Soa DORA Png CHRISTIANA WIENS — SKEENA ANGLER ROB BROWN Tall tales e’ve all seen the gift mugs and t- shirts advertising the fact that all fishermen are liars. A more accurate, admittedly less forceful, epithet is most fishermen exaggerate. It’s not hard to under- stand why this is so. Catching a big fish or catching a lot of fish are exciting events that come with thythm and momentum attached. These things imbue the events with lustre and inflate them. I remember standing alone in the Kispiox River one morning late in November, casting beneath the cottonwoods for which that part of the river was named. I knew there were fish nearby, suspended in the clear, cold water near the bottom, almost inani- mate, not easily persuaded to move up to the fly | was dangling over their heads, I thought about changing lines to reach thase steelhead and about how doing that would mean exposing my hands to the cold air then decided against it. Everything was still but the river. The run poised to freeze. The air was about to move, or fill with snow. Tie leaves from the cottonwoods were on the ground, matted and glued together with frost. It was so still that the crunch of footfalls along that yel- lowed carpet startled me. Tlooked upstream and saw someone approaching the head of the run, By the labour he invested in every movement, I knew he was old. When he was close ] saw he was small and stooped, older than Id first thought. He didn’t begin casting before coming to a full stop, like inexperienced fishermen da, but picked his way,.with difficulty, to the place he felt was the correct spot.td.stait. After: making a few..[.: adjustments to his tackle, he: made one precise cast, fished it through, then made another, An ouzel splashed down like a black rock in the Shallows below me. It disappeared, reappeared, thrashed around with agitated movements, flitted frantically from rock to rock, did a few knee bends on each one, and was gone. After this distraction, I looked back upstream again. There was so little change in the scene it seemed like déja vu. Had I “done any good”, the old angler asked, I said I hadn’t moved anything, and that I really didn’t expect too because I was fishing my fly too shallow. This made him pause, I think he was puzzled by the fact that ] wasn’t doing anything to correct this deficiency. This guy was a fish hawk, the kind of fisherman who goes out to catch fish sharply focused on fish catching, On this day, at least, 1 was a sightseer. He told me he'd been forced to put on a new leader because the old one was worn, “I’m not sure it’ll hold a big fish,” he said, shaking his head. } knew his trepidations. A knot tied with warm hands under bright lights in a cabin or a camper is always more secure than a field knot constructed with shak- ing hands in cold air, then lubricated with hot spit and trimmed with sharp tooth. That was all we said for along time. I made my way through to the end of the run, and was briskly making my way back to where [’d started. The old angler had moved too, but not far. I watched his sparing casts against the back light. The end of his line made the commotion lead core line makes when it hits water. I put up another fly, for no good reason. As I did his rod jerked down and set in a deep bow. Line peeled slowly from his reel. There was a faint whir accompanying the turning drum. Pfleuger Medalist, [ thought, the reel favoured by all the old Yanks. The fish didn’t run hard. It ran far. At one point it was only a few feet in front of me. It turned in battle showing its red sides, I was a small fish for the Kispiox, 12 pounds, 1 guessed; certainly not much more than that. “It feels like a big fish,” shouted the old angler. In the excitement his throat filled with phlegm giv- ing his voice raven rasp. “I sure hope that damn knot holds!” I waded ashore and made my way over the iced rocks’ as quickly as I could as the old fellow pumped and cranked. The old fisherman was out on the edge of a ledge. Maneuvering to shore with a fish was a feat. We both knew he wasn’t up to it. With no available beach there was no way I could be of any help beaching the fish. ] got as close as [ could. The fish was before me again. We both saw it clearly: a hen of 10 to 12 pounds, red as a ripe apple. A loud snap punctuated the action. The old guy shook his head for the second time. “That was big fish,” he declared, ‘Probably 28, maybe 30 pounds,” he nodded i in agreement with himself. “Til bet it was at least that,” 1 said. I lied but all fishermen are liars, after all, TERRACE STANDARD | SPORTS The Terrace Stanclard, Wednesday, December 22, 1999 - B17 Local boxer hot JOEY LOSIER is back and more determined than ever. After taking four and a half years off, the 5'6” 156- pound local boxer has re- turned to the ring to fight on Olympic trail for a spot on the Olympic. |: a team. His first step was to chart wins at the provincial and national level this fall. Losier, 23, was then in- invited to the Box Offs in Ontario next February be- _ cause of his aperessive per- formance in the champion- ship match against National Light Heavy-weight Cham- pion Scott Macintosh from Nova Scotia. “Tt was a 5-3 split deci- sion,” said Losier, “I couldn’t believe I lost.” [f he finishes one of the Top 10 in his division at the Box Offs, he’ll qualify for the Pan American Team and be short-listed for the Olympic tryouts. “TI think I have a really good chance,” he said. And just to make sure he does, Losier will train at a gym in California, where he says he rediscovered his love of the sport. “By February | need to be that much better,” he said. “i need to (throw more punches.” LET THE MEDAL COUNT BEGIN: Joey Losier shows off the silver medal he earned at the Nationals in Campbell River December 1-4. Terrace Peewees beat By TYLER NOBLE THE TERRACE Peewee Winter Games team hos- ted Kitimat, here in Ter- race, on December 11. These two teams met twice in the past, most re- cently at the Winter Games Zone play-downs in Hazelton and for an exhi- bition game in Kitimat. They met again for an ex- hibition match-up, this time in Terrace. Kitimat came out strong against Terrace, getting a 1-D Jead on Terrace in a quite defensive first period. Terrace started to fight their way back as Landen Archibald scored early in second period to tie it up at 1-1. Kitimat kept on coming. They added another goal to make the score 2-1 but TERRACE MEN’ AT. THE ARENA PEEWEE HOCKEY Terrace responded with a ‘goal from Jordan Wall to tie it up again, this time al 2-2. Terrace scored six un- answered goals, including a point-shot goal wired by Brad Holubowski, to make the score 8-2. Kitimat started giving ERA IATION Kitimat 8-6 on home-turf:| Terrace a scare though, because with lots of time left in the third, they star- ted making a comeback. Kitimat added four goals of their own to make the game &-6. A spectacular save by Nathan Park in the third period shut down Kitimat’s hopes of catching up any further, as Terrace held on to win 8-6. Also adding goals for Terrace in this fame were Jason Adam, Braden Bloomquist and Jeff Clark. Tanner Noble chipped in with two ass- ists. This team will be tra- velling to the Northern B.C. Winter Games. The games take place Feb. 3-6, 2000, in Fort St. John. Good luck to all Terrace participants! Cavalheiro’s Blazers top men’s futsal action GOING INTO the Christ- mas break the Terrace Men’s Soccer Associa- tion’s futsal league has played approximately one third of its season. The standings are very close with no team domi- nating the league. As usual, Super BM is near the top of the stand- ings, but two weeks ago they lost a nail biter to the Kitwanga Falcons. The Falcons played the entire season so far with no substitute players, but managed to hold Super BM at bay while scoring on the counter attack. Led by the defense of Mike Denomme and Man- uel De Medeiros, the Fal- cons frustrated Super BM giving up some fare scor- ing opportunities. The Falcons held leads during the game of 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2, but late in the . fame Super BM scored another goal to make ita 4-3 final. » League standings to Dec. 16 GF GA GP W L TPTS Cavalheiro's Blazers 22 10 6 4 11 13 Super BM 26193 5 410 12 Jock’s Pipers FC 13 14 6 3 090 9 Kitwanga Falcons 18 20 5 2 24 7 Internationals 21 22 5 230 6 Canadian Tire 1419 5 230 6 Northern Knight 10 26 6 150 3 With time running out Super BM attacked con- tinuously against the tired Falcons, but keeper Colin Davies came up with a couple of great saves to preserve the win for the Falcons. During their following game, the Falcons tied the league-leading Blazers ‘as the looked to move up in the standings. In other games, North- em Knight earned a win against Canadian Tire, re- lying heavily on the stellar goalkeeping of Harry Red- mond, whose agile net minding kept Canadian Tire players frustrated time after time. Al the other end of the the court, Ken Lavoie pul two goals past Canadian Tire’s Nick Bujtas, with Ray Praught adding an- other to secure the win. League action resumes January 10, 2000 when the Blazers takes on Northern Knight and Canadian Tire faces Super BM. Players interested in playing in the league can contact Jacques at 635- 4368 or Trevor at 635-5674 to add their names io the walting list. The repistra- tion hei is 5 $65. 638-7283 ne Sports Scope Go skiing Christmas day WHAT BETTER WAY to try out the new ski equip- ment than heading to Shames Mountain Christmas Day. The hill will be open from 12 noon to 3:30 p.m. Dec. 25 for avid skier and snowboarders. The hill is also open daily during the holidays until Jan; 2.” I’ve you’ve got trouble getting-to the slopes why not use the McDonald’s shuttle, which features a special $3 pet person one way fare during the holidays, __ The hill also has two McDonald's Kids’ Camps com- ing up. The first one started Dec. 20 and the second one begins Dec, 27. As of Saturday, Shames boasted a 130 centimetre base at the lodge and a 235 centimetre mid-mountain base. Caledonia basketball SIX. HIGH school basketball teams from across the northwest met at Caledonia last week for the Kermode Classic high school basketball tournament. D.P. Todd finished first in the tournament after a close 70-67 win against Caledonia, Terrace’s Rabert Haug- land, Braden Meashaw, Ivan Philapino ‘and Kevin Braam were ousted for too many fouls, resulting in 19 relinquished fou! shots in the last quarter. Prince Rupert Senior Secondary finished third over College Heights Senior Secondary, Kitmat’s Mount Eli- zabeth and Charles Hays rounded out the tournament. Ringette Rocks TERRACE JUNIOR RINGETTE teams went to Quesnel Dec. 11-12 and came back a raging success. They lost one game to Quesnel and beat Houston and Prince George alter the younger Petites lost ail four of their games. “Their scores were much better,” said spokesperson Joan Billey of the Petites. “They’re playing much better than they did before, Three local gitls — Jasmine Williams, Roz Smith and Danielle Billey - have be named to the Junior National Team set'to compele in Prince George this winter. One girl is still waiting to hear if she’ll make the tearm. ‘Two older girls - Melanie Krug and Melissa Beaupre —have also been asked to try out for the older Belle Na- tional team. ion, SOCCer. inthe snow . “ALL LOCAL soccer enthusiasts are invited to work off Christmas cheer during the annual New Years Day soc- cer game at ] p.m. on the snow-covered fields of Skeena Junior Secondary, The game staris al 1 p.m. and all are welcome. So bring your snow boots and a warm beverage and join in on the annual fun. Drop-in futsal INTERESTED in playing indoor soccer, but not sure you can commit to a full season of league play? Why not try Thursday night drop in futsal at Thornhill Elementary. The session begins Jan. 6 and run for Iwo hours from 7 p.m, to 9 p.m. This is a more relaxed form of coed indoor soccer and all are welcome to attend, Provincial fastball tournament held here HANG ONTO your ball caps, the provincial Bantam C Girls Provincial Fastball Championships is coming here July 7-9 next year. Sixteen teams of 14 and 15-year-old girls will grace the Riverside, Cassie Hall and Elks Park fields next summer. “We need to da some work on the fields,” said organi- .2er Kelly Yasenchuk. “We'll need to shave the mounds at Elks Park and then put them back again.” In total, Yasenchuk expects up to 500 people, includ- ing players, coaches, umps and family members to dis- cover Terrace during the tournament, Organizers are also looking for volunteers willing to do everylhing from keeping score to administering first aid to help the event become a success. Canskate, Canpower registration | THE TERRACE Skaling Club will be having a registra lion day for a new session of Canskate and Canpower lessons slarling in January, 2000. Registration begins Monday, Jan 3 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Arena lobby. Canskate! Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m Jan. 4 through March 7 Ages 4 and up “Mondays, Wednesdays, 3:30 p.m. ta 4:15 p.m ; Jan 5, through March 8, ‘Ages 4. andup. <-> -- Tuesdays, - 5:40 p.m. to 6:10 p.m Jan. 4 through March 7 Ages three and four Canpower J and IT Thursdays, 4:30 to 5; 20 p.m. Jan. 6 through March 9 Canpower Mand Vi - Sundays, 5: 45 to 6:35 p.m. Jan. 9 through March 12 Ages six and up, or able to skate for- : ward, backward and stop. Canskate II Preschoolers Prices: range from $80 to $110 plus a $14 Canadian Figure Skating Association membership and insurance fee, : Call Debbie Minhinnick at 635-2477 to register.