eer awa ‘'SKEENA. ANGLER - ROB BROWN tuce Schwartz is an orhopedic surgeon, AS near as | can figure out from the enjoyable conversations we had over the course of the two days on which | guided him and his lovely wife Sher, he was born in the eastern United States where he learned to play old time fiddle. Bruce icarned to fish steclhead on the Deschutes River in Oregon. The thing I remember of the Deschutes was the hot dry wind blowing steadily, the camping anglers camped under the No Camping signs, and the flotilla of jet boals that raced to and ‘covered the bes! runs in the lower river just after daybreak, According to Bruce the pressure on the river was this intense when he fished it 30 years ago. In general, Americans are the most innovative people in the world. This goes for American anglers too. While we waspish Canucks are largely content ta make the traditional time tested British moves on our rivers and streams, the Yanks are constantly cut- ling and pasting and sewing and splicing in their - never ending quest to build better fish traps. The stripping basket worn around the wasle to hold memory jess monofilament shooting line, enabling _ its wearer to cast Jeaden shooting heads impossible distances, is an American invention, as are neoprene waders, PVC lines, and all manner of weird and dia- bolical fly designs. True to the tradition of Yankee innovation, Bruce Schwartz and his brother built - 8x12-inch hand paddles of plywood, slipped on -float tubes (which I’m betting are an American con- coction too) and began paddling into spots too tight for even the local guides. _— When Bruce first told me this, I protested float tubes were designed for lakes and using them in moving water was folly. Not so, said Bruce, Almost everyone in the stcelheading world has heard that ’ Fred Teeny, father of fishing personality Jim Teeny, drowned while attempting to cross an Oregonian river in a float tube, and without considering the mechanics involved, cite that incident as proof river tubing is perilous. When we are unable to make a wade on a river like the Copper, the distance between making the crossing and not making it is usually only 10 or 12 feet. Bruce will wade to that point, rod firmly ' attached fo his tube, spin around, stroke with his paddles untii his wading boots feel the bottom once again, then wade to shore. At this point he cither fishes out the run in the tube, or detubes and fishes the run without it. If the flow is too heavy or there ’ is some obstacle at the end of the run on this side, | ~ Bruce walks back to the head end and crosses back Over: simple. Since the time he and his brother pio- - neered this novel wading technique on the - Deschutes, Dr. Schwartz has tubed ail kinds of "rivers including the Dean, where he and his brother caught an awful lot of summer steelhead, and the - Kispiox, where an indignant guide scolded him for risking his wife's life by putting her in a tube. Bruce is adamant tubing rivers with circumspec- tion is no more dangeraus than wading, Sher, who has done quite a lot of it, agrees. So, why does an ; excellent angler like Bruce Schwartz need a puide? He doesn't. Realizing thal the enjoyable tempo for - him is too fast to make the fishing pleasant for his wife, Bruce hires someone like me to enhance her enjoyment, something I was more than happy to do, After two days of fishing Bruce turned to me and " remarked that the steelheading on the Skeena and _her tributaries was effectively all that was left. If -you think about for a moment, he’s right. The steelhead world has shrunk and continues to ; shrink. The rivers of late great steelheading statcs of Washington, Oregon, {daho and California have | shrivelled runs. The formerly great rivers of : Vancouver Island are over-logged, over-fished, and -. over-run with fishers. Aside from a few bright spots * like the Dean, and some remote rivers in Siberia, : we're il. This is why American steelheaders are all over »-the Bulkley, the Babine and Kispiox and upper floors of main stem Skeena, When you consider “| this state of fishy affairs, you start to get a feel for how precious Skeena steelhead are. Fortunately the vast majority of anglers, angling organizations, angling guides realize this and have indicated to the fisheries ministry they do not support a kill fishery for these fish, and the ministry has responded wisc- : ly. . ’ Even when they’re abundant, steelhead, as vet- eran anglers like Bruce Schwartz know well, are - the least abundant of anadromous salmonids. Here we have a chance to achieve historic ’ abundance and thereby harvest the economic, cul- tural, and spiritual rewards those wonderful crea- [> tures provide us. We owe il to the fish and the world todo that. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 27, 1999 - C1 638-7283 ‘NICE SAVE; The Terrace Pelite goalie stops an shot froma utes of the game. Four Terrace teams played against teams strong Prince George team during ihe team’s first tournament or from Prince George, Quesnel, and Houston in Terrace’s onty league game of the year. Terrace was down 0-5 in the early min- ringette event of the season. Rocking the rink: ringette grows again The all-Canadian game is gaining po- pularity in town THE NUMBER of people playing ringette in Terrace just keeps growing and Dianne Smith has the numbers to prove it. “Registrations are definitely up,” said ‘the Terrace club registrar before the club kicked off their first league play tourna- meat this season. Smith said the club pulled in 49 new and returning members to the rink this year. That’s an increase which demonstrates a trend in ithe sport’s popularity. The club has always drawn children who want to play hockey, but can't, bes cause of thal sport’s longer waiting list, Smith said. But this year more of the children (boys and girls included) signed directly into ringette, And (though that’s 4 good sign, the club is still experiencing a few growing pains, The club had to lobby hard for addition- al ice time last year just to give players more room to practice, And while their wish was granted in the form of 45 extra minutes this year, the club’s four teams still split the ice surface during practice. , “The extra 45 minutes helps a lttle,” said Smith. “We feel pretty good about re- pistration numbers.” “It just puts us in kind of a quandary.” This year, Terrace’s four. teams are’ Bunnies (aged four to seven), Novices (youth under 10), Petites (13 and i4-year- olds) and Juniors (aged 15 and 16). Terrace’s Juniors, many of whom have - played together for years will field a joint team with Houston to make history at the to the Northern B,C, Winter Games in Fort St James this year. Speaking of history, ringette’s has grown out of nowhere in just 36 years, Made in Ontario: Ringette was invented in 1963 by the late Sam Jacks, the director of Parks and Recreation in North Bay, Ontario, Jacks sald the sport as a gitl’s alterna- live to hockey ~ giving northern Ontario girls a winter team sport to call their own. Ironically, the first recorded game was played by the Espanola girls hockey team later that year. News of the new game as quick as hock- ey with basketball strategy spread fast and , in just 11 years the game’s popularity spread from province to province. In 1974, B.C. started its own ringetle as- sociation just to keep up. And by 1984, Canadians were out pitch- ing the sport to the Soviet Union, Finland and Sweden to promote ringette overseas. Since then, Canada has won many (but not all) international championships in Europe and the sport has been featured during national games such as the 1995 and 1998 Canadian Winter Games in Grande Prairie, Atberta and Corner Brook, New- foundland. Canada now boasts more than 50,000 ringette players worldwide. Rules of the Game: The game is set up with similar goal creases and blue lines as hockey but. the tules are a little different. : Ringette probably wouldn't have caught on so well if it wasn’t played on any stan- dard size hockey tink. Five skaters and a goalie are on the ice for each team, unless of course there are penalties being served. The object {s to score goals on the net of your opponent. The obvious visual difference is the stick — ringette players use ‘a straight stick with no blade, It is used to pass an elght- inch hollow rubber ring between team- mates. Like soccer, play is started by a “free pass.” On the referee's whistle, the player tak- ing the free pass has five seconds to piss the ring to a teammate and “hogging the’ play” is illegal - The ring must be passed over each blue line to another player. Like hockey, the game is played in per- iods — except the games are shorter, with two 20-minute periods per game. Penalties: Ringetle is billed as a kinder, gentler game than hockey and penalties (two-min- ute minors, four-minute majors. and game ejections) are’ doled out for: : WM Body checking Mi Cross checking W Interference Wi Playing with an illegal stick mM Boarding _ MTtipping . @ Delibcrately putting the ting out of play i High-sticking TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT: Terrace's Coflaen Smith tries to stop a Prince George player from controlling the ring during a Petite game. Terrace didn't win this game but the Juniors beat Quesnel 8-5 and Houston 11-10. ports Scope Scrabble tournament THE TERRACE Scrabble Club ts hosting ils second regio- nal Scrabble tournament on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Northwest Community College. Players from across the northwest will compete for a game package provided by Hasbro Canada and there are just a few openings left for this year’s tourniment., The tournament features two divisions: one for players rated by the National Scrabble Association, and one for players who enjoy the game at home and want to compete with other enthusiasts. . ; This year there will be a round robin of seven games and players must preregister by conlacling Waller Raedcke at 638-0433 or Phil Bialohzyski at 638-7974, The entry fee is $15. Attention snowmobilers THE SKEENA VALLEY snowmobile association is holding its annual general mecting at the Kin Hut, Nov. 2 at 7:30 m. P Up for discussion are the annual calender of events and election of officers for the 1999-2000 season. ; Your attendance and input would be greatly apprecia- ted, All snowmobilers are welcome. | i Association memberships are available at local snow- mobile dealers. Join-now to be eligible to a win the 2000 Arctic Cat Z370,0