It was a frustrating night for Team Red as they ended up being blanked 5-0. .-. Continued Page B10 Sports Scope McDougall rink goes down in three THE CARDS were stacked against Terrace’s Me- Dougall rink when they took on the province's best in Smithers Nav, 9-11, The Provincial Mixed Championships set the scenc for a disappointing outcome for the local team con- sisting of consists of Skip Kevin McDougall, Third Kim MacDougall, Second Duane Melanson and Lead Joan Kucharyshen. Eight teams took part in the triple knock-out format tournament — lose three games and your team is eli- minated from the tournament. . Terrace’s team had a tough draw right off the bat taking on the Lapine rink Surrey. It was a good game that went into an extra end, but Lapine came out on top. The Lapine rink also went on to earn the title af provincial champions. Next up for the McDougall rink was the team that eventually took second spot in the province, the Craig tink from Shawnigan Lake. “It just wasn’t our best curling,” said Third Kim MacDougall. “We were having a lot of trouble call- ing the ice and reading the ice.” After losing to the Craig rink, McDougall took on the Barry McPhee rink from Kamloops and lost their third straight game, thus eliminating the Terrace team from the tournament. KRISTIAN VIDAL is eager to take part in Jan- uary's youth soccer school. Soccer camp scheduled LOOKING fer a way to keep your kids entertained on cald January days? Playing some indoor soccer may be just the ticket. Nick Kollias’ youth indoor soccer school is slated to run on Saturdays for four consecutive weeks start- ing Jan. 5. Children looking to participate must have been en- rolled in Terrace Youth Soccer during the 2001 sea- son. The classes are for boys and girls aged five to 14, Sessions last an hour and a half. Last year’s soccer school drew hordes of children who leamed about ball control, dribbling, shooting and receiving. Registration is at the Terrace Arena. For details call Nick at 635-9231. Peewees rock tourney SIMPLY PUT, Terrace’s Peewee Rep team was unstoppable during a AA hockey tournament in Quesnel Nov. 23-25. The River Industries Peewee reps played five games in the tourney and skated cir- cles around almost every team they met. In their first match-up Terrace met Williams Lake, winning 6-1. Next up was Kilimat. Terrace took this one a whopping 12-4. And just to prove they could reach the double digits in the scoring one more time, they beat out Merritt’s peewecs 12-1. In their last game of the tournament, Terrace faced the host team, Quesnel, and won this one by a much closer margin of 6-4. That left the tournament final where Terzace met Quesnel one more time. Up until meeting Terrace in the previous game, Quesnel had gone unbealen in tournament play. It was going to be a close one. But Terrace was determined to come out of this tourney undefeated, and that’s just whal they did. The Peewees beat Quesnel in a close final, winning 5-3. MacDougall rink cleans house in PG TERRACE’s powerhouse women’s curling rink is gelling serious. In an effort to get as much game play as possible before the zone playdowns next week, the women are hitting cash spiels around the province, And so far, so good. The MacDougall rink went to a Prince Gcorge cash spiel Nov. 3-4 and nabbed second spot in the tourney with men’s and women’s rinks facing off. The skins format saw money on the line for each end, “It was very exciting because we curled well and made some amazing shots,” said Kim MacDougall, The team won $7506 for their efforts. They'tl take on the zone Here this weekend at the Terrace Curling Club. For details call 635-5233.