“Since I began fishing it some

fifteen years ago, the Lakelse
- River and the land adjacent to it

have changed markedly.

- The middle teaches of the
river —— the riffles, pools and
runs: below the miniature ca~
nyon —~ were only gained with
some effort in late spring, sum-
mer and fall.and were virtually
inaccessible in winter. I suppose
the few’ men that fished there
might have reached the river on
a snowmobile, but we didn’t.
Winter ‘was time to give the
overwintering steelhead a rest. .

The fishing was very good, as
one might expect, since only a
handful of skilled anglers knew
of, and consistently fished, that
particular part of the Lakelse.
There were plenty of steelhead
for everybody — or so we
thought until we took part in a
radio telemetry study on
Lakelse steelhead,
| The results suggested we had
been fishing over a small run of

-SPORTSCOPE-
Runners
compete

‘A SQUAD OF Terrace run-
ners were in Prince Rupert
two weekends ago to make
their presence felt on the
scoreboard at the Rupert
Runners Half Marathon and
Twa-Person Relay.
Terrace’s Gord Buxton
crossed the line at the one-
hour 22-minute mark to cap-
ture third spot, six minutes
back of Rupert's Mike
Flegel, whose winning time
of 1:15:37 set a new course
record.

Rose-Marie Cheer ran a
time of 1:24:28 to take first
in fthe; ‘individual women’s
division, setting another
course record.

But two Terrace women
were at the line when it
counted in the relay events.
Gail. Sheasby and Diana
Wood were the fastest female
duo in the Two-Person
Relay, nabbing first with a
combined time of one hour,
39 minutes. Their closest
competitors were well back,
with a combined time of two
hours.

Rupert’s Mike Hamilton

and Frank Falvo were first in
the men’s relay at 1:17:48,
while the mixed relay title
went to Deidre Twohig and
Phil Pitre, with a combined
time of 1:35:37.
Next up on the northwest
tacing schedule is the Apr. 28
five-and .10-km run in
Smithers. After that it’s
Rupert’s May 11 Glory Days
5 and 10, followed by the
Kermodei Classic 1-, 5-and
10-km right here in Terrace
on May 18.

Cousins
triumph

SEASON-ENDING scrub
yolleyball action saw Cousins
and Company triumph in the
competitive division of the
local spikers’ league.

The Cousins went all the
way in the super-serious
make-’em-swallow-the-ball
style division, dumping the
Flyers in the tournament
final two weekends ago.

In the Intermediate 1 divi-
sion — which is the slightly
serious branch. of recrea-
tional —.seven teams from
the Psycho Chickens and the
OP Acers to Bad Influence
and Thornhill Airborne were
battling it out for top
honours. But when ~ push
came to shove it was the Bar-
cats, toughing it out past the
OP Acers to capture first.

The moneserious recrea-
tional Intermediate 2 division
saw Schmitty’s come out. vic-
torious from the four teams
competing, with, Queen's
Cowboys, nabbing second
eP0t. :

. rf aa Rag ALY de gt lc A AEE a PRO SATE EPR Beary ee Ee roars MOK he Sn ee ee

Pap Bé - - =7 errace 9 Sada Wednsdey, Aprit 24, #991

aggressive fish. One creature, |

after enduring the tigours of
-capture and the stress of having
a foot-long radio transmitter
shoved into its guts, Was cap-
‘tured another six times before it
was killed.
Since the time of that study
mew roads have opened up
much of the Lakelse River, in-
cluding the middle reaches, and
exposed it ta a lot more anglers.

The few men who plied those
formerly less accessible parts of
the river appreciated that they
“had something very special;
they knew.they owed the river 8
great debt for the wonderful
angling experiences it provided.
They repaid that debt by keep-
‘ing the area clean, by killing
almost no fish and by keeping
the river’s secrets.

Inevitably, more people
found their way in through the
labyrinth of logging | roads.
Forked sticks, trash and rem-
nants of bait-fishing began to

The Skeena
Angier
_ by Rob Brown

appear on the banks. More fish
were hooked and more were
killed.

Many of the fishermen now
working the-river are-not par-

ticularly knowledgable. about’

steelhead. This ignorance is due
in part to the fact that some of

these anglers are new to the.

sport and haven’t had much
time to learn the habits of their
quarry, in other instances the
fishermen simply don’t care. On
the Lakelse River in spring, this
presents a problem.

The dark summer fish that
entered the stream the previous
fall and have been in the system

Ee a ee re

for up to seen months, the
winter steelhead that began
moving upriver in November,
and the bright, new fish that use
the river for only a few weeks.
can alt be found in the river dur-

_ ing April. and May.

The ‘newer fish are the only

: Ones that ‘should be fished for
the same reason .a “sportsman °

does not shoot elk:in the rut or
ducks on the ground. But, sad:
ly, many fishers fish deliberate-
ly for fish very close to spawn- -

ing — fish that should net be

harassed,

Kelté, readily. “recognizable

-steelhead smolts
’ downriver. Like kelts, these

becauise of their snakelike ap-

‘pearance, are steelhead which

have spawned successfully and
are on their way “back ‘to
saltwater. Kelts are undesirable
as table. fare and tend to bite
more readily than their

_brethren. They too should be
quickly released. All too often

kelts too are whacked over the

head and taken home.

In late spring, the young
migrate

smolts are avid biters and all to
frequently are killed because of
rough handling or because they
have become impaled on a large
barbed bait hook, or because
someone wanted a few ‘‘little
rainbows” for the pan.

The pressure on the Lakelse
continues to increase. Even
under the fairly restrictive
regulations presently in force,
the quality of the angling ex-
perience and the health of the
river's steelhead populations is

SPORTS NEW

JEFF NAGEL 638-7283 TERRACE STANDARD

PRECISION PASSES — like this 0 one by Terrace Northman outside

centre Darren Pilla — were a key to the Northmen’‘s running game
in their victory over Prince George.

TERRACE — The Terrace
Northmen rugby team kicked
off their '91 season with a con-
vincing 26-3 stomping of the
Prince George Gnats here Apr.
13,

“We lost one player to a
volleyball injury and another to
a volleyball game, and we still
managed to kick some Prince
George butt,’”’ chortled team
spokesman David Hull.

And al ough standoff Doug
Wilson &

made up for it on the ground
with several impressive drives.
The Narthmen got on the
board first with a Bill Warcup
try to make it 4-0.
’ Wilson missed the conver-
sion, but tried to redeem
himself a few plays later, scar-
ing an apparent try when he

leapt on a bouncing ball in the
P.G. end. The call went against
them, however, with the try
overruled.

But they would make it 8-0 a
few minutes later on Tony
Pavao’s deep drive into Gnat
territory to score for Terrace,

Terrace Northmen 24

1» Pr. George Gnats 3
*0-6° on conversion § wo

attempts -throtigh the’ ‘dayy"he ;

ee

The’ out-of-towners got on
the scoreboard with a penalty
kick to make it 8-3. But that was
as close a view of the Northmen
goal line as they would get, as
Terrace pulled strongly away
the rest of the game.

[t started with Wilson, weav-

steelhead, like Lakelse

will be a conservation ‘problem, “ot
as will cutthroat, trout and dolly :

yarden ‘char.

~ Rather than getting “pushed
into this unsavoury situation,
and being. ‘forced to react ‘to it.
with restrictive regulations and
closures, we should adopt a pro-,

active stance for a change: soto.

preserve one of the most varied.
and special fisheries we have. —
To this end, the river should
be made catch-and-release year,
round to all species save'for fall
coho (and the bag limit on these
fish ‘should be constantly

reviewed). In this way enforce-

ment would be simplified -and
the problems I have.previously
identified would be solved for
the most part. Additionally, ‘to
give the fish some sanctuary and
to allow more fishermen to en-
joy the stream, the Lakelse

‘system should be made: fly-

fishing only in its entirety. _

P.G. Gnats_

ing through the Gnat defence ir in

a deep running play. to “push
Prince George back to their own
goal line. After a few setbacks,
the Terrace offence brought the
ball back to the P,Q. line, and
Wilson was there to carry it
across, scoring to boost the
Northmen to a 12-3 halftime
lead.

In the second half it was more
of the same. Brent Rogers
scored ariother Terrace try to
make it 16-3 and a few minutes
later. if'was Darren Pilla cross-
ing the try line to add another
four points.

The final Terrace scoring
drive saw new Northman Brian
Sawich make the run into
Prince George territory for a
24-3 final tally, avenging Ter-
race’s loss to the Gnats last
summer.

“For the first game.of the
season, it was really well
played,’' said Hull, who
credited backs like Pavao and
Wilson for their strong offen-
sive play, ‘‘It was one of ihe
best games the backs have
played.’ ot

He also said the club’s new
players — as many as 15 rookies
are on the Northmen roster this
season — were key-to the Apr,
13 win, and have greatly added
to the club’s depth. _

“This is a good win and a real
morale booster to start the’ team

for: the year.”

The Northmen hit: the turf
again at 2p.m. Sunday, travell-
ing west to face Prince Ripert
in the first North Coast Rugby
Union contest of the season.
Their first league home game
will be May 11 at 7:30 p.m. at

the Northwest Community Col- °

lege pitch.

‘GO! GO! GO!’ Northman
Brian Sawich . eyes - his
escape routes as he: takes
the handoff from Malcolm
. Smith, after Terrace. players
get the ball out of the.
scrum, The Apr. 13 game.
against the Prince: George
Gnats belonged to Terrace
almost ‘from the opening
whistle. —

Mid ts imir
TERRACE — Several local midget
hockey players are likely.to head for.

junior team training canips.this summer.
in their quests for professional hockey

contracts,

“We'll probably . have. ‘about: “eight.
players going. to. various: training \ -
camps,’* predicted Steve Smyth, coach:
of the Terrace. Totem Ford midgets. =~.

Terrace usually: sends a° couple of
skaters to junior camps each year, but.
Smyth said the number ‘anticipated this ve

before training camp. °

year is high. ‘This is an exceptionally
good crop,’* he explained. :-

The official invitations haven't gone
out to the local midgets yet, and pro-'
bably won't until mid-August ~~

~ Most junior teams tag players at che
younger bantam ‘level; he said, adding
“this year’s midget team features a few .-
17-year-olda relatively - iinknown’ to
junior team talent soos ;

; Tus

. “It’s not unusual io have a late
--bloomer, who everybody thought: was
no good at 15, turn into a hell of a goal
scorer at 17," he said, ‘‘And I've got .
- two— Jared Ewart and Chad Wilson - =
who fit that description,” .

for the juniors —

Hockey. League teams on. ‘Vancouver
Island and in the Okanagan and Lower
Mainland, Two major junior. teams —
“the Medicine Hat Tigers and Victoria’ 4
Cougars — have also expressed Interest’:
_ ina. couple

exrice players, he added.

Meee just about tguarantc that they" “"q ye
acan us at
September, and with a really me eer .. were 11 and 12 ia yes old and [ wart to:
of making a team,” Smyth said. - ._. look, after thent, he'said; ““We' retrying
He said he's negotiating on behalf of ~ to get these guys quality me
aa the local - midgets with “B.C..Junlor stead of just anything for a buc

Sad ae