7 went. out to the hazel wood, Because the fire was in my head, ‘And cut and peeled a hazel wand, thread: And when white moths were on the wing, — . And math. like stars were _ flickering out, I dropped the berry in the Stream And caught a little silver irout, ~— from the Song of Saint Aengus. by Williem Butler Yeats. If you put yourself onstream during the somnolent days of winter when the dry snow and frozen waterfalls cling to the ca- nyon walls, when ice anchors have. formed around the AS cies cee Son ” And hooked a berry to a blackened snags and gripped the streamside stones, you may see a woolly man making his way . along the treacherous shelves of jee confining the river. Synchronous with the ‘rhythms of the -season, his. movements. will be slow and precise,. His body ‘bending in sympathy with the bend of his” rod, he’ will send his lure over - ‘thick. winter? water in. ‘graceful ares. If you listen carefully you will hear the whir of his reel through the air, A quiet splash and.a flash of flourescence -will- momentarily mark the spot where lure, then lead shot, enter the water, then the current will catch the. float and take it over the small waves, ° hidden depressions, past places - promising fish. The fisherman will brake the revolving drum. The float will Te ee hesitate again then describe an arc back to the bank. There it will stop a third time and hang in the flow before it is retrieved and sent out once more, The man’s eyes will be rivet- ted to the float, When it pauses: his muscles will tighten, but not until it moves in a way that says fish, will he tighten the line and trigger an explosion at its end, Aiter it takes, the fish will not jump. Its runs wilt be neither strong nor hard. In a short time the angler will slide it to the beach where he will rummage through the overfull vest hang- ing below his hips, pull pliers from it, clasp the hook shank and twist the fish free. The creature will over in the current, disoriented for a second or two, then dart back to its lie. The angkr will touch up his hook with his file, check his leader, adjust the float, then, his rod cocked once again, move on. He is a float fisherman — drift fisherman, if you prefer — this man in motion. He is in- digenous: his technique a uni- Terrace Standard, Wednasday, February 21, 1990 ~ Page B3 que branch of angling that flow- ed from character. of our best salmonid streams before evolv-. ing to its present form. His terminal tackle might bea cluster of carefully cured roe, or ‘possibly, a translucent plastic imitation of salmon eggs that capture light, bends it and gives it a pinkish-orange cast before showing it to the fish, Lead shot provides the weight’ necessary to cast and can take the shape of a pencil, a small _cannonball or a snake, ; But it is the float that. gives this type of fishing its name, and its practitioners use small torpedoes fashioned from balsa and cork as well as sausage- shaped lengths of foam, It is the float that provides the means to guide lures alongside snags and into formerly inaccessible packets while keeping them from the clutches of the. bat- . tom. * Float rods are long: ‘paually ten-and-a-half to: eleven feet. Long ago they were of greenheart or cane before anglers turned to glass fibre and finally to graphite. The floatfisher’s rée] is ideal- ly a flyree!l with a clutch to assist — freespooling. House of Hardy’s Silexes, the Jewel, Superba, Super and Majors are the preference of connoisseurs. - Who invented float fishing? — My suspicion is it was a thrifty Scot, an immigrant who, when’ faced with B.C.’s rocky- bottomed rivers, drew deeply upor his stingy resourcefulness and came up with a technique both deadly and cheap. A cur- mudgeonly redhead named Jock, or Alec — or Angus. _SPORTS NEWS _ JEFF NAGEL 638-7283 TERRACE STANDARD -SPORTSCOPE- Cal girls doubled TERRACE — Caledonia’s senior girls basketball team met double defeats dished out by the South Delta Sun Devils two weekends ago. | The Kermode girls played South Delta Feb. 9 and 10, one week after the Kermode boys were beaten twice by North Delta, South Delta handed the Terrace girls a 44-27 loss on ithe Friday and a much closer 43-37 repeat performance the “next night. Krista Soules led ‘Kermode scoring in both games, . Cycling clinic A five-time British na- tional champion bike racer may be coming to Terrace in May to give’a cycling clinic. “He’s excellent and he’s really good with people who are just starting out," clinic organizer Mike Christensen said, He said whether the two- day camp by Barry Lycett — also a former national team coach -— goes ahead will de- pend on how much interest there is. The clinic, jointly spon- sored by the local bike club and the Parks and Recrea- tion department would in- clude everything from bike fit to nutrition and training principles. It would also ex- plore advanced racing areas such as the group riding and racing tactics. . Theclinic is geared to peo- ple who are getting into the competitive side of the sport, and is ideal for triathletes thinking of entering this year's Skeena Valley Triathlon July 15. ‘Brown elected Local angler and Cassie Hall school teacher Robert Brown has been re-elected to a third term as vice-president of B.C.'s Steelhead Society. Members of the 20-year- old organization say its man- date is to represent sport- fishing’ interests. It has lob- bied for greater conservation of fish stocks and habitat in the northwest. Brown has been vice- president for four years and was re-elected two weeks ago to a third two-year term, He said he declined the nomina- tion for president because of family and personal com- ‘mitments. The president is West Van- couver.. ,doctor Bhor Boyanowsky: aaah mobs cant Re emmediatne TE PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, Local shooter Ali Johnston is preparing for her next major match — the Mar. 3-5 provincial championships in Richmond. Johnston concentrates on the air pisto! event, which is her specialty. She holds the number-two position on the national team in that event and may represent Canada at world championships to be held in Los Angeles this spring . Old Pros, locals ready TERRACE — The players rosters are out and local crowds waiting to see Terrace Tizabermen Ike Harold Cox face off against the Hkes of Eddy Shack and Frank Mahovlich will not be dissappointed, Game time will be 7:30 p.m. March 2 at the Terrace Arena where the Terrace Oldtimers will take to the ice against the Montreal Old Pros. Referrecing the game will be none other than the Rockel, Maurice Richard. The assorted living hockey legends confirmed for Montreal are: Ullman (Detroit Red Wings), Eddy Shack (Toronto Maple Leafs), F Mahovlich (Montreal Canadiens), Billy Harris (Toronto Maple Leafs), Ab McDonald (Chicago Blackhawks), Jimmy Mann. (Quebee Nordiques), Bob Nevin (New York Rangers), Jim- my Neilson (New York Rangers), Wilf Palement (Quebec Nordiques), Jean- Guy Talbot (Montreal Canadiens), and Gary Solth (Vancouver Canucks). Taking on this line-up for Terrace will be:. Rick Marko, Gary Schatz. Chris Bode, Wilson, Hank Randrup, Tim Koiner, Les ‘Thorsteinson, Rino Michaud, Rick Letawski, Harold: Cox, Craig In- aebrightson, Grant Casper, Ian Alger, Mario Desfardina, Jim Holland and Brock Waldron. : cud Frank Mahovlich — improve TERRACE — Local Blueback swimmers swam their best meet ta place a close second in team standings behind Kitimat at an invitational meet they hosted here Feb. 9-11. ; Kitimat Marlins topped the tournament with an aggregate of 965.5 — just 49 points ahead of the Terrace Bluebacks at 914. The Prince George Barracudas scored 460.5 and Prince Rupert, unable to send a full team because of avalanches, totalled 102. ‘Blueback coach Shelley Morgan said her swimmers swam fantastically, marking best times in 70 per cent of the events they swam. Cory Holland broke a provin- cial record for his age group, by shaving two-tenths of a second TERRACE — The 26-team all- native men's basketball tourna- ment Feb, 5-11 wrapped up with teams from Metlakatla, Alaska taking the top honours, ’ Bella Bella proved strong contenders, beating Port Simp- son 120-104 in the intermediate semi-final. But the Metlakatla intermediate team chalked up a 7-point margin in the final to record an 84-77 victory and cap- ture the championship. In senior action; Metlakatla again proved too strong for the off the record for the 50-metre freestyle. It was Holland's first B.C. age-group record, and Morgan predicted he will soon capture the record in the 100-metre freestyle. Swimmers at the meet also broke several pool records in several events, - Ten local Bluebacks have also made the qualifying times in their age groups qualifying them to travel to Prince George for the Feb. 23-25 B.C, Junior Provincial Championships, They arez: Clint Sheppard (9), Vince Gair (9), Daniel MacCor- mac (10), Dylan MacCormac (10), Dave Vanderlee (12), Sonya Sheppard (10), Lisa Gar- diner (11), Joelle Walker (12), Denise Vanderlee (14) and Tori MacKenzie (14). || Alaskans unstoppable rest of the field. The Alaskans first knocked off the Trojans 79-63 in the semifinals, then met Haida Gwaii in the final, besting them by a score of 82-75. Terrace’s only team — a Ker- mode Friendship Centre in- termediate team — were one of . the first -victims of the Metlakatla squad, going down to defeat 103-61. But the KFC crew rallied and forced an ex- perienced Greenville team to go to the limit in order to beat the Terrace newcomers 68-66. Norm Frank Bob Cooper, Doug Hearty curling THIS RINK showed some heart at the Feb. 9-11 Ladies Valentine Bonspiel. Cheryl, Heather, Pat and Rita didn’t bring back any prizes, but they sure had a good time. ‘A’ event winners at the spiel was the Skead rink of Terrace who prevailed over Blanes. Hendry won the ‘B’ event, with Kirk taking the runner-up Spot. ‘C' and ‘D’ events went to the Kawinsky ar and MacDougall tinks . respectively, a, A os PO es Eas lean wednemnasinh tum tint vhdetiec tL cae el