SPORTS MENU

ROB BROWN

Loony behaviour

e- hovered over ‘the. real of

screaming and moved in the direc-
- tion from whence it came, sitting

low:.in the water peering over the
waves with red eyes.

Webb spotted him first. a

‘‘Damu, there he is again,’’ he muttered.

I looked up from the green- weeds a fathoni
below, squinted into. the light, then spotted his
black neck, 7

“This is. Jeamed behaviour,” pronounced
Webb.. |

The Loon: was close a0W. He ‘bobbed i in waves

expectantly, :

“It’s the male, I'm: sure. ‘He’ Sa alot bigger than
the other bird.

“*He's a lot bolder, too,’' said Webb, “Gyan,
beat it!"

fur shrimp.

“He just dove,’’ sald ‘Webb bitterly. “He’ $
going to put the fish down again.’’

I hustled the fish to the net, straining the light
tippet to the breaking point, then hoisted the
trout from the water as the loon flew through it
like a monstrous speckled toad.

“Look at that,’’ shouted Webb. ‘*He’s swim-
ming right under the boat!”

I looked down and caught a glimpse of the
giant bird prowling over the marl before it dis-
appeared into a green prism. :

‘We are predators. The bird is a predator. The
day before‘he had watched with interest as the
two-headed_ yellow animal with long slender
arms caught trout after trout, scooped them
from the water, swallowed them, then spit them
out, alive and stunned.

To the bird this was baffling behaviour; after
all, this great, yellow fish catching competitor
had no young nearby. Why, then, was it
regurgitating its catch. He did not ponder this
oddity long. If the giant yellow creature with the
offset paddling appendages was going to gobble
as Many momentarily disoriented rainbows as
he could.

‘The bird learned the yellow paddler was not

indifferent to its presence when the creature
paddled ashore,-returned to the lake, then began
firing hard round: -objects at him every time he
swam near it. After this’ demonstration of
malevolence he chose to keep his distance.
I fumed to Webb. ‘I’m sure it’s the same
bird,.He’s forgotten the rocks, or ‘his hunger has
gotten the best ofhim.” - .

We downed rods, knelt and paddled vigorous-

' ly to Big Fish Bay. The loon did not fallow. The -
fishing picked up again. More often than not we
_ had two leaping trout on simultancously.

-what appeared to be an average sized trout. Sud-
. denly, the fish took off like a thing possessed.
“Must be a whale!”’ I shouted.

“The loon!’ hollered Webb.

The fish veered toward us, it’s wort night-
mare come tue: me dragging it in at one end
and a loon attempting to devour it at the other. I
reeled frantically. We watched in horror as the
loon caught up to poor fish and clamped down
on it. I gave a mighty yank and pulled the trout
out of the loon’s beak, Minutes later the fish
was in the net. It was more dead than alive.

“Maybe if you feed it to the loon he'll be full
and leave us alone.”

It was worth a try, I threw the fish out into the
lake where it lay twitching belly up. The loon
dove and swam about madly, on more than one
occasion passing the fish by inches. His mate
showed up but neither of them could find the
fish. We realized that their hunting posture did
not include looking wp. They became frustrated
and began squabbling with each other.

said,

While the loons finished their domestic dis-
pute an osprey that had been watching the pro-
ceedings from the shoreline zeroed in on the
hapless trout,

As Webb, the loons, and J watched she
climbed, crying and gyrating, but she did not
stoop. The reason for her hesitancy appeared in
the form of an immature bald cagle winging
determinedly toward the fish, ;

The bigger bird circled three times, snatched
the trout from the water, and flew back into the
woods oblivious to the osprey swooping vi-
ciously atitshead. |

Back at camp we ate beans and all-beef
wieners, then washed them down with beer as
Box Car Willie sang The Great Speckled bird.
We'd seen some wonderful sights on this Tetro- :
fishing ae

fa Li”

dragons and danisels. He heard the -

My rod bent as a trout fastened on to my seal.

The orgy lasted for an hour, then I hooked -

“That’s why they're called Joons, Doug,’’ I

IT WON'T: put him on the
PGA ..circuit, but Dan -
Rosengren walked off. the

Castlegar . golf. course smiling .

last Friday.

‘The Terrace ‘golfer and for-

mer-club- pro from the Skeena

; Valley Golf-and Country. Club -
“posted-.a “ 20th-place:. per-.
formance at'the B.C, Amateur

Golf Championships.. -
Rosengren opened the four-
day fourmament with a strong

* -69+to. be ‘in- contention right
' from the start, and ended with

ERRACE STANDARD

Terrace’ S Rosengren near top of pack

a final round 75, ta hit a 294

total and tie at #20 with North

“Vancouver’s Greg Trammell.

- The pair ended up‘14 strokes.
down the leaderboard, behind -

Vancouver’s Doug Roxburgh. -
' A veteran of the Castlegar
course, Roxburgh shot a 280

" total to ciaim victory there for :
_the 42th time..
‘Doug Roxburgh’ of Van-.

couver shot a -tolal 280 to
claim victory for the 12th
time.

There were 156 golfers left

Kitimat golfer
takes SVO title |

KITIMAT’s ~=— Ron Venman
emerged triumphant at this year’s
Skeena Valley Open men’s golf
tournament,

Venman posted a 227 to capture

‘the overall low gross, three

strokes ahead of Pierre Butz, of
Smithers,

Terrace’s Greg. ‘Sanders cap-
tured the overall low net, with a
204 score. -**

_ Results were as follows:

Champlonship Flight

Low gross} Pierre Butz (230),
Tim Meszaros (232), JF Malen-
fant (240), Don Palmer (242)

Low net: Jim Rigler (205),
Clayton Harris (213), Lloyd Rad-

ford (219), Kelly Jones (223).

A« t
Low gross: Phil Davies (240),

Dave Comfort (254), Ray Demers
(255), Rick Letawskkd (260). -
Low net: Chris Ralnay (216),

Doug Van Hulle (219), Rick

Tabata (223), Dean Boucher
(227)
t

Ee grass: Scott Stewart (259),

Harry Brittany (263), Rob Mor- |

rison (268), Bud Smith (272). -

Low net: Howard Pruner (213),
Hans Fedderson (218), Steve
Holtom (224), Ron Nixon (226),

C-Flight

Low gross: Ted Farkvam (266),
Frank Hamilton (268), Terry Ir-
ving (269), Jim Husk (277).

Low net: Dallas Stevenson
(210), Ed Dobler (210), Jesse

Gale (213), Ron Marhauer (215).

Horse shows here

Two horse shows are taking place
here soon.

For the western rider, or anyone
who fikes to have a lot of fun on
horseback, a Totem Saddle Club
Gymkhana is planned for Sunday,
July 26 at the “Thornhill: Com-
munity Grounds. Registration is
at 10:30 a.m.

The Timberland Home Show
takes place Augt. 5, featuring

dressage and jumping classes,

The next day {s devoted to halter

and western classes. This is at the

Thornhil! Community Grounds.
Programs re available at

_ Norther Horse Supply. For more ©

info call 635-5539 or 635-3474,

length.

"provincial

after the cut leading into the
final two rounds of the
championship.

Rosengren shat 69, 74, 76
and 75 over the championship

There was a tie for second at
285 between Steve Dixon of
Victoria and Todd Archam-
bault of Castlegar.

The top four finishers head
off to Ontario next month to
represent B.C, in the inter-
Willingdon Cup
team matches.

of bounds.

day.

finals.

8-3.

Sport Scope

Dan Rosengren

RICHARD KRIEGL
actually spun around

in mid-air as this shot
was taken, to watch
the ball disappear out -

This and other mid-air:
moves vaulted him
into the men’s final in
the open singles .
tournament last Satur-

As of press time, the
matches still had not
ended. Richard Krieg!
and Warwick Evans
had advanced to the
men’s A Flight finals,
while Chuck Cey and

‘Neil Fleischmann were —
baitling for top spot in
the men's B Flight

Onthe women's _..
side, Erna Motschilnig
came out ahead in her
game against Hester
Flewin of Prince -
Rupert with a score of

urday to celebrate Parks Day with Jerry the Moose.

forest.

must look like a critter you could find in the park.

Volunteers needed

looking for volunteers.

up.
‘athalon championship this year.
4478, -

Your chance to meet Jerry
BRING THE FAMILY down to Lakelse Lake Park this Sat-

At Lakelse Lake the day starts with a nature walk along the
Twin Spruce Trail where the public is invited to meet the
“old men of the forest.’’ The “old men’? is the old growth

Then the whole family is invited to take part in a scavenger
hunt. Jerry the Moose, B.C. Park’s large nosed mascot, will
be on hand for lunch, as will parks staff, who will be making
announcements about new protected areas in the province.

After lunch everyone is invited to bring their buckets and
plastic shovels for a sand critter contest. The sandy creations

Aftemoon and evening events include a program about
water safety, and a lesson on how to survive in the woods.

ORGANIZERS OF this year’s Skeena Valley Triathlon are

The provincially-known event Tequires assistance with:
titling, at water stations, with traffic control, clean up and set

The event takes place July 40 and is the provincial tri-

Those > who do want fo volunteer. can call 635-5021 or 635- 1