B6 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 5, 2003

SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN

“SKEENA ANGLER:
ROB BROWN

KFC

right flies, the ones known as attrac-

tors were the dressings that first at-

tracted us in thase days years ago

when we first waded waist deep
waving our newly acquired fly rods. Of course
all flies are attractors, some provoking fish be-
cause they capture enough of the motion of fa-
youred feed, others because they mimic the
shape of fish forage.

Not surprisingly, the patterns that embrace”

both these attributes are the best fish traps. The
muddler minnow, which darts like forage fish,
floats like a stone fly, and could even be mista-
ken for an emerging sedge pupa swimming top-
side embracing an air bubble, is one of those.
The venerable woolly worm, which looks noth-
ing like a worm and a lot like a caterpillar or
stone fly, or a shaggy beetle, or a cased caddis,
and a host of terrestrial delicacies at the same
time, is another.

Among angling cognoscenti the attractors are
those dressings that bear no intentional resem-
blance to any natural creature that might be
taken by a fish. The fully dressed feather-winged
Atlantic salmon flies are the most flamboyant
representatives of this fly genre.

John Scott who, according to his contempor-
aries, was one of the keenest and hardiest of
sportsmen in the British Isles, a man who spent
at least half of his time standing in water, and
much of the other half stalking deer, designed
the most well known fly of this excessive Vic-
torian genre and ‘named ‘it after himself, ‘To can-

: struct his “Jock Scott,” a brilliant, but:typical; °
‘ example of the excessive Victorian stylé of fly

dressing, Scott availed himself of plumage from
all over the British Empire - Black ostrich herl,
spotted gallina yellow toucan feathers, hackles
from ao jungle cock, golden pheasant tail,
bustard plumage, peacock herl and sword, swan
quills, blue chatterer cheeks, mallard flank, and
strips of blue and red macaw, all wrapped on a
blind eyed salmon hook with silk from the orient
and embellished with ribs of twisted gold and

silver tinsel — to construct his attractor. Many
salmon were killed with it.

The collapse of the Empire and the conse-
quent scarcity of exotic feathers forced salmon
fly dressers to streamlined but equally gaudy
patterns, many of which wound up in the boxes
of pioneer steelhead fishermen. The steelhea-
ders retained the proportions of the classic sal-
mon dressings but began using material readily
available to them. Patterns like Ken McLeod’s
Skykomish Sunrise, with its polar bear wing,
Martin Tolley’s Polar Shrimp, and Wes Drain’s
Skunk, were bright, flashy weaponry in the ar-
senal of almost all steelheaders.

Driven by the never ending quest to build a
better fish trap, many of us began experimenting
with drab insect like patterns that we fished
nearer the surface. My own flies started to look
more like trout patterns as the seasons passed.
I'm convinced that these imitative patterns work
better than the traditional attractor patterns for
most of the year, but when winter comes the al-
tractor is a necessily.

For years I used Doug Webb’s predominantly
black Trick or Treat exclusively for my winter
steelheading. I did well with it until this winter
when I began experimenting with the KFC,

The KFC or Kitimat Fire Chief, gets its
jame from Bill Dawson who served in that posi-
tion until his retirement not so lang ago. Bill
showed me a bright pattern reminiscent of the
Skykomish Sunrise, but built of marabou. He
thought the pattern was originated by Alec
Jackson of Washington State, but wasn't sure.

The pattern had a silver tag, a butt of yellow
dubbing carefully placed to lift the yellow mar-
abou wound on in front of it. In front of that
plume, also wound like chicken hackle, was a
plume of red marabou, A third marabou plume
of orange was wound ahead of that. “I’ve caught
steelhead behind roe fishermen on the Kitimat
with this fly,” Bill said, This was strong recom-
mendalion, for Bill is a self-effacing guy who is
reluctant to talk about his successes.

My first outings with the fly were prompted
by the fact that I] found myself fishing behind
pear fishers. In both cases fish that had ignored
whirring spoons and rubber roe, came to the fly.
Encouraged by these results but unwilling to
leave well enough alone, [ tied the pattern with
fluorescent varieties of the same hues, mounted
it on a clipped hook trailing a red Gamakatsu
Octopus hook attached in the retriever style in-
vented by the late Wally Bolger. The results
were more than gratifying. Though the Jackson
conception lies at its core, [ named the much
modified pattern after Bill, not only because he |
generously gave me the idea but because he’s!
ihe kind of angler we should all aspire to be.

TERRACE STANDARD

THEY

Big time ice time

A GROUP of local minor hockcy players aged eight and
under got a taste of what it’s like to play in an NHL
arena two weeks aga, They were selected to play a short
game of hockey at the first intermission of the Canucks
vs. Columbus hockey game Feb. 23 in Vancouver.

The ‘Terrace tykes took on Williams Lake during the
first intermission. Playing for just 2:49 the Terrace team
came aut on top thanks to a goal by Jeffery Kennedy.

The players got to see the red-hot Canucks devour Co-
lumbus 7-2. The best part? “Hanging out with all my
friends,” says Garth Holtorn, 8.”

Swap your parts

THE TERRACE Drag Race Association is hosting its
annual swap meet Sunday, April 13 10-4 p.m. at 3092
Hwy 16 — beside the Northern Motor Inn,

All car and truck parts and other automotive vendors
are welcame. Bring your parts, new and old or come and
browse. Expect to see auto memorabilia, complete cars,
race cars, hot rods, classics and collectables.

For more information contact Boyd at 635-5210 or
Dennis 635-7726.

Special O curlers
claim second spot

COULD have “Nobody saw it

KYLI BIRD, 17, is off to the single A provincial ringette @ championshipe Mar. 6-8
playing forward for the Quesnel Belles. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

Terrace teen
teams up with
Quesnel Belles

BY SARAH A.
ZIMMERMAN
A LOCAL Grade 12 slu-
dent is headed to the up-
coming provincial A Belle
ringette provincial cham-
pionships — but she’s jot
playing for a Terrace team.
“It’s the Quesnel team,
but they’ve also got five
people from Prince
George,” Kylie Bird, 17,
who’s been playing ring-
etie locally for six years.

The local teen’s been
racking up the air miles
with the team which has
played at major ringette
tournaments in Edmonton
and Calgary, Alberta.

She's hoping the out-of-
province competition will
help the team as it goes ta
the Mar. 6-8 provincials in
Langley.

“It would be really nice
to win provincials,” Bird
says. “I just like having

the opportunity to play.”

The chance to play in a
provincia] competition is a
challenge in itself, but
Bird also has the added
task of playing in a new
position. '

“1 usually play defence
but 1 gat stuck playing
forward,” she says, adding
she’s gotten accustomed to
being out front. “I want to
play so I’m willing to put
in the effort.”

placed first but honesty

lead to a "second Plage fin

ish for Terrace” 's) Special:

Olympics curling team.
.The team played at the
Smithers Special Olym-

‘pics invitational bonspiel
Feb. 21-23 and by the end
of the ‘tournament the Ter-

race crew found them-
selves in the final game.

“We were playing
Prince George and it was
tied,” says. coach Mardy
Scales. “We had the last
rock and we were down lo
one sweeper and we got it
right_on the button.”

That should have meant
a top spot finish for the
team but the sweeper stop-
ped the cheering dead by
saying she had touched the
rock with her braam — she
didn’t push it but her
broom touched it.

That meant the rock
didn’t count and Prince
George was given first
place.

happen,” says Scales,
‘adding ,, chad the. sweeper
“said. a nothing:

“There were tears, you
know, because of the frus-
tration but just the same |
was so proud of them.”

It’s a finish that speaks
to what it-means to be a
Specia] Olympics athlete.

Skill development, the
compelitive spirit and the
drive to win is a major part
of the Special Olympics
program.

But more importantly,
is a sense of fair play,
sporismanship and. deve-
loping friendships — same-

thing the Terrace rink ex-

emplified at the bonspiel.
“They are just so honest
— it was a neat thing,”
Scales said.
The team is just one

838-7283

_nobody, - i:
“would have been the wiser. “[

week away from it’s last -
event of the curling -sea- <

son. It’s hosting a play day
Mar. 11.

Cal faces tough challenge at provincials

By SARAH A. ZEMMERMAN
TWO EARLY season wins over Prince
George’s Duchess Park and Vanderhoof’s Ne-
chako Valley schools proved to be valuable for
Cal’s girls basketball team.

The wins helped the Kermodes improve on
their ranking going into this year’s AAA high
school basketball provincials.

This year the Kermodes are up two spots
from their usual seed position.

“| was hoping for 15 but expecting 16,”
says coach Dave Crawley. “But we got 14th
out of the deal which means we don’t play the
number one or number two teams,”

It still places the Kermodes at the bottom of
the ladder but it puts the team in a more posi-
tive position than anticipated.

The ranking means the Kermodes face the
Salmon Arm Jewels in their first game of the
tournament at Capilano College in North Van-
couver,

It starts today and ends Mar. 8.

The Jewels are a tough team who placed:

first in the Okanagan and are ranked third in
the province. Salmon Arm finished second at
thé 2002 provincials, going down to Mission's
notoriously talented Heritage Park.

The Jewels also boast two former provincial
team players, point guard Lani Gibbons, who
recently committed to Simon Fraser Univers-
ity, and forward Mandy Trenholm.

On the plus side for‘Cal, Salmon Arm only
has a seven-player. bench ‘and the team also
doesn’t have one player over six feet tall.

The Jewels aren’t wriling the Kermodes off.

“1 don't know anything about ‘them, but

there are good teams that come out of the

north that nobody down here sees because they

don’t travel,” said Salmon Arm head coach
Brian Gibbons. “We'll prepare like they are
one of the top teams.”

It’ll be a tough game for the Kermodes who
will likely concentrate on keeping the point
spread as small as possible rather than looking
for a win.

Nonetheless, it’s an intimidating position to
be in.

“Especially when you're a shorter team and
they get to play all the time ~ they’re more
prepared than we are,” says one of the Ker-
modes’ captains, Sabrina Dosanjh.

“I'm just hoping that we play strong and
show people that teams from the north aren’t
that bad — even if we don’t finish high I just
want to know we’ve played hard.”

The second game of the tournament will
also be tough but once they get into the last
games of the tournament the match-ups should
be a little more evenly: paired. —

“We're really focussing on our third and
fourth games,” says Crawley,

“Last year the team won the last game I'm
hoping we'll win the last two - the kids are
much more ready than they have been in a
long time.”

Five-foot-two-inch tall Amandeep Dhaliwell
has proven she’s got a good eye for the basket
and tops the Kermode’s bench in scoring.

Forward Allison Smith could also play a
critical role when it comes to putting points on
the board.

Dosanjh says the whole team has to come

together in order to pick up the wins.

“{ think It’s more of a team effort — every-.

one has a role on the team,” she says.
Crawley agrees. -

JYOTI PARMAR cheers on the Kermodes
at their last game before going to the
provincials. “Shorty” is five-foot-two-inch
forward Amandeep Dhaliwal, the team’s
top scorer, SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

. step up, they step up and it’s not necessarily

“It seems whenever we need someone: to

always the same person,” Crawley says. :

“We're really looking forward..to- going.
— down and we ‘Il see how everything goes,”

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