The Terrace Standard, |, Wednesday, September 15, 1993 - Page o1

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SPORTS NEWS

TERRACE STANDARD, MALCOLM BAXTER 638- 7283.

Page C2

Skeena Angier

when only steelhead
would do, when bigger
was best and more was
better.

"There are coho in the Lakelse," a
fishing partner would say, extending
- his arms to lengths no jong-toothed, .
_ trophy coho could hope to attain. "Let s
go get some."

_. “Nuisance fish," [’'d. say: in an im-

‘perious voice, To me these were
- targets for spoon chuckers, tourist fish.

And there were tout: tads that
_ grabbed your-fly when you were out
. after nobler. game, irritants that swal-
: Jowed a carefully crafted fly destined
~ for a tailewalking, tackle-straining
. summer steclhead,

_ Then I met Finlay.
“To Fin, steelhead were a dividend
~ and salmon were problem fish, "If you
‘want to catch steelhead," I’d tell him,
‘you're going to have to use a sinking
. fine."
_ - MEE T've got to fish those lines," he’d
say, I’ll give up fishing." To Finlay,
the sinking line was an. infernal con-
traption that added unnecded complica-
: tions to the sport.

Flyfishing, Fin concluded, was sport
at its most enjoyable when done with

ce, precision and free from gim-

_mickry; it had to be more art than
{> selence. .-
-- “Just a dolly," 1 would think as Fin-

- lay pulled in a char, but it was never
- just a dolly to Fin. :

To hima silvery litte creature, fol-
“lowing. on the fins of salmon, was a
; _ Special fish: confirmation everything -
_was still working well, the cycles still.
“ cycling. It was every bit as special as a
trophy steelhead, He caught and hand*"
“led it with a combination. of boyish ©
~ etithusiasm and reverence.

[took years before I was-won oyer,
“before Ecame, to: realize. the. sport .
“tumed cn proportion ‘and performance.

It was nice to catch a big trout or a big
‘char, but not simply because they were
“big but because it was comforting to
know ‘that there were still big fish
] ‘around. Big fish. meant the spectrum

“was probably still intact and the trout
. population was still healthy.

Steelheading means fishing generic
patiems, presenting then.in the same,
_ or very nearly .the same way, over and
over again, pushing hundreds of casts
-into the wind in the course of a day
with the knowledge there was good
chance of drawing a blank.

*So what do you like better,” Fin
‘liked to.ask after a good day of trout —
fishing, "Hooking all those cutthroat,
or catching a couple of fish on the
Copper?"

On those occasions I was forced to
admit effortless fishing at the head of

- fast rifles and depressions next to root »

“wads with the light .rod and floating —

line was the finest form of recreation.

It was this change in perspective that
put me on the Kitimat River with
Webb and Hd at a time of year we'd

to pursue steelhead.
We floated through the remodelled,

stone knuckles stuck out between the
| stumps, past shaky, treeless banks,
]- stalking cuts. We found them in fast,
oxygen rich spills.

"They're living in this kind of
water," I] said to Ed as we shot over a
rapid into the head of a swirling pool.

/ "We'd better fish it."

Hid took a step into. the fast water and

made a cast, I ‘went above him and
5 "siarted working water I thought too fast
to offer any possibilities.

A fish hit my fly hard and shot off to

; “the end of the pool. I reached for the
_ handle. It was gone.
"The handie’s flown off!" I yelled.
: Ed scrambled up the bank, broke off

- stuck the twig in one of the holes in the
‘reel: and started: to. crank. Everything
held.

~ Afler a see-saw struggle I slid the

-‘fish Into the shallows. A shiny, spotted
“ ¢feature, a span across the shoulder,
We admired it, shaking our heads, then
“sot it free,

A specimen cutt, It measured over
“4wo feet, "Five Pounds?” I ventured,

- “More like six," said Ed atill shaking
oohishead,

They ‘wete- all gobd--fish ‘that. day: -
Fine, healthy cutthroat and we found
‘the fish of:a lifetime.:1 only. wish Fin
‘could have been there,

HERE WAS A TIME |

normally be using all our angling time.

' formerly savage now savaged:
landscape, past enormous cuts where -

- the end of a stick and handed it to me. 1.

Andy Lambert (above) found...
its target as the Terracite:...

tie after the first round. It took
two. throw offs to decide the
fifial: placings with Andy being

“edged into third. Finding the

water (right.and below right) is
Gerry Lambert. He took top
spat in the novice division but
was no match for overall point
winner George Jackson in the
log burling. The win was one
better than the Hazelton

And, below, one young
spectator obviously found the
spectacle of burlers being
plunged into the icy water
almost tao much to bear.

AIRBORNE AXE thrown by |

finished in a four-way, 14- soit |

champion’s 1992 performance.

Pole no obstacle for Lambert

Gerry Lambert saved the best

‘for last,

And it brought the Terracite top Spot in.
the novice division at this year’ 8 Loggers
Sports.’

Having had to settle for the runner-up

: position in three previous events, Lam-
bert broke through the barrier in the final

event, the obstacle pole bucking. «:

-And that win was just what he needed

to edge Hazelton's Wesley Bender for
" the novice crown.”

The victory also deprived Hazelton of
a sweep at the Loggers as George Jack-
son chopped, sawed and burled his: way
to a second consecutive high point total.

Jackson took the title afler a thriller
battle with Harry Starrett of Chilliwack,

Starrelt got the early jump with a win
in the Standing Block Chop. Jackson

~ evened it up in the Underhand Chop, the

third event on the open card, and the duo
then traded off one-two finishes to keep
it deadlocked.

The pride of Hazetion took the lead Eor
the first and final lime in: the Double
Hand Bucking, clinching the title witha
second in. the Chokerman’s Race, twa
places clear of Starrett.

For good measure, Jackson added a

‘|. victory in the log: burling, an event Star-

- Tett passed on.

“a Neil Morgan of Kitimat came up with
-a strong performance once again, setting

-an vnbeatable pace in the Chokerman’s

-Race to add to his Obstacle Pole Buck-

“ing win,

.., Hometowner Richard Lindstrom got
better the longer the day went on. After

” picking up just a third in novice events,
‘Lindstrom added two more: against his

“seniors as weil as taking lop spot in the
local Power Saw Bucking and Open Pole
Bucking.

Other local. successes included Vic
Devost who wielded his stock saw, to a
first in the Novice Power Saw Bucking
and then showed them ail how to do it in
the Pole Falling, “a Canadian
Championship points event,

Perennial favourite Andy: Lambert of
Terrace drew cheers from the large, sun-
drenched crowd with fout money fin-

ing,
New Westminister’s . Alan’ West and

Chris Miller of West Vancouver pro-
vided a strong visitors’ challenge in the
novice division, West taking the Single
Hand Bucking and Miller the
Chokerman’s,
Miller went on to split Jackson and
Starrett in the open Underhand Chop and
vsed his Single Hand Bucking skills to

take a third behind the same pair.
For full results of the Loggers Sporis,
see the SCOREBOARD on page C4. .

ishes including a third in the axe ‘throw-'

=o

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