CHRISTIANA WIENS SKEENA ANGLER . ROB BROWN Fishing solo he best time to go fishing is when you've got the time. Last Thursday I had the time, so I went, Selecting a fishing site isn’t easy in the prime fishing months of April and May, when clean steelhead are Slipping into all the rivers. My choice was made easier thanks to the memories of a recent trout outing and some road mending done to Claire Gigge’s old haul road on the upper Lakelse River courtesy of Andrew Williams. That last fine time I caught a lot of nice fish by swim- ming a small nymph near the bottom, but the memory of the six large char I found in the tail of the Secret Creek Pool had me yearning to sample that spot again. During the course of that trip 1 saw one other fisher- man, but last Thursday was different. Two anglers were fishing the Upper Coldwater Pool. Downstream, on the Lower Coldwater complex, a trio of backpacking steel- headers, their orange lines licking out like tongues, methodically worked their way downstream. I'd only made a few casts and when Dave Cater’s dog, Paytoh, appeared followed by Dave’s friend, Rick ANDARD The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 3, 2000 - BS te ne ~SPORTS 638-7283 around m Just spinning Sellon, Rick was casting an old Sunbeam cane rad, armed with an automatic reel, an Inglis, which he’d inherited from his grand dad along with the some fly boxes the old guy, who was a tin smith, had put togeth- er himself, As we talked, the backpackers marched right through Nine-year-old Terrace Peak gymnast Jody Kuchary- shen practices her parallel bars routine at the Ter-. race Peaks invitational gymnastics meet here on Saturday, April 29. Above: Kucharyshen and her teammates are part of the Peaks Level 1 midget team, coached by Kris Fairless. Tha tournament the best water in the run lying just below us. A few min- utes after they’d disappeared, Skip and Dan Warner appeared with.a brace of dolly varden which they’d found in one of the pools below. We spent a pleasant morming fishing lackadaisically downstream. Rick caught some good fish in the washing matching water below Secret Creek then, later, hooked some more at the Mill Pond. When we returned to Coldwater a fisherman and a fisherwoman were releasing a large dolly varden. In all we saw 17 fishers, which is not a lot to a spoiled angling curmudgeon like me. When the next opportunity to fish arrived, I took off for the lower Lakelse with my mountain bike in the truck. Because Lakelse Main has been deactivated and its lawer end has turned to swamp, I drove into the Power line Pool, slipped into my waders, pushed the bike through the bush, hoisted it up onto my right shoulder, grasped my red in my left hand and proceed- ed to wade the river. The current was stiff. ] learned quickly that keeping the wheels out of the water was essential when wading a river with a bike. Once on the far side I hopped on the bike and peddled off. The going was good for a kilometer then I hit a long patch of snow lying in the shadow of a mountain. After pushing through il, biked for another click and ran into another patch. I ditched the bike and walked the last kilometer then made my way through the bush and across the swamp and upstream past Gledhill’s, past the Moose Run to the Sundance Pool. I started fishing; concentrating on the the small spot of water that was the target of each cast and the swing of the line until the surroundings receded into a wash of greens and blues and the reminiscences embedded in each spot struggied free and burst from their skins. The confluence of the two channels caused the emer- gence of the time Mel Malinowski and I made our way to that spot through the swamp on a day when the bril- Hiant yellow blooms of skunk cabbage poked through a thin carpet of snow that shouldn’t have failen so late in the year. The long bleached bone of a log on the far side trig- gered the sights and sounds of the day 1 spent a long sweaty time struggling through the bush from new angle, then recuperated by catching a lot of trout with a stone fly imifation. An image of Al Hassal fighting steelhead after steel- head on my gear rod with a limited amount of line thanks to the bird's nest he’d made trying to cast a direct drive reet for the first time, rose up over the tail out of the pool. From the log jam downstream, emerged the image of Dan Gledhill with his oversized handlebar moustache, ragged miner waders held up by a single suspender, clad in plaid, a toque on top, using Hardy Jet glass fibre rod cast a yellow fly to trout lurking amidst coho as red as the leaves were that fall day. The hatch went on all afternoon: memories of Webb ‘and I catching too many trout; of Finlay and I lunching on alog; Mike and I trying to track a moose thraugh a swamp; the grizzly bear on top of a log jam, and so on. ” Because a guy fishes well in that suspended state of mind, I did okay: two bright steelhead where I expect- ed them to be. A dark steelhead by accident that I felt guilty about and some wonderful cutthroats. I'm old enough to appreciate special days. This was one. Another memory t to hatch ata later dale while fish- ingsolo. of pressure in most fishing jurisdictions, but congestion - ‘Bluebacks shine in Smithers and Prince George meets MIKE CARLYLE knows the Terrace Bluebacks have a great fulure ahead of them. The head coach of the Terrace Blueback swim team only has to look at the performance of develop- ment swim at the Bulkley Valley Swim and Ski Classic in Smithers last month, The team sent 13 swimmers to the fun meet, and came back with 10 medals. ; Everyone from Alastair Beddie to Janine Callieou, Ian MeKinnon to Aaron and Andrew Moldenhauer and Jason Ruchotzke and Conor Simpson came back with some piece of hard- ware strung around their necks, But more impressive is the way Blueback swimmers outperformed their own entry time in the pool, said Carlyle. In a separate meet, Terrace’s older swimmers competed at the Prince George Moose Meet in March. Jenine Barton, Terrace’s star but- terfly swimmer, racked up a gold, silver and bronze medal, Though none of her swims clocked in as best-ever times, Bar- ton still managed to clock her 200- metre butterfly in 2:43.67 minutes. In the 100-metre butterfly, she won a silver medal and clocked in at 1:12.31 minutes. Barton’s bronze medal was won in the 100-metre backstroke. Kyle Narzt, 16, charted one best ever lime in his 100-metre butterfly, shaving 14 one hundredths of a sec- ond off his entry lime to clock in at 1:03.82 minutes. The performance gave him a fourth-place finish. Narzt also won a gold medal in the 100-metre backstroke, a silver in his 200-metre backstroke and bronze in the men’s 400-metre medley. He also placed fourth in three other evenls. Evan Palahicky’s meet was also Success after the record-breaking breaststroker charted two best-ever times, His 200-metre freestyle time dropped nearly four seconds, to touch the wall in 2.38.72 minutes. He alse dropped 24 one hun- dredths of a second in his 50 metre freestyle swim. Palahicky’s best performance of the meet was a second-place finish in the 100-metre breaststroke. The 50-meter Prince George pool is always a challenge for swimmers from shorter pools, who typically gain speed off the wali when the turn around. But Terrace swimmers have been training with sports visualization guru Dr. Peter Usher, based in Prince George, who has helped team mem- bers focus on technique and form ra- ther than speed. Sports Scope hosted clubs from as far away as Whistler, Gymkhana competitions start Sunday THE FIRST gymkhana competition of the season runs Sunday, May 7 at the Thornhill Community Fair- grounds. The competition, hosted by the lacal saddle club, features seven competitive events, including barrel, ting and keyhole racing, scurries, flag picking, figure eights and pole-bending for riders five to 45 years old. A number of fun obstacle course events have also been scheduled. Whether you come to ride or watch, the event will be fun for the whole family, said spokesperson Danita Pitch. Registration starts at 10:30 a.m. and you must have your own horse to participate. Spectators are free. Tennis for everyone THE TERRACE tennis club invites tennis players of all skill levels to join them at the Halliwell courts from 6:30 p.m. ‘til dusk and on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The membership fee is $20 for the season and in- cludes a Tennis B.C. membership. Youth nine to 14 years eld can join the youth ten- nis club, which practices Saturdays at the Halliwell courts from 10:30 a.m.to 12 p.m. The entry fee is $20 and participants will need their own tennis rackets. The first session runs Saturday, May 6. Call Ada at 635-9695 for more information. Summer games tennis playoffs set IS YOUR tennis game good enough to take you to the B.C. Summer Games in Victoria July 27-30? Find out at the zone playoffs for at the Riverlodge Courts in Kitimat May 27, Juniors interested in competing must be between 13 and 18 years old by July 27 this year. There is also an open category for adults, 18 or older. Any gold medal winner from the 1998 Summer games is not eligible to compete in the event, in which the gold medal was won. And all playoffs win- hers will be required to pay a $40 entry fee. Entry forms are available at the Terrace Tennis Club (call Ada at 635-9695) or contact Dorothy Cheyne in Kitimat at 632-3871 (phone) or 632-5822 (fax) for more information. The: deadline for entry is May 25. Sports menu Sunday, May 7 wTotem Saddle Club Gymkhana at the Thornhill Community Grounds. Runs 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with re- gistration at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 10 “B.C, Senior Games Social bridge and five- pin bowling playotfs at the Happy Gang Centre. Sunday, May 21 veOpening race day at the Terrace Speed- way, featuring the Cruising Mama's con- test for moms who just want to drive, wTerrace to Kitimat road race, call McBike at 635-5225 for more information, vw Terrace Drag Race Association races at the Terrace Kitimat Airport. Continues May 22. Monday, May 22 “wRedsand foot Chute, mountain bike, cross country, Call McBike at 635-5225 for more information. Saturday, May 27 ~Uniform Day at the Terrace Speedway. Sunday, May 28 wKermode Classic 5/10 k race. Part of the Northwest Paints series races, Call Jack at 638-0751 for more information. %Totem Saddie Club Gymkhana at thg Thornhill Commu Grounds. Runs a.m. to 1 p.m. with re- gistration at 10:30 am. yrLet the kid's drive, Kiddies Race Day at the Terrace Speed- way.