An osprey bends his body in-
to the wet wind, dips low over
the river, stoops to pick up a
whitefish from the shallows and
veers off over the tops of the
trees,

. It’s. rained all day. Some
droplets glisten from where they

— have been trapped within the
fronds of fiddlehead ferns while

| others accumulate at the ends of

| sharper leaves where they hang

briefly before the leaves, unable .

to stand their weight any longer,
bend and send them into space
then spring back to their
‘ original attitude so the process
: Can begin anew, -

1 . Everything is green: not one
- | green but a full-palette of grow-
' ing greens, so vibrant the spar-
tan winter landscape of. three
months earlier seems an im-
possibility.

| Fhe damp air is spiced with
| cottonwood. Paul and I move

St ee
i gy!

Page a ~ Terraca Standard, Wednesday, May 30, 1990

ayday al

| mains of the old skid trail,

' through a hedge of small alders
‘and hemlock seedlings, and
over the steep slope past the
-massive root wads of the old
spruces and hemlocks felled by

the’ strong outflow. winds of 'f

winter.

Each brush against.a branch
startles’ some’ pale green
stoneflies,- clouds of midges
hover over our heads, yet there
are no rises as we slip into the
river. I send out a minnow to
test if the fish are still after.
migrant fry. .

One gullible little trout
smacks the fly and convinces me
they are not. As I bring the little
fish to hand a giant stonefly
stumbles through the air and
lands awkwardly on the surface.
Legs wiggling against the film
and wings fluttering, it rides the
riffles into the pool below then

ong

i through it quickly, down the re- -

Parris ehh Aire aes

‘The Skeena

Angler 7
by Rob Brown |

disappears around the bend un-.
molested. I fasten a bushy fly to
my tippet and drift it into likely
looking pockets. he

: A few mayfly duns, having .

survived the perilous ride
through the water column, pop

. through the surface and embark

on another dangerous but
necessary journey to dry their
delicate, veinous wings, By their
yellowish-olive cast and three
tails,
ephemerallas. ;

In their subsurface life,
ephemerella nymphs browse the
algae-covered bottoms. When it

biological prod and ride a bub-
ble of trapped gasses to the sur-

face. Usually they take little”

time to shuck off their nymphal
skin and fly to the bush to begin
their mating flights. But on wet
days-the delicate duns need a

‘longer drift to air their sail-like

wings. The trout know this and -

‘take them in purposeful head

I recognize them as

and tail rises.

As I work one riffle a crested
merganser works .another

upstream. I fool the first decent.

fish of the evening before Paul

slide. back

is time, they respond to some ;

sca q -
on b + .
a 2 ayo:

joins me, We take the trail -
upstream. A few sedges are on. |
” the wing. and more mayflies

haye. begun to emerge as we

into the water and

wade across, oS
The. light has begun to die.

_ We hold our flies up to the sky

to thread the tippet through
their eyes. The air temperature.

- has dropped. and a mist. rises

over the river. The combination

~ of cold and inactivity gives me a
"chill; My hands begin to shake

and the spidery monofilament is
difficult.to work with. As I'm
struggling with a knot, I hear
the call of the osprey and look
up to see him light in a springy
hemlock bough across river,
Where he sits momentarily
before striking out after a more
secure perch. .
Instantly. the mayflies are
everywhere -- thousands of

_ them cover the river and the fish:

“ey i

begin:to feed frantically,
We're caught with our waders,

‘ up and our pants down. A de-

cent: imitation of an olive dun

would have taken a fish on

every cast. Still, we manage to
fool a few good trout witha
sedge paitern of similar colour,
Ephemeral mayflies carpet the
water and fill the air like snow. I ,
pick a couple off my arm and
slip them into my flybox.
Fish after fish move to, o

_flies then refuse them at the last
‘instant, but it really doesn’t

matter. Being there to witness
the miracle-of a classic mayfly —
hatch under the perfect condi-.
tions provided by a”May even: ’
ing is deeply satisfying. Night
forces us from the river, It’s ten.
forty-five. =.

The fish are still rising as we —
wade carefully through the
shallows and move back up the’
trail flashlights in hand.

JEFF NAGEL 638-7283

SPORTS NE

WS

TERRACE STANDARD

-SPORTSCOPE—
Steelers
take first

FERRACE — The Northern
Motor Inn Steelers won three
Straight games to win a
women’s fastball tournament
in: Kitseguecla two weekends
ago.
The Terrace team sealed
the win by edging out the
Hazelton Skeena ‘A’s 8-7 for
the championship. ,
The team also garnered the
lion’s share of individual
medals. All-star trophies
went to Terrace’s Noelle
Bulleid, Leslie Campbell,
Linda Black and Laurie
a
ta$teelers pitcher. Laurie
Lahsford” was ‘named best
pitcher, Gayle Deinstadt
picked up best outfielder
honours, and catcher Laurie
Baker was picked as tourna-
ment MYP.
The team’s next major
tournament is in Hazelton
June 9-10.

Terrace
“Inn first

Although the host SKB
team finished the annual
SKB Icebreaker slo-pitch
softball tournament’s round-
robin in top spot, they came
out of the championship
round third behind Terrace
Inn and Westpoint.

The Terrace Inn crew —
who posted two wins and a
loss in the round robin —
shut down SKB 6-1 and
outgunned Westpoint 15-7
and 10-5 to apparently lock
up the championship.

But like a zombie that
couldn’t be killed, Westpoint
beat SKB 8-3 on the bottom
| side of the double-knockout
to’ come back for another
shot, at the Terrace Inn.

The Inn went down to an
initial 6-5 defeat at the claws
of Westpoint, before pulling
out a final 10-5 champion-
ship game victory to claim
the top spot and the tourna-
ment’s. big money prize,

Westpoint earned a well-
deserved second, and the
SKB Molsons were third in
the eight-team contest,
Houston romped Bill’s
Plumbing 27-2 for first-place
on the consolation side.

It's off to
the rodeo

-- It’s rodeo time in Kispiox.
The 43rd annual Kispiox
Rodeo rides) again this
weekend, and fans are get-
ting ready for the standard
scene of saddle bronc riding,
mutton bustin’ and bull box-

rodeo performers-such as six-
champion Grant Borghero,.
One of the world’s top rodeo
annouricers,

‘keep spectators informed of

“‘Headlining the event are |

time Australian bull-fighting ].

c Keith Din-] |
.woodie, will be on hand tof.

the actiogies set

pendent = -
one tee
aaa wate eas nT at

a,

BALLET

+ 4
tof
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tense eee:
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wS

Holkestad.

Caledoniatrack [;

athletes compete

TERRACE — Four Caledonia
Senior Secondary athletes will
g0 to the provincial track and
field championships after quali-
fying at the zone finals two
weeks ago in Smithers.

Chad Croft, Kannin Osel-

“Tutu, Kerry Smith and Ryan .

Stevenson will compete in the
provincial finals this weekend at
Swangard Stadium in Burnaby,

The four make up Caledonia’s -
. 4100-metre and 4400-metre

- senior boys relay teams, Osei-
_ Tutu will also represent the zone
in the high jump, Smith will
Compete in the 800-metre race,

~ and’ Stevenson wil! ran the,

100-meire.
Although Smithers athletes
dominated the. zone finals, a

total of seven Terrace students

bachre inaliald

‘ wetially qualified —' by’ placing ©

CORE Ciecabsterer 2! tlk ines y

‘own pockets,

first or second — for the pro-
vincials.

Caledonia athlete Rochelle
Pelletier took first place in the
sentor girls javelin event, while

- ‘teammate Allson Lindseth won

the triple jump. .
Only the top four will go

because only limited travel |

funds are available, sald ome

team coach, and the athletes

may have to pay a substantial

amount of the costs out of their

The 4*100-metre boys: team

placed first in the zone. in’.
Smithers, while the 4“400-metre

‘team was second. Ryan Sieven- .

son finished first in the
800-metre, while Kerry Smith
was second

Peare

1 in the. 100-metre..
Kannin Osel-Tutu was secondin:
“the high jump. ©. sy

ie
\LLET OF STENNIS:
route to the men’s sin

The event two weekends ago drew
players from across the northwest.

Krieg] captured the men’s singles title
by defeating Smithers’ Matt Cacchia —
last year’s champion — in three sets in
the men's final, Cacchia won the first set -
by a decisive 6-0 before Krieg] took the
second set 7-6 in a tiebreaker to set up
his 6-4 third set victory.

Krieg] entered the championship
round after downing Chuck Cey 7-6, 6-4
in the semifinal. Cacchia advanced on a
6-0, 6-2 straight set win over Grant

Women’s singles saw Hazelion's Pat
West repeat as champion, going three

Richard Kriegi (left) leaps.to make a smash near
gles tennis tournament champicnship. Above,
Cacchia of Smithers fields a return in his semifinal match.

4 Tennis action
Close, fierce —

TERRACE — Terrace’s Richard Kriegl
and Hazelton’s Pat West came out on
top in singles competition at the Terrace
Tennis Club's first tournament of the

. 6.
7
5 7
' 520
: Ly

the net en
runner-up Matt

sets'to beat Terrace’s Fran Mann. West
gave up the second set to Mann on the
way to a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory, West
reached the final after eliminating Diane -
Cey, while Mann prevailed ‘over Elsa
Murphy in the semifinal. °°
In ‘B'
finished \first with a 6-1, 7-6 win over
Hester Flewin. Bill Redpath, of Terrace,
took the “B’ flight men’s singles title
with a win over Kitimat’s Mike Gyori. |
__ Women's ‘A’ doubles saw. Terrace’s
Fran Mann\and Nancy Condon defeat
Pat West and Diane Cey 1-6, 6-1, 6-4,
Women's 'B’ doubles saw Dorothy
Cheyne and Brenda Denholm of Kitimat
win 7-5, 4-6, 61 over Terrace’s Eileen
Birkedal and Renata Weber. ~

Mixed and men’s doubles events were
still being played this past weekend.

flight. action, Nora. Phillips

olf plans advance

. -. multi-million dollar project.

|<) He: said the club
firms — including an Alberta firm called Golf

TERRACE — Although it's still a long way
off, local golfers may someday be able to play a
full 18-hole course at the Skeena Valley Golf
and Country Club.

Club members took the first step towards

course expansion last week when they voted
overwhelmingly in favour of buying an adja-
cent property for an additional nine hales.
, The club has agreed-to pay around $180,000
for the 64-acre parcel ‘of land owned by Paul
Kaminski, men’s club captain Dale Shoeweiler
said Thursday, 7 -

“It was basically unanimously carried that
we pay the purchase price and purchase the
land next to us,’” he said, re ene

But with costs per hole ranging from $50,000 7
‘|. per hole to as much as $200,000, the club could

~ be faced with the task of finding: money-for a
"We're not going to be breaking ground this
: year OF even next year," Shoeweiler said.

is speaking ‘td consulting

‘added.

‘¢an,’’ he added, Lottery grants might cover-as

publicly funded like Prince Rupert,’

ficial paperwork remains to conclude a‘ ten-..

oe |:

Designs — about designing the course expan-
sion. A feasibility study must also be done, he

“Then it’s going to be a matter of whether we
can afford it or not. —-and I don’t know if we

much as a third of the project's cost, but even
covering two-thirds of the cost could have
members trying to raise as much as $1-inillion.
‘We don’t have the luxury of corporate
sponsors like Eurocan ‘or Alcan, or! being

Club pro Dan Rosengren said only the of-
tative deal between Kaminski and the club for

the land. ““That was our prime concern ~- get-
ting the land — otherwise .we could never be

He said club members have decided to make: |
installing a driving range a high priority:'They |
hope to .have ‘the’ range’ operational ‘by* next
summers a

ee eee