: “SKEEN A ANGLER.
-ROBBROWN -..

The trail north

HE LOGGERS who lived on the
Meziadin River a few miles north
of VanDyke Camp have packed

and the excavations marking the spots where

their trailers stood. Webb and I walk down the.

hill to the. river side. Aside from the two space

craft sitting in the river about a hundred yards—

above the. bridge everything looks pretty much
the way it’s looked for the last few years.
‘What do you make of that?’ I ask Webb,
who looks perplexed’ as I am.
There is a stout wire cable spanning the river.
From it, one every foot for the entire length of
the wire, hang those gaudy, triangular flags that

are generally found flapping noisily above used.

car lots. From this well: advertised cable two

pontooned contraptions ‘the size of speed boats _

are tethered by painters of braided steel, 4
‘*Fish wheels,’’.1 venture, knowing full well

the Nisga’a have been experimenting success-
fully with selective fishing devices for a number

‘of years now. =;
Webb scratches his head, “No. Fry traps. 2
While -we’re hurting our heads over this co-
nundrum a white Chev 4x4 comes bouncing
down ‘the muted hill we chose to walk down. A
‘friendly fellow who:looks genuinely happy. for
some company-gets out and greets us warmly.
We find. out the spice craft are his, or under his
~ command, atleast. 262°.
“They're smolt traps,” he tells us.
It turns out our host works for a firm con-

_ tracted. by. the. ~Nisga’s ato enumerate the fish —

"Blocks in’ the” area “encompassed by their land
claim. Here on the Meziadin the target are sock-
eye ‘smolts, but the traps, says the consultant,
are not catching very many this year. The other
bit of interesting, but disappointing, information
he gives us is that the river is closed’ until the
middie of the month. To offset this bit of gloom.

‘he gives us directions to,a road that leads to the
spot where the river leaves the Jake, On our way
there we notice that Alaska-bound tourists have
filled the campground at Meziadin Junction to.
capacity. Long RVs fill some of the spots to
overflowing. Small tents sit in others, Tennis
shoes, polypropylene and small dogs are

_ humerous, Most of the campers look as if the
cold weather has caught them by surprise.

We're ready for cold weather but not for the
mosquitoes that pounce upon us as soon as
we're out of the truck. Stroking between swats,
we make it out into ‘the lake. ‘There are some
handsome fish waiting’ for us, but not a lot of
them. Spoiled river fishermen, we crave action;
on fakes we need a hatch or a big catch to stave
- off boredom. The next day we’ve left the
mosquitoes behind for Derrick Lake, where

Webb has derricked out some fair sized trout

years ago.

_ Tm happy to bug out, I’ve heard a lot about
. this litle lake, principally from Art Mooney,
_ who spent a lot of time on it before he gave up

flyiishing for a short wave radio. When we ar-

tive at the lake there is only onc other camper,
: nota fisher, apparently. It’s a pretty spot, The
-, Water is warm and full of insect skins — the
" kind of weedy place that grows fat trout.
"There is an island two thirds of the way down
the Jake. One adult osprey peezs over the lip of
its nest while its mate prowls the shoreline. A
golden eagle is perched on a limb at the far end
of the lake. Two beavers begin work as the
- Night wears on. Midging trout are gently rising
leaving widening rings with bubbles at their
centre all over the bay where Derrick Creek
leaves the lake.

Before long we have assembled long wispy
leaders and fixed minute chironomid imitations
to the ends of them. If trout were us, these
midget midges would be potatoes. On most
trout menus these little ‘‘truc”’ Mies are the dai-
ly special most days, Because they are so small,
the fact trout take them always seems a bit of a
miracle, and because the take is so genile but
positive, chironomid fishing is great fun. Webb
and T have fun doing it even though the fish all
scem to be twelve iaches or smaller,

According te Webb and confirmed by Art, it
wasn't always like this, It’s not hard to see why
it is now. After the side of the lake that wasn’t
swamp was logged virtually to the edge,
deciduous growth went wild, and so did the
beavers that have completely dammed the beau-

tiful lite spawning creck denying fish access to
- it, While, on the other side of the lake some
well meaning foresters carved out some camp-
ing sites and a boat launch. With the boat
launch, power boats and the gang troll came to
lake too small to withstand them. Too few
people understand the dynamics of lekes, A lot
of wonderful ecosystems have been lost because
of that fact.

We leave Derrick Lake and its tough little
trout and make our way home, a little wiser.

‘their belongings and left like a tribe
‘of Bedouin, All that remains is sand and gravel

may have been a downer for
stock car fans, but they got

ample compensation the fol-

lowing day, June 25, as drivers
gave them an afternoon of
thrills and spills.

. Corners one and two proved
popular’ offramps, says Sadie
McCallum, : judging by the
number of vehicles who flew
those banks.

One was Dawn Tomas pilot-
ing #97 in the C: Hobby
Trophy Dash, but she bounced

back to win both the Heat and
Main.
Then — there - was John

Cloakey getting grey hairs as
he watched his car, loaned to a
C division driver, go out of
‘control-on the back stretch. It
came to’a stop facing the
wrong way, ‘but McCallum
added it was still on the track
and finished the race in one
piece. |

“Behind the wheel himself,

-Cloakey continued his attack

on the A Street title with wins

TERRACE STANDARD |

in the Dash and Main, Cinus’

Wolnowski taking the Heat.
There was more excitement

in the Sportsman, or Super

Stock division when Brent

McCarron got turned around

on the grandstand stretch. -

. Although #81 — sustained

some damage, McCallum said —

it could have been worse but
forthe fast reflexes of the

drivers in this, the fastest class.

on the track. a

ning of the day, got caught up
in traffic once too often leav-
ing Reinhardt to take the flag.
Gary McCarthy had #92 fly-
ing in the other A Hobby
races, driving to a sweep, but
McCallum noted he was
pressed in every race,
In B_ Hobby,

move up from the C division
was no mistake, taking the

The rivalry between Cloakey and Wes Patterson

Is proving

to be one of the entertainment
highlights of the season. |

‘Albert Weber took two of
the Sportsman Trophy Dashes,
Ernie Perkins the other.

Competition was hot. and
heavy in the A Hobby Jam-
boree race where Dave Rein-
hardt and. Jules LaFrance
duelled throughout. . But
LaFrance, who’d needed to re-
place a manifold at the begin-

Heat and Main.
McCallum said the rivalry
between Cloakey and Wes

_ Patterson — he took the Dash

-~ is proving to be one of the
entertainment highlights of the
season. =.

And in B Street the honours
were shared, Paul Wolnowski
taking the Dash trophy home,

Elizabeth
‘Cloakey again underlined the

All action at the track |

SATURDAY night’s rain out

Jack Osborne winning the -
Heat and the Main going, to 5
Dave Storey.
That division saw newcomer
car #351 and drivers Richard
Meyers and Len McArthur get
in their first full day’s racing
of the season. And what a day .
it was:. over the bank ONCE, -

black flagged and in serious:

contention the other race. .

‘These drivers are just get-.- --

ting better and better every

time,’? McCallum said‘ of the me oy

B Street class.
Finally, in C Street, Morwyn :
Wolnowski guided #406 to'-
victory ‘in the Dash and Main, .
Margo Normandeau taking the’
Heat. ‘ -
It’s all happening again this’

weekend with time trials going’ “>

at 6 p.m. Saturday evening,
Tacing at 7 p-m., trials at 1

‘p.m. and racing at 2 pm. on

Sunday.
Sunday is also Kiddies Day
when youngsters can take “a.”

spin around the track - in the . : a °

passenger’s seat,

WITH A month to go in the
season, some. of the title
battles: in Youth Soccer have
been proving as hot as the

‘weather, ws
‘In: the Under-12 division, a
-Overwaitea “remained*”

defeated going into last week
but even that impressive
record gave them only a one
point edge over Copperside.
The teams tied when they last
met two weeks ago.

In the Under-16 and both
Under-19 Divisions, the situa-

_ tion was deadlocked.

A & W and Constrictors had
identical 5-3-0 records in the
Under-16s, Constrictors hav-
ing the edge on goal average.

Councillors and the Bavarian ©

Inn shared top spot in the
Under-19 Boys but both have
to keep ‘an eye on Takhar who

are just three points behind -

and a win is worth three.

And in the Under-19 Girls
Northern Drugs and Pizza Hut
are 4-2-0, five clear of their
nearest pursuer.

Centennial Lions continued
to boast an undefeated record
among the Under-10s, three
clear of Surveyors with Car-
lyle Shepherd two more adrift.

And Brady’s FC had pumped
in 37 goals in its 5-0-1 un-
beaten streak to open up a six
point gap over Carpenters Un-
tied in the Under-14 division.

Meanwhile Braid’s Insur-
ance had dropped only one de-
cision to keep a win ahead of
Rossco Ventures in the Under-
14 Girls standings.

That could change tonight as
the two teams go head-to-head
beginning at. 6:30p.m, at
Christy Park. Other interesting

matchups in the coming week .

sec A & W face title rivals
Constrictors on Monday eve-
ning while Councillors takes
on the Bavarian Tuesday.

THE EXPRESSION says It all —

winners. Braid’s goalle Amy Mason lets out a whoop as the final
whistle goes to cap a come-from behind victory over Wilkinsons in Under-14 girls action last week,
Mason also had a personal triumph to celebrate, this being her first stint between the posts,

Skeena
turn
tables in
Gold Cup

SKEENA HOTEL
the best for last this minor
softball season.

After a slow start which
put them deep in the Squirt
Boys basement, Skeena
rallied late with four wins in
its last six to finish the regu-
lar season with a respectable
point tally. ©

The team then carried that
momentum into the Silver

Cup tournament, knocking

saved off

divisional rivals’

‘Terrace Totem Furniture

Safeway in the final, the

_ lone Terrace title.

McAlpine came close in
the Mites division but
couldn’t quite hold off
Rosarlos of Kitimat.

The remaining Silver
showdown was an all out-
of-town affair, Kitimat
defeating Smithers.

Raiders were also domi-
nant in the Gold Cup where

were the only homers to
capture a title, defeating
Wee Geordies of Kitimat in
the PeeWee Boys final.

Blue Ridge Graphics last
out to the Kitwanga Steelers
in Bantam Girls and Over-
waitea fell to Kitimat in the
Midget division.

The PeeWee Girls final
saw Pharmasave of
Smithers defeat Aiyansh,