SKEENA ANGLER.
ROB BROWN

They ran as one

ART OF THE attraction were the
Canada Geese — not small flocks
of 10 or 12 birds, but those great,
~ muscular, dynamic Vs, fifty to a
hundred | birds strong, rippling across the
darkening sky, moving noisily and. -precisely,
Slicing through the cold, demanding air ou their
way south.’ -

And there was the landscape, the trees bumt —
red and yellow and orange; hues more vivid
than those on the palette of the most imagina-
tive: impressionist; - the ‘snow moving at a’
measured. pace from the tops of the jagped
tnountainsto the lowlands and finally down to
the valley and. the tops of the cabins.

There were the mountains fa away, turning
pink under the oblique rays of the autumn sun,
and the steep slopes nearby, sometimes wrapped
in mist, sometimes backlit by. ‘the spikes of
Northern Lights.

There was the smell of. ‘Autumn, a musk made
. of the fragrances of fires, dying. leaves, —
- decomposing salmon, mushrooms and the earth
of the forest Noor. .

Then there were the valley people: ranchérs,
fishermen, loggers © and natives — friendly,
rugged, self-reliant: folk, happy with their sur-'
roundings arid proud to be part of them,

There was Olga's friendship, the robust meals”
at the lodge and the fine companionship on cof.

fee nights, -

"And there was the river, at times slow and:

‘gentle, at times fast and angry; at-times- stingy: tas Pesere.,

and difficult, at times kind and generous,

“ALL of: these’ thiliigs” shaped ‘a’ deép’ love’ affair.”
between Fay Davis and the Kispiox and kept = ~
him coming back, ‘driving well over: a thousand:
miles each season for 20 seasons,

The first years were exploratory. Fay waded
the waters of the Dundas, probed Four Mile,
sought fish in the Root Cellar, the Potato Patch,

He began fishing when the. salmon were still
spawning and ‘fishéd until ice made the banks -
treacherous | and choked the runs. He- fished
hard, though a. lot, experimented, and, over the
years, developed an uncanity knack for catching
Kispiox Steelhead:

The wear of the seasons limited his move-
ments until Fay's beat consisted of less than a
mile of water.

The Woods: Pool, Fay’ 5° Run, the: Washing .
Machine-and the fabled Cottonwoods were all |
within. comfortable walking distance of his
rustic cabin. perched on the “edge of Olga’s
camp. He concentrated on them, getting’ to
know every riffle, depression and bar, noting
their changes and solving cach problem the
river set him.

Six years ago I made the scenic drive 1o the
Kispiox to spend an afternoon fishing. It was
late in the season, The water was low and cold,
All but:a few hardy fishermen had left the val-
ley, and none of them were fishing,

I slipped into my waders, covered the rest of
my body in wool and slid in at the head end of
the Cottonwoods. I was. standing in the tail of |
ihe pool at the end of my second fruitless pass
through it when Fay appeared at its head, :

He made a few casts where I had a short time
before and hooked a steelhead.

I walked up to watch him play it. It was a big
fish. Fay looked almost too frail to handle it, but
he did, skillfully.

Afterward we talked. I asked for his secret in
the course of our conversation, He scratched the
grizzled stubble on his chin, then looked at me
with his washed-out blue eyes,

“They've all golla pass by heré,’” he told me
in his raspy voice, ‘I just follow their foot-
steps.’’

The river changes. There are changes along-
side the river, Olga has sold the lodge. Fay did
not make the trip for the last two seasons.

I spoke to him a short time ago. He wanted to
sell his memoirs and donate the proceeds to the
Wild Steclhead Cainpalgn, to help fight for the
gteat fish of the river he loved so much.

‘‘How’s your health,” I asked.

“J don’t like to talk about it,’ he said, then
quickly shifted topics.

Marylou phoned this weck and told me Fay
passed on. Coincidentally, I'd been reading
through his memoirs.

“You may, yeam and strive to earn a place in
the river’s heart,’ he wrote. “Your pulse will
pair with this river so rare, should you wish to
become a part.”’

Fay’s Run is still there, a few yards from the
Cottonwoods, part of the river just as he is part
of the river's history. -

So long, Fay,

Tight lines,

(Rob Brown is taking a break this week: The ,

‘Saptember 06, 1995

column abave first appeared iti October, 1993.) --

FOR SOME occasional
bowlers, the game’s scoring

“System has always been some-

what mystical, even a dis-
incentive to more, frequent
tipsto the lanes.  ~

And for those who do'under- .

stand how it all works, the
need to record everything can
still be something of an in-
convenience,

But those days are now gone
at the Terrace Lanes, the first
facility in the northwest to in-
stall automatic scoring.

Ata cost of $65,000, Doug
and Marg Mumford admit it
was a daunting decision. “We
backed off it for a couple of
years because of the cost,’
says Doug, adding the price
tag represented half what they
had originally paid for the
business 20 years ago. :

“You always wonder if
you're doing the right thing

_ when you spend that amount

of money.’’

However, he says the univer-
sally positive reaction to the
new system has quickly
banished any doubts.

A month after firing the sys-
tem up, Marg says the reaction
has been excellent. ‘‘It was
exactly what a lot: of people
wanted, especially people who
enjoyed bowling but couldn’t
score.’? .

The addition seems to be
particularly popular with
youth bowlers, she adds.
“We've gat more coming in

-during open play.”
__ Even seasoned players like
vg theese dees

“There's not

someone “being left out. to.
score,”’ Doug explains. ‘‘It’s
more relaxed for everyone and
there’s more socializing. ”
When bowlers come in, they
give their names to the person

. ‘behind the desk. These are
"then entered on the computer
‘and appear. ‘on the screen:

above ‘the lane or. lanes the
players will be using.
Flashing - arrows indicate
whose turn it is to throw and
which lane they are on for that
ball. The score is updated after
every ball. And if you nail a

The gold
rush’s on

WHEN THE buses pulled

away from the Happy gang

Centre early Monday morning,
Zone 10 Seniors were hoping
the road they were heading out
on led to gold.

As in gold medals at this
year’s B.C. Senior Games.
Held in Oliver and Osoyoos
this time around, the Games
got underway today and cnd
this Saturday.

The northwest has sent it’s
largest entry yet, totalling 122
athletes, nearly half of whom
are from Terrace. They’re also
being accompanied by a

cheering section of a couple of

dozen.

And the athletes will be
hoping to keep up another up-
ward trend of recent years —
more medals with every suc-

. ceeding Games. —

_ A number of Terracites are
going back as defending
champs in some of the events.
Joe Mandur and Renate Davis

_ picked up five and one gold

medals respectively at last
year’s Games in Prince
Rupert.

Track team members Bill
Bennett, Bud Kirkaldy and
Maxine Smallwood — earned
four top spot gongs while May
McFarland and — Rotande
Gagne will be trying to emu-
late their card-sharking per-
formance in duplicate bridge.
More. than 2,000 athletes are
expected to take part i in ‘this

- year’s Games,

“MALCOLM BAXTER 638-7283

ands off scoring

BOWLING GAMES take lass time and everyone gets to concentrate on n bowling -

now.a computer keeps track of the pin fall, posting scores to overhead screens.

‘Strike, the screen announces it

in grand style with a large yel-
low X flashing against the
- blue background.

Doug points out automatic
scoring is the latest in a long
line of changes the couple

“have seen since getting into
the business. Lanes are not
nearly as noisy as they used to
be and mechanical failures
which used to be all too. fre-
quent on the old equipment are
now a rarity.

But despite all the invest- :
ment that was required to-—
bring about those changes, he.

says the sport still remains ano

inexpensive one to enjoy.
And automatic scoring. just ,
makes it that more enjoyable,

Court crowns retained

PHEW. After a couple of close calls in earlier
matches, Richard Krieg! and Dee Jenion got the
job done in convincing style i in the final.

.on the men’s side where —

DEFENDING | champions.
did just that at this year’s
Terrace Tennis club
championships. ,
Fran Mann defeated Ema
Motschilnig 8-5 to take the
ladies’ singles title, then -
joined forces with Nancy
Condon to drop Motschilnig.
and Diane Cey 8-4 in the
doubles. :
The dual titles were a.:}°
repeat of last year’s per-
formance by Mann.
And it was the same story.

Richard Krieg] - outgunned
Guy Gregoire 8-1 in the
singles, then added the dou-
bles when he and Jeremy
LaFontaine repeated their
*94 success, getting by Neil

Fleischmann and. Gordon
Woodd 8-6,
And Krieg! successfully

defended one more title be-
fore the tourney ended, al-
though he and partner Dee
Jenion had to sweat through
two tie-breaker results to get
to the final.

There, however, the pair
were firing on all cylinders,
tuming back Diane and
Chuck Cey 8-1 in the Mixed
Doubles final.

The closed event was the .
last tournament of the season
for the club, but they’ll still
be out playing on club nights ..
while the weather holds up.
Check the Sports’ Menu for:
playing days and times, _