‘
We thant inn tee mee ne

—SPORTSCOPE-

“Looks like some bad
weather is coming our way,” I
say, eyeing the bank of dark
clouds moving up the valley.

- “A small deal. in‘ a big
outfit,” says Fin as he loads his

» tackle into the truck,. We fire up

our rusted Japanese pickups
‘and start out for the river, Our
.. first stop — is Opposite New
:. Remo. The Skeena is ‘grey,
. From bridges and baitks rivers
- always look more turbid than’
- they are, so I scramble down the
" shot rock for a better look..

“I can only see a foot into
it,”” 1 yell up to Fin, ‘‘maybe we
‘should go back and fish the
“Kalum’? >.

“Too many people,” he says.
“The fish will see our flies in the
shallow riffles.”’
~ We drop off Fin's truck and

‘return to the launch site, Fin

looks up the steep-walled valley
as I pump up the raft,

- >» “Was it ‘always like this?” I

keen ne C ” ali ive NV

“ask, .

Fin looks up at the clearcuts
then at the debris strewn across

the braided gtavel fan, and

shakes his head. '

We transfer the gear once
again and after a short carry
we're off. We duck to get under

‘the railbridge. Underneath, a

mummified coho carcass is
wedged into one of the iron
struts,

The boat scrapes over the rif-
fles j jarring free stones and sen-
ding them rattling downstream,
We pass by a lodge with the

partly submerged remains of a.

car in front of it,
“‘What’s this place?’ asks
Fin, ;

“German fishing lodge,’’ I
tell him.

“That’s where Gallagher's
cabin used to be.”

“Who?” ‘i

“Gallagher, He was one of
those circus fighters: those guys

The Skeena
Angler —
by Rob Brown |

you'd pay to step in the ring
with. If you lasted a round
you'd win a hundred bucks.”

1 wonder if Fin, who at 75 is
still a big man, ever duked it out
with one of these characters.
_ “The log ferry used to come
across here,”’ he continues,
‘that’s: how they got the big
spruce that grew on these
islands to the mills in town, The

‘company let Gallagher stay

there until he killed the Fren-
chman,”’

“Killed him?’*

“Yeah, some Frenchman:
from Newfoundland. They got

in a fight over a bottle and
Gallagher blew his head off
with a shotgun, They gave him
seven years, He’d be 80 now, if
he's still alive.’®

We're in the middle of the
Skeena now. The riverborne

sand hisses under the raft. We
round the first bend and startle .

a pair of moose. They're off in-
stantly, the sound of their
hooves splashing in the water
echoes across the river until they

climb the. bank and disappear
into the brush. ‘We can see
Where they’ve cropped red

dogwood stems.

I row ’ the boat ashore at the
-top of what will henceforth be.
Call .Gallagher’s Bar, Fin ‘ex-

tricates his patent, a: Skinny
Skunk, from the tangled mass

of flies he keeps in the pepper:

mint tin that is his fly box and

starts covering. -the shallows.
while; I explore. the faster,’

deeper water.
Fin is, right,’ the fish don't

mind the dirty, water a bit. We --
beach a specimen sea-run cut-

throat; :a brace of small-headed
dolly varden and a ‘shimmering
spring steelhead..1 kill the last

dolly. for supper, and we push

off again.

Despite the beating of grouse ©

wings and the spicy air, it does
not look like spring: nothing is

green yet; both water and wind.

are cold; wet rain storms filter

‘down the slide chutes.

At Either Island there is one
dolly varden and at the Radio
Run there is ricthing,

“The Skeena’ 5. “like ‘that, co
says Fin. “‘One. day it's a feast,

the next it’s a famine.. Did Tever.

tell -you about. the. time” in
November, - when . L found. a:
school of cutthroat trout?”?

I say no, so I can ‘enjoy. the
account of a splendid. day’s
fishing that stands . out.even in

the career of an angler. who has

had many. .
We put the rods in, the boat

‘and spend the- last. two. hours

floating. ~ two men in a-small
dinghy, dwarfed : ‘by the. wide
river and the tall: ‘mountains,
feeling insignificant and-enjoy-

ing it. Fin tells -me of. Ted

Rawlins; of the Sopper.River

. before roads had penetrated its

valley, of cutthroat, in Howe
Creek and the changing con-
tours of the. Skeena,. It’s oral
history — angling history —
and the exchange is important
because we’re part of it. We're
successive generations, in fact,

SPORTS NE

JEFF NAGEL 638-7283

WS

TERRACE STANDARD |

Smithers
bats best

TERRACE — The so-called
““Happy Campers’ from
Smithers turned out to be the
happiest of the lot at Big Bab’s
Ball Banger slo-pitch softball
tournament two weekends ago.
The Smithers team topped the
‘field, taking first over Terrace’s
Skeena Masters. Third place
went to All Seasons Expose.
On the consolation side, the
Houston Deans tock the title,
beating out the second-place
Nordic Ford, of Burns Lake.

mae
_ softball

It was a battle on the dia-
inond that pitted the young guys
against the old guys.

-: The annual charity softball
duel of Rotary and Kinsmen
club members ended with a
13-10 Kinsmen win in extra inn-
ings.

Eric Johansen broke the
eighth inning deadlock with a
‘three-run homer to seal the vic-
‘tory, On the line in the June 11
game was $100, which
organizers said will be donated
to charity.

Corporate
Cup

Worker's Compensation
-Board employees had the
highest turnout — 213 — in this
month's annual Filweek Cor-
porate Cup.

‘Seventeen ‘businesses and
;government agencies par-
ticipated in the annual event,
representing more than 1,100
employees, Participants engap-
-¢d in a continuous physical ac-
tivity for a certain length of
time each day of Fitweek,
-.ICBC's participation rate of
98 per cent was the best in town,
while the WCB participation
was 79 per cent for second,

-ICBC also had the highest
one-day participation — 100 per
, Cont,

Events .
ready

_. Apart from the possible addi-

- tion of ringette, Northern B.C.

. Winter. Games organizers say

A the events list is set,
2° As many as 3,000 participants —
“are: expected to descend on Ter-

race for the 1991 Games next
February 1-3,.

/» The confirmed events list j in-
cludes: “archery, . badminton,

, ‘basketball, black powder, bowl-

“ing, boxing, chess, cribbage,

_ curling, darts, duplicate bridge,
“figure: skating, gymnastics,
‘oldtimers: hockey, minor
_ hockey, ladies. -hockey, karate,
: ¢ross-country: Skiing, downhill
~akling,: specialolympics, speed
ing, snowmobiling, indoor
swimming, « ‘Volleyball,

= Wwater,--polo, Weight-lifting,

‘ westing and: carpet bowling.

Hitting
the
hoop

GOING UP for the basket.
He may not be a Harlem
Globetrotter yet, but Clark
Weston was certainly mak-
ing it look easy while prac-
tising on the courts at
Clarence Michiel Elemen-
tary school Friday evening.

field instead of 15.

It probably didn’t help that the ref was from
the Northmen, sporting new
black jerseys, were playing in the rare Rupert sun-

Rupert, or that

shine.

Prince Rupert capitalized on just two of their
many penalty kicks to pull ahead of Terrace by a

6-0 score at halftime.

In the second half they showed no signs of let-
ting up, pumping in another try and conversion to
go up 12-0 half second half on two penalty kicks.

TERRACE — Terrace Northmen rugby players ,
met their defeat again in Prince Rupert — and
this time they fingered the referee.

By game's end, the heavily penalized Northmen
were suggesting Rupert was playing 16 men on the

Terrace scrum half Graham Bayles finally put
the Northmen on the board with a try that went
unconverted by’'Doug Wilson. And that's how it
ended — 12-4 Rupert.

The Northmen were missing several key

players, notably their regular scrum half George

Da Costa and standoff Willie McCleary,
The loss cost the Northmen their hold on first
place in the North Coast Rugby Union. And with

another Seafest weekend win over the Smithers

Camels — 16-14 — Rupert slid into first.
The Terrace players were dissappointed in their

efforts to line up a rematch this past weekend,

however, Rupert cancelled out, and left Nor-
thmen speculating that the referee couldn't be
paid that weekend.

Bluebacks make a splash

Contributed
Terrace Blueback swimmers
ended the year’s regional meets

swim,
Blueback Cory Holland ted

swims to top his own previously

the way, turning in impressive:
performances in the freestyle -

on a high note meeting teams .
from across the northwest at the .

June t-3 Rupert Panhandle « Coxford, Aimee Peacock,

set provincial records. ‘He swam”:
_ the 50-metre freestyle in 26.67 ©
seconds, and the ‘100-metre i ine
' $8.19 seconds. - .
On team aggregate points, the ©
Bluebacks placed secorid overall «..
behind the Prince Rupert host‘.
. Club. Kitimat was third, follow-
+ ed-by Ketchikan and Masset:
The: Terrace relay ‘team’ of |
: Tita Holland, . Lisa Gardiner, |
a Aimee: Peacock: and . ‘Jocelyn '
oxford broke the. meet. record ae

4

for the 200-melre individual
medley: relay on a time of
2:28.18,

Individual aggregate winners
were: Marina Checkley, Garth

Jocelyn Coxford, Cory
Holland, Tori MacKenzie and
Denise Vandetlee.

Some of the Bluebacks are
now looking ahead to the
Junior Provincials and the Pro-
vincial Champlonships,

_ They got a taste of interna-
tional: competition at last
month’s Hyack © Invitational

‘tournament i in Vancouver.

Forty-two clubs competed at

bs the’ ; May.” 19-21 tourney from at

across: ‘North’ “America and as

far away.as:New Zealand, The
Bluebacks did well, placing top. .
ten, {n severat events; 2k

tou rney: a

TERRACE — Terrace's Nor-
thern Motor Inn Steelers
women’s fastball team cruised
io first place and $600 worth of
booty at a fastball tournament
in Hazelton.

The Steelers opened by
defeating Burns Lake by a wide
margin, but then lost the second
by a 7-2 score at the hands of
the Hazelton Skeena A’s.

But they rebounded with
three straight wins to oust the

_ A's, and take, the .double-
_ knockout tournament by com-

ing through the back door.

After disposing of the South
Hazelton Blue Jays, the Steelers
went on to exact their revenge
on the Hazelton Skeena A's,
hammering them 10-5,-and then
edging them out in the final
game 8-7,

NMI’s Laurie Langford was
named best pitcher of the tour-
nament. Best outfielder
honours went to Debbie
Jackman, and Steeler Leslie
Campbell was named tourna-
ment MVP.

The women’s fastball team’s
next major tournament is in
Terrace on the July 1 Canada
Day tong weekend.

IT'S A STEAL! A North Coast Road Maintenance player takes ;

‘the ball away from the Western Seaboard defenders in their:

own zone to moves in on the opposing goaltender, Unfor.
‘tunately, for the NCRM crew it was a‘brief glimmer of hope Int
_ What ended up a 4-1 loss to Western Seaboard in men 38
eer league actlon last week.” ob

aor