The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 1, 1996 - B7 TERRACE STANDARD SPORTS Northmen fourth in Cup quest THE TERRACE Northmen Rugby Foot- ball Club placed an impressive fourth in their first-ever trip to the Provincial Third Division Championships in Richmond Apr. 20-21. It was all the more impressive given that the Northen had only just begun training in -8 degree weather on turf frozen like concrele. Meanwhile southern B,C, teams — the only ones in the country where lotus-land weather permits a full season of play in the winter — were well-honed rucking and mauling machines. The Northmen carned their berth in the Third Division championships by topping the North Coast Rugby Union last sum- mer, More than 50 other teams from the six sub unions of the B.C. Rugby Union Started vying a year ago for the six berths in the Columbia Cup playoffs. With only two regular season games un- der their belt before the championships, their gravel incubators in Spring. the Northmen offered superb competition Usually the first wave of sparkling humpback in the three games they played. young are out and about when the willows are The Norlhinen kicked off the budding and the woads are full fragrance, championship tournament with a 9-8 There are other forage fish in the rivers before pounding of the Prince George Gnats, the salmon juveniles come on stream. And there The game was won at the whistle with a are trout out after them. The fact that they blend penalty kick from Willie McCleary. into their environs so well leaves the impression ' Though the score did not indicate, the that sculpins are scarce, In fact, as 1 found out Northmen dominated the game from the after a day of trapping, they are everywhere in kickoff. ly missing 20-plus poten- the Lakelse, and, | suspect, quite abundant in tal poiats in ihe early none, Pius poten other places. Every snare ] set to sample The Northmen’s second game of the day Lakelse fish came up plugged with brown was a hear-breaking 24-12 defeat at the mottled builheads, some were as small as the hands of the eventual second-place finish- baby finger of a baby, olhers were the size of a ing Vernon Rugby Club newly born kitten, The Northmen played extremely well Only the mouth of a large mouth bass or pug- with good second and third phase ball. nacious pike can accommodate a large sculpin. I Leon Schulte scored both Northmen trys, doubt: whether trout bother with the smaller with the foot of McCleary rounding out ones. Besides, without split shot, or a fly so the score. heavily weighted casting it will put you at risk, On Sunday the Northmen played off for it’s impossible lo impersonate fish that walk third and fourth position against the along river bottoms on their pecs. Parksville Centurions. : Stickleback are another matter. Fat feisty The Centurions, featuring a selection of ; males--blue, green, and red when. they are in the very hard-hitting Kiwi nationals, domi- mit--can be found in, many ‘of our rivers and, ‘nated most of the game but were still held . ponds, There are times when j a fraudulent stick- to a respectable 19 points while the Jer will brighten up an otherwise drab day's Northmen responded with three points off ishing. a penalty kick, With something i in the order of a million pink The Northmen played their first game salmon running into it each summer, the against the Smithers Camels in Terrace Lakelse River hosts the largest run of junior last weekend in their 1996 quest to humpies in the lower Skeena, represent the North Coast next year al the The peak migration of Lakelse humpback fry provincial championships. Details next tends to coincide with the greening of the week, deciduous strips on Terrace Mountain, though the first fry are in the system eartier than that, En masse these little fishes drive cutthroat, whitefish, steclhead smolts and char to forget their water table manners and indulge in orgies | a 4 of ravenous feeding that would make Caligula ie) a rl rn g e i I way O e O p blush. This — though the notion is likely to make a dry fly man shudder — is the first important hatch of the year, When moving seaward, schools of young pinks flash with an astonishing brightness. Those silvered underwater winks are a tip off to trout. Thus, almost anything silver, swimmming about in the current will draw some action. When it comes to aping pink fry the Silver Minnow is as good as any other pattern except that after being chewed by few needle toothed cutthroat the pattern is sure to come unraveled. Many fishers believe that shredded minnows — having more reflective facets in that dis- heveled state —— are more alluring to trout. This is probably true, bul Silver Minnows lure as many, if not more, wee trout as they do big ones, The teeth on the lads are every bit as sharp as those of their elders. After six 6-inchers many an angler has discovered only the skeletal remains of his minnow dangling from the end of e his tippet. For this reason I use an armoured minnow, a hybrid amalgam of Murray’s Rofled : Muddler and the Silver Minnow. To tie this durable fly youll need a Tiemco 200 in a size 8 or 10. ‘These Japanese irons are elegant machines that make an ideal backbone for a minnow. Cover the shank of the hook with hot orange thread then Jash a few--and T mean a few for this lure is anorexic when tied properly—fibres of barred mailard. Next tic in a suitable length of clear vinyl lace at the front of the fly then wind the thread over it, pulling the material as you proceed to a point above where the barb used to be before you Mat- tened il, This vinyl Jace is sald on spools. Buy the smallest size, and make surc the flat side is next to the hook when you lic it in. Now advance the thread to the front, take a length of flat mylar tinsel, also small, tie it in so the silver side will show when you wind il backward then back over itself before tying it off. Wind the vinyl forward with snug turns then lie il off and trim the tag end. Dub a small band of scarlet seal fur as a gill, then nick the centre from a symmetrical pearl mallard feather and tie it tent style over the top. Finally take a pinch of deer hair and cinch it down at the head of the fly 638-7283 SKEENA ROB BROWN NGLER A mighty minnow IS the season, so here are this year’s brief thoughts on fry tying and fry fishing. Fry wriggle oul of REACH FOR THE SKY: Terrace Northmen rugby player Steve Climie leaps for the ball in a lineout during the team's first-ever tip to the provincial Third Division Championships two waeakends ago. DALE GREENWCOD PHOTO By Ron Niesner IT WAS one of those days that made all the planning and all those sleepless nights worth while, Sunday morning came in with bluc sky and bright sunshine that beamed down on the crowd all day long. No-Fear Racing held their first ever snowmobile hillclimb at Shames Mountain Ski Resort on April 21. Racing fever touched dawn in Terrace last week as over 75 entrants sign up for the event. The course was set up on a run called Kermodei-Cut, not the Stecpest run in the area but still a challenge for most stock sleds. Racers had to start almost 800 fect below the main run and navigale through gates, corners, moguls and then pour on the power to the crest of the hill. Each ciass was timed from the Start to finish, Racing began at 11 am with Stock classes to run first, followed by Trait Mod, Open Mod and then Head to Head chal- lenge, The spectator area was some distance up from the lodge so Shames Mountain staff trans- ported the crowd fo the main viewing area. In the late afternoon the last timed event was held and racers then began the head to head chal- lenge for top sled on the bill and boasting rights. The start line was moved up lo the base of the run. Two sleds were lined up side by side drag race style to prepare for a shoot oul to the top. Each class went through a single knock out round-robin to finally reach one winner per class. In the head-to-head run, stock seni t Betas * FRED BROWN roars to the top af Shames on his Polaris snowmobile. The first ever snowmobile hill climb was held at Shames on April 21 and organizers hope It’s just as popular next year, wilh a 52.98 second lime. so it Hares. Don’t let it spin. Finish off the head, apply some cement, and behold the Scotchman’s dream, an indestructible minnow, All you need to do now is figure the best way to fish it given the infinlle permutations of ilght, water temperalure, stream flow, and olher even " more mysterious ecological dynamics. 600cc Rob Maroney of Terrace made it to the top first. In the Trail Mod 600cc class Sean Braidy of Terrace was unbeaten. And finally in the head-to-head modified open class Trevor Gib- son proved that (here was no one who could touch him. In other classes that day Trevor Gibson was first in the Stock-A 800cc class. He also took the trail mod 800cc class, shaving nearly three seconds off his previous time. Other hot times that day were scored in the Open mod 8O0cc class. John Brown from Smithers took first in 49.98 seconds, beat- Ing out Gibson who had 53.53 seconds in that class. Jamie Beedle of Terrace also did well, The open mod 600cc class scored some good times as well. John Brown of Smiithers came first with a time of 51.50, fol- lowed by Mike Ratusniak and Jim Griffilis of Terrace.