TERRACE STANI ... SPORTS 638-7283 Swimmers score best times at Meet THE BUSY Blucbacks Swim Civb continued their string : of successful tournaments at the Prince George Moose SKEENA ROB BROWN Trout on the fly LEAR LAKELSE water, as clear and low as I've seen it in two decades, greeted me when I reached Herman Poiut early last week, This has been an odd spring with cold nights and mornings, and warm, brilliant afternoons. As a result, water is trickling out of the hills. Four years ago, in the fall, the pink salmon’ plugged the river, as they should, even on weak years. Two years ago they were on the the thin side of thick, Last year they huddled in pockcts digging desperately, as if they knew that successful spawning was more urgent, more a matter of life and death for their race than it normally is. Few spawners means few fry. I made a few casts with a fry fly: a nod in the direction of tradi- lion. Trout are opportunists. With no silvery fry swimming by there had been no opportunity, no fish flesh to itspire automatic feeding motions. These trout wouldn’t be provoked with fake fry lies, They didn’t want nymphs either — at least, hot the ones I rolled by them. A small partridge and orange provoked a hit from a small cutthroat, but only one, The top of the water was bug free, but, since [’d tried every other approach, I floated some flies in promising places. Understand that the wet fly is the way to scan the water for tout. The dry fly is fished in short drifts seldom exceeding thirty feet, and is most effectively done when the fish are crealing targets by breaking the surface. When no targets are provided, it is hard, frustra- ling work. Yet, on that day it worked well. I sent my sedge to the selfsame places [’d cast my min- nows a short time before, and plucked fat trout from them like ripe plums. We When it is working even moderatély’ well fish- ing the floating fly is the most pleasant way to fish, if for no other reason than the fisher gets to watch the drama of the fish taking the fly right before his eyes. When I started my exploralions into the subject it seemed as complicated as leaming Mandarin. Now, a quarter of a century afier my intial. studies, I’ve come to the conclusian that fishing’ the floating fly is really quite simple provided an angler knows a few tricks. Matching the hatch is a must, as anglers have known since Isaak Walton was in knee pants. The number of dry fly patterns is enormous, and most require exotic and expensive body parts which must then be assembled with surgical skill. Yet, despite what the text books tell you, only two pat- tems are necessary. The first consists of a dozen deer hairs tied ona light wire hook that has been dubbed with fur or a synthetic substitute for Fur or a combination of both materials. When the wing has been tied on you must secure it with a few wraps of thread through the tufts above the hook eye, With this dead simple pattern the angler will be able to im- personate any species of caddis by adjusting the hook size and body colour. The dressing floats like a cork, requires no ex- pensive cock hackle, and presents a more natural silhouette when viewed from pnderncath, Green, ian, gray, cream and brown are enough colours for most situations. Even large stone Alies can be well imitated with this simple sedge by tying the same pattern on a large hook with a yellow or orange body. The other bug is more difficult to tic, but not much more. After tying three or four plastic tails (readily available in tackle shops) over the bend of a light wire hook, wrapping a small bundle of deér hair in the opposite direction of the wing on ‘ the simple sedge, then flaring the hair so that it fans out for 180 degrees atop the hook, you dub a body from same material as the sedge. to create a Comparadun, the best imitation of a mayfly as you'll find anywhere. A dry fly needs to float frec, any other presenta- tion is a drag, Drag is the bane of the dry By manjwoiman. To facilitate a free float and leng- then it simply knot about 18 inches of light tippet material to your leader. This will keep your Oy floating naturally Iong after the current has straightened the rest of your line. Mending is the act of adjusting the fly Ine to keep the fly floating freely. To do this reach across ‘your body and upstream as you follow through on your cast. This positions the line in such-a way as to give you four or five feet of dragless drift. Finally, wade instead of making long casts. Trout are unimpressed by double hauls and leng- thy throws. They show their contempt by refusing dry flies shown to them that way, Cast short and control your drift. If you do all these things and keep a meticulous diary recording, among other things, whal is hatching when and in what weather conditions, the splendours of dry fly trouting will be your reward, Milk run THORNHILL JUNIOR Secondary students took part in the 20th annual Milk Run for charity last week. Students raised money for charity, then ran, walked and even skateboarded the three kilametre event. Some 27 students from grade eight to 10 raced in the competitive part of the run. The first student across the line was Gerrit Dempster, who finished the race in a very speedy 11 minutes and 23 sec- onds, The entire school then took to the course just for fun. more.” group, Meet two weekends ago. Some 12 Terrace swimmers attended the meet, which drew competitors from all over the northern half of the province. And several swinimers had outstanding performances, bringing home medals and boasting high percentages of best tines, ‘"We managed to maintain our 70 per cent best times average,’’ says coach Mike Carlyle, ‘“‘There’s something about Prince George that we tend to push it a little bit The Moose Meet was actually part of a string of very successful tournaments for the Bluebacks over the last two months. Top performances were had by swimmers like Chance Stemer, a 10-year-old who's close to making qualifying limes in the 11-12 year-old group. Sterner blew away the competition, taking first or second spot in all his swims and eaming top spot overall in his age “He really cleaned up,’ Carlyle says. Tanner Cormier also performed admirably, taking lots of time off and scoring 100 per cent best times. Judy Stevenson also scared close to 100 per cent best times, Edmund Swan took major time aff his swims — up to seven seconds in the 200s — and also scored 100 per cent best times. He placed sixth in his age group. Evan Palahicky was fourth in that group overall and scored two first-place finishes. And Keely Wallace took third overall in her group. Wal- lace aclually took 30 seconds off of her 400 IM time. “We didn’t expect that,” says Carlyle. ‘But she’s been working so hard, she’s very committed. Jt was nice to sec her win a medal.”’ The Bluebacks are very busy these days. Their next meet is coming up this weekend — the Edmonton Internalional — and the swimmers are practicing hard. Their working their butts off for it,”’ Carlyle says. The following week, another big meet takes place, the Panhandler in Prince Ruperi. ‘Women’s rugby team. makes: history HISTORY WAS made two weekends ago as the first-ever Terrace women’s rugby team took to the fields in Prince Rupert. It was the team’s first game since its inception a few short weeks ago. The women are still a few players short to have a complete linc-up, but they were able to play 10 aside. The weather was disgusting, but Terrace’s team hit the field with enthusiasm in spile of the rain, wind and cold. And coach David Hull says they played very weil, even though they were outgunned by a much more experienced Rupert club. “Only one of them had ever actually played a game before,’ Hull says of his club. ‘‘They played surprisingly well.” The game ended at 10-5 for Rupert. Hull says he was impressed with the quality of play and the enthusiasm was even better. ‘They would get smacked down in the mud and gravel and get right back up smiling,’’ he says. Meanwhile, the Seamen got smacked down in the mud in their first game against the clite: Northinen first-15. The Northmen came out like a freight train right from the opening whistle. They totally dominated the first 15 minutes, wilh Doug Wil- son opening the scoring with three on a penalty kick. Shortly afterwards, speedy Amic Pelletier made a nifty play, kicking the bal] down the “They would get smacked down in the mud and gravel and get right back up smiling.” —coach David Hull on the new women’s rugby team field and outrunning Rupert players to pick it up for a try. After that, Rupert finally woke up, and Shawna Pottle scored a try which was successfully con- verted to make it 10-7. But Pelletier strack again after a turnover, making a huge ran to score his second try of the day. ; Unfortunately, Doug Wilson missed the con- version as the ball fell over in the wind and rain. The Seamen got one back, but also missed the conversion thanks to the miserable weather. The second half went back and fourth until Neil Haley scored his first try as a Northman. Haley is one of the first players to have gradu- ated from the Under-19 squad into the Northen. Two missed converts and another try by Shawn Pottle rounded out the day as the Northmen fought their way to a 20-17 victory. The next day the Northmen’s second-15 visited the rainy city. David Huil says the Seamen seamed to have learned from their mis- takes in the previous game and dominated this one from start to finish. The final score was 31- 3. Hull says everyone’s extremely pleased at how well mgby has been received this year, He points out that the season is still young and any- one who has an urge to leam the game can show up to practices (with soccer cleats) Tues. and Thurs. at the college. Track and field off to a fast start Coaches say records may fall this year THIS COULD be a banner season for bigh school Track and Field in Terrace, Registration in the sport is up 20 per cent over last year. There are now nearly 60 athletes from Skeena, Caledonia and Centennial Christian Schools compeling in the tradi- tional sporting events. And coach Doug Steele says he expects to see some strong performances. ‘Tt looks like we have some kids who could break records,”’ he says. “We've got a really good group, espe- cially our Grade Eights. They’re probably our strongest group.”’ Skeena Junior Secondary hosted the first meet of the year over the weekend. Unfortunately, results weren’t available at press time, but look for them in an upcoming Standard. One of the students expected to do well this year is Grade 10 renner Gareth Earl. Earl races long distance, in- cluding the 400, 800 and 1,500 metre and 1,500 metre steeplechase events. Earl says his long distance team is about twice as large as last year, up to 10 members now, and he’s hoping for good results, *T hope sa go to the Provincials,”’ he says. “But 1 have to see what the competition’s like first.’’ Earl’s best event is the 800 metre. He’s trying to beat his record of two minutes, 10 seconds, Coach Steele says he also éxpects records to fall in the long jump event. ‘We've got a great new rubber run-up,”’ he says. ‘*That will make a big difference.” The next track meet takes place May 2 in Smithers. The Zones will be held on the third weekend in May in Prince Rupert. TRACK AND FIELD is off to a great start this year. The number of local competl- tors is up more than 20 per cent and Skeena has a new long jump run-up. a ee a 2 oy