Page B4 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 8, 1992 On “June 21 I ran over “Wanda... __. It was the longest day of the year and the accident made it longer. I was very fond of Wanda. ‘We'd spent a lot of memorable time together. Wanda was with me one evening when the late Stan Hill and i fished five wild Coquihalla summer run steel- pun he called the Sluice Box. Tt had becn:a bittersweet day, “especially for Stan who had fished the river since. before ‘the war and - ‘seeing ‘pioneer Tommy Brayshaw and Bill Cunliffe. angle . the. School House Pool, the Frustration -Runand Lear, ° . Since that. time the Kettle Valley Railway. had ‘stopped remembered been run up the valley, Carolin into the stream. Stan had seen, the rugged litte river and. her.. tough, ‘power packed steelhead with- ‘blow. That day the river was under siege again, this time by ‘road builders charged with the . bound for Merritt via ithe Co- quiballa Pass. late afternoon. Some flyfishers _ came after supper. There were _ only four of them, but to Stan “they were a crowd. At his sug- -gestion we moved downstream to the Sluice. Box and the “newly-formed but inviting run . below it. Until darkness . ‘chased “Us ‘from the river we struggled _.with steclhead. that smashed strikes. - ; Wanda. was with me on the 1 _ Acrushing loss | head out of the shadows of the . steelheaders — running, transmission lines had. Mines had spilled toxic tailings : ‘stand and rebound after each’ “construction of a freeway © The road builders left i in the “our - flies with, heart-stopping - The Skeena Angler | by Rob Brown | Stellako on a warm July eve- ning when the largest batch of caddis flies I’ve ever seen filled the air like dancing - snow, I was standing thigh deep in .the Cabin Pool, my pockets filled with fly boxes, none of which contained a credible match for those caddis. In desperation I modified a Muddler Minow with a few - scissor snips then proceeded to fool a large number of large ‘rainbows without moving far from my spot. Wanda was with my daughter Allison and I in a boat one night on Co-op Lake when hoots alerted us-to an owt whose silhouette “was. sharply defined for us by a full moon, It was ~Allison’ s first owl. - Her second sighting was a year later when we were rat- tling home over the Beam Sta- tion Road and from nowhere a. bird with the wingspan of an “eagle was in front of us. I nar- rowly avoided hitting it, "What » was it?" gasped Al, "A great grey owl," I answered. Wanda ‘was with us then too.” Wanda was lithe, quick aid light. She felt like a wand, hence’ her name, 1 bought ber in Prince George more than ten years ago for a hundred dol- lars. I had'a bundle of flyrods, but Wanda was my favourite from then until now, Together we fished rivers, lakes, estuaries, creeks and ponds: with her assistance I caught rainbows, cutthroals, dolly varden, steelhead, brook trout, jack springs, white fish, pink salmon, squaw fish and even few tubber lipped suck- ers. On that last fateful day, I'd hooked afew tar paper trout in Gaynor Lake. Wearily we crawled up. the bank. Finlay violated the first law of rod care when he laid both our rods on the road instead of propping them up. I backed up. the Datsun, pulled out the hair’ ‘trigger emergency brake and stupidly jumped into the box in order to drag the boat up and into it. The brake failed, I scrambled ‘into the cab and jammed on the foot ‘brake before the truck . §- could rolf over the embank- ment into the Jake. Fin moaned, "Yer toe?" [ yelled. "Worse," said Fin shaking his head. — I got out. and viewed Wanda’s splintered remains. She done for, Wanda was not made of ex- pensive cane or of high modulus graphite, but she had an action that perfectly fitted my casting style. She’s proba- bly impossible to replace. rit miss her. . Men’: Ss Slow Pitch — oN June 26. SKB SKB Wréckers . 14 Innof the West June 29. . co, ta - Terrace Paving. . . Inn of the West Custom. Cycle (oD, KB Virecke a July 1 Le : Radon AR, te IS ee, Terrace. Paving . whe » Custos Cycle Dey . ‘Team - Towle Beate wk oT. GBL _ SKB. Molson Wreckers AAS ON ae “Inn of the- West.” qo SOS . Terrace Custom: cycle : ad eee pare | ee Rudons ‘6 870 85 ret A : j isga'a’ | og A Aaucomen |. Hockey | Society Swim Club} antipovery | tribal Councii | fu Skating Order of |. Little . ‘ Facens . Terrace | Kermode.| Terrace - purple | Assoc, Faron Far coalition for the i i i — "Franc Advancement Minor Friendship Peaks Terrace Nisga’a “Shamas | “of Education | Hockey Society |Gymnastics| Anti Poverty | Tribal Counci! Ski Club: i _ T Canadian Minor a 20 22 Terrace! 23 747 24 Paraplegic 25 Soltball "oat eS she Terrace | Kermode Air Cadets Assoc, |-—— ingr i / nettes Advancement Minor Friendship Shrine Club Terrace Nisga’a of Education | Hockey Society No.18 Anti Poverty’ | Tribal Council | Figure Skating 26 o7 29 30 Order a 3 ‘Ganacian fal joya araplegic ' ~ Terrace “Terraca + | Kermode Terrace - Purple Asbor. Community Band | Minar Baseball Friendship Peaks Terrace “Nisgea . ; : ociet} mnas Ics] Anti Poverty ribal jounncl le S00 {ey i Tt hal. io Se Sat. ‘Afternoon Games Evening Games ‘Doors 44 30 am. “Games 42: 45 Doors 4:30 p.m. _ Thurs. File Sat. Late Night Games Doors 9:30 p.m. TV. MONITORS SMOKE REMOVAL AISLE CONCESSION | Games 6:15 Games 10:00 p.m. im WEST FRASER MILL TERRACE TRUCK & DIESEL 183M 91. AVMHSIH — SHOPPERS AUTO MART *WE ARE - ERED AUadNY SONI OL SANOE St, OVEN OVERPASS Hes 5412 Hwy. 16 West, Terrace EE SKEENA MALL iWE ARE HERE and we’ ‘re here with savings for you! | Drop by. today and see how. affordable our” | . ‘pre-owned vehicles can be. — 635-5553 eerus