Skeena Angier It was a sticky summer day a dozen years aga, Harkley and Heywood was was the largest and most distinguished sporting goods in Vancouver at the time. I was browsing through the shelves when I noticed a prim looking woman tying flies behind one of the ‘counters, . - Most fly tiers use bobbins, hackle pliers and vices along with a pair of scissors to dress their hooks, but this lady had only a pair of scissors and a spool of thread. “*No vice?" I asked. She looked up from her work."Never use one,” she answered in a thick Scots brogue. Needing every bit of mechanical assistance to wrap Up my own crude creations, I was amazed. "Robert Brown,” ] extended a hand. "Mary Stewart," she shook it, "Can you show me how it's done?” She defily picked up a hook. TH tie ye up a Wer-rner Shrimp," she said twisting a pinch of seal’s fur onto ihe waxed thread. _ I watched, spellbound, as she assembled the fly like a cowpoke rolling a cigarette. In no more (han a minute she dropped a green bodied gammarus copy into my hand, the cement on the head still glistening. ' "That's astounding," I said, "Do you fish with the same kind of skill?" . She smiled coyly, "I don't fish. Me father decided I would learn the craft when I was a wee girl. I been doing it ever since. Bul I've never caught afish" | A short. time after that _demonstration Harkley and Heywood drowned in a sea of debt. Mary moved across the street to Woodward's . The ‘last time J] saw her she was working the | sporting goods department. I expect she’s retired now. I think of her whenever. I'm_on,.a hunt for.a.certain:]* shouldy’t have happened, it was. just box of flies and come across that neatly . tied little shrimp. -: ‘Later I learned that Mary Stewart is cone ofa long traditional line of Scottish women fly. tiers which includes one Megan Boyd, whom many believe to be the finest dresser of ‘PORTS NEW! The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 3, 1993 - Page ot Kermodes reign! It was a made-in-Terrace vic- tory, but the script was 100 per cent Hollywood. The Caledonia Kermodes senior boys basketball team served up a_ heart- stopper on Saturday as they booked themselves a berih in next week’s provincial ‘AAA’ championships. With Cal down 11 points and less than five minutes to go in the second of their three game series against the Prince Rupert Rainmakers, the rubber match looked a certainty. However, the Kermodes had other ideas, shutting down the Rainmaker at- lack as they clawed back to within one point with 39 seconds left on the clock. Rupert immediately swept back down court, but this time their star Kevin Campbell missed and Dean Beeson snatched the rebound to set up the finale. And what a finish Fernando Mil- - homens provided! With the clock rapidly running down, Milhomens patiently controlled the ball at the edge of the Rainmakers’ defensive wall. Then, as it hit five seconds, he pro- duced a moment of pure magic, A quick feint having sent his marker the wrong way, Milhomens launched himself through the gap, bulled through the bodies beyond and rose above a sea of arms to sink the winner. © Kermodes 64, Rainmakers 63 and Cal was on its way to next week's provin- clals. While the Kermodes and their fans were ecstatic, coach Cam MacKay was probably more relieved than anything. The game ticd going into the final quarter, Cal gave up eight unanswered points and began to look very dis- organized under. the mounting Rain- maker pressure. MacKay’s frustration finally boiled over with six minutes left and the referee immediately assessed a technical foul against the Cal coach. “They gol four points on my foul,” frustration,’’ he admitted, That left the score 59-48 with 5:37 left. Fortunately, the Kermodes went on to rescue their boss. It was a tough loss for the Rainmakers who had led 17-15 after the first quarter and 32-28 at the half. They had also shown a fot of grit in the third quarter. Having lost their grip oa the game and allowed Cal to score nine straight to take a 44-40 lead, Rupert regrouped to get out of the quarter tied. Jassie Osci-Tutu provided 19 of the Cal points, including a vital six in the comeback effort, while Fraser McKay and Fernando Milhomens chipped in dozen each, Rainmaker Campbell was the game’s top scorer with 23 in the losing cause. McKay was named the zone playdowns’ most valuable player and Milhomens, Osci-Tutu and Jon Shepherd were named to the all-star team. Shepherd had been a crucial factor in the Kermodes first win, playing stand out defence in’ smothering Campbell’s offensive threat. While he was spiking the Rainmakers’ big gun, McKay and Osei-Tutu went on the rampage, scoring 18 points between them as Cal built up a 32-20 lead. The gap widened to 51-30 by the half, but from that’s where the Kermodes’ domination ended. The two teams ex- changed points for the rest of the match, Cal coming off court 82-60 winners. McKay and Beeson both contributed 20 points, Osci-Tutu 15 and Milhomens 12. While happy with the win, MacKay was not taking anything for granted going into game two, Pointing out only one point separated the squads. over the last half, he warmed, **You’ve got to have respect for them, they work hard no matter what.’’ That second game proved the caution- ary comment was on the mark, MAGIC MOMENT. All eyes (top right} are riveted on Fernando Milhomens' shot as it heads toward the basket with just 4.7 seconds feft on the clock. It dropped in to give’ Caledonia’s Kermodes a 64-63 win and the zone tile. The team (right) now heads to next week’s provincial senior boys Atlantic salmon flies in the world, Legend has it that some time in the 17th century a group of famous salmon anglers. decided their quarry liked to sup on butterflies, and began fashioning their flies accordingly. Since the so- * called new world had not been shorn of- most .of its fauna yet, there was an abundance of luxuriant plumage to pick from. The recipe for the Jock Scott, a famous Atlantic salmon standard, calls for golden pheasant, Indian crow, black ostrich, ycklow toucan, gallina, flarican ‘bustard, dyed swan, jungle fowl as well as scarlet and blue macaw, for example. This and many. other equally ornate dressings are the pinnacle of the fly tiers craft. For more than half'a century Megan Boyd made these complicated and exquisitely beautiful flics in her small wooden cabin within earshot of the pounding surf of the North Sea, working 12 to 16 hours a day, 6 days a week most weeks and 7 days week on the others, For most of those years her tying bench was lit by gas lamp which also provided the sole source of heat for the shed. Boyd - funded her Spartan, frugal existence selling her flics (which are now sold by collectors at prices ranging: from. $250 to $1,000 each) at “sixty pence per Aly to’ devoted Atlantic Salmon anglets from all over the globe. Of course, she could have gotten nich more; put, as she says, she didn't need “any more to put groceries on the table and keep the car running. - Among her customers were the “Queen. Mather and Prince Charles, both avid salmon anglers. No doubt this connexion and Boyd's international reputation led the Queen to bestow the Order of the British Empire upon her. Like Mary Stewart, Megan Boyd has never wet a line. In fact, the killing of fish (in Britain, catch and release is not tradition, so it is not done) Is the dark: and unsavory side to her work, - ~The lamps are growing dimmer for Megan-Boyd as the arteries behind her eyes harden, She has been ‘forced into retirement at 75 without a successor. Of her many students none,apparently, | had the perseverance to master the technique near perfection demands. *After, all my. work slugging and slugging, making good flies," she was quoted as saying in a recent magazine article, “anything seems to go in the |, water and catch fish.”: It’s. puzzling, this Sport and its a arts, ‘AAA! championship. PERFECT TIMING: The tralia at Onlon Lake: gota just in. time: forthe. B.C, Winter Games cross ‘country ski races, Above, ‘| Adele Thorne of the local Kitimat club-heads out in hér bid to follow up on “successes at the Northern Games in-Queshel three weeks earlier, Futt ‘results from the Games wil appear In next week's Paper. sh dressing of snow COKE CLINIC NO CLASSIC According to the Coca-Cola company, Terrace’s Paul King, 12, was a ‘lucky _ young hockey player’’. According to falher Rick, he was any- thing but. Paul was one of 100 youngsters from across the province whose. names were drawn for the Coca-Cola/NHL Future Stars hockey clinic held in Vancouver Saturday, Feb. 20. In its fourth year, the clinic is part of a _program Coca-Cola publicists say helps “‘voung players learn and appreciate the fundamentals of hackey.”’ - And, Rick King agreed, the program promised by organizers sounded great. Apart From on and off ice training ses- sions, the youngsters were to get a chance to watch the Canucks. and Win- tipeg Jels go through a practice skate, - There would also be tickets for that -evening’s televised game: between the. ’ Smythe division rivals. And, to top ilall, there was a chance to be one of two players to attend the Coca- Cola/Wayne Grelzky hockey camp in Quebce City in June. © To do so, the players would first have a. --le-show they’d feached a specific skill level, but King was confident Paul ‘ would measure up. However, King said, the reality proved very different from the pre-publicity. Turning up in good time for the prac- tice, they found only Canucks Gino Od- jick, Kay Whitmore, Dixon Ward and Ryan Walter on the ice. Paul and the other kids waited ex-— pectantly for the others to show, but in ° vain, King found out later the rest of the Canucks bad been out eartier but left and. the Jeis-had decided to pass completely. « Insult was added to injury when Odjick started to leave the ice atid was asked by one of the youngsters for his autograph, King said Gino just kept on walking and iif was the same story when Whit- more and Ward came off. Only Ryan Walter stopped and stayed until he’d met every autograph request. "He was top notch,” King said. ‘The kids loved it,”’ But that stood cut as one of the few shining moments of the day. Noting the clinic consisted of only one hour on the ice and “watching a video’’ as off-ice training, King added, ‘‘There was a lot of standing around,” Even the draw for the Gretzky camp was flawed. Instead of having to ‘‘make ihe cut”? based on skill, everybody’s name went into the draw. - “The Canucks could have done something. These are their “young Jans.” - Rick King While ‘that might seem generous, he pointed out one. of the winners “couldn't “even skate.” If the other clinics: across the: ‘country followed the rules,. ‘he’s going to al- . "sways be lagging behind,” King said. ‘‘How’s he going to feel?” ; The final disappointment came. at the Canucks-Jets game where, despile the youngsters’ expectations, their presence was never publicly acknowledged. And noting one of the. intermissions featured a mini-game between two local minor hockey teams, King stiggested the cHnic kids could have been ‘given the same chance, “The Canucks could have done some- thing, These are their young faris,”” be said. ‘He (Paul) is not going to cherish the experience,”