The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 29, 2006 - B5

MARGARET SPEIRS

SKEENA ANGLER
ROB BROWN.

; _ Geezers
Oni .
‘don’t need much of an excuse to drop every- .
thing and go fishing: a sunny day, say, or may-
be the need for a little exercise, are bars big
enough to pry me away from urgent business.

One day, years ago, a large compelling excuse™

appeared when the radio reported commercial fish-
ermen had gone out on strike.

_. The fleet was large then. Fishermen fished longer
‘ nets and made longer sets, the net effect of which
' was a virtual halt to the salmon flow upstream.

_ As it turned out, the laborious dispute dragged
- on all of that summer — and what a glorious sum-

mer of shimmering summer days and shiny silver

‘salmon it was — but, as far as I knew on the day I
first received the news, the dispute might have been
settled at any moment.

I grabbed my fly rod and made haste for Shames
Bar, which fished well back then.

After suiting up, I strode over the stones, waded
the Shames River and made for.the log pile at the
eastern tip of the bar.

When I.reached my destination, sweating pro-
’ fusely inside my neoprene waders, there were two
‘old geezers there, one sitting on-a sand blasted log,
drinking a Coke, the other standing knee high in the
riffle below, casting white floating fly line.

The geezer on the log waved me over and offered
me a pull on his Coke, which I gratefully accepted.

I asked the question all fishermen ask. He told
me that the fishing was good, and had been all

week. Lots of dollies and a couple of steelhead ev- °

_ ery day, he reported.

Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out a |

rectangular plug, tore off strip, rolled into a small
_ ball and stuck it behind his lip.

Over the course of the next two weeks, I returned
to Shames daily, often encountering the same two
geezers, Ches Lipinski and Finlay Ferguson, war
vets both and political polar opposites: Finlay the
former union organizer, Ches the former small
businessman.

I came to know Finlay well. We fished together
often. From Finlay, my geezer mentor, I learned the
ways of the geezer angler.

Geezers have been around and seen much. It’s
the one thing that unites them all, the thing they
have in common. And.that commonality promotes
conversation of the reflective, musing variety.

Frugality is a geezer trait. Not stinginess, but
a delight in doing more with less. Where another

fisherman buys a 4-wheel drive pickup, a geezer .

packs a set of chains and never gets stuck.
While others buy disc-braked, teflon-coated

‘reels, the geezer takes care of the old Hardy or Sel- -

dex he’s had for years, and instead of filling it with
multi-tipped lines with hi-tech tapers, he winds on a
double-tapered floating line that, thanks to its sym-
metrical, therefore reversible, design, it lasts him a
decade or more.

When I asked Finlay where he’d found the inde-
structible black elastics with which he used to fas-
ten the sections of his rod together after breaking it
down, he told me he’d cut what he reckoned was
a lifetime supply from a worn out inner tube of an
~ old bike.

_ His fly boxes were made from peppermint tins.
Inside he stuck bits of weather stripping upon which
he impaled his flies.

At the core of those patterns, Finlay used the best
hooks, but the material to make them came from the
bargain bins of knit shops, the guts of old radios,
and other sources for salvage.

The geezer attitude, the way a geezer approach-
es his fishing is perhaps the species’ most important
characteristic.

In the geezoid realm, competitive fishing and the
obsession with the biggest and the most fish have
long been left behind and forgotten.

For the angling geezer the fishing is more impor-
tant than the catching, and the fishing is secondary
to going fishing and the events that surround the »
fishing — the swapping of innovative tackle ideas, .
meeting old friends, sharing memories of fine out-
ings past, wildlife sightings and the like.

A month ago, after being persuaded to vacate the
upper Lakelse River by a sow grizzly, Rob Samson
and I relocated to the middle river where he caught
a coho jack and I got skunked.

When I arrived home, I felt that mellow and sat-
isfied feeling that follows a fine time and I realized
that all that “tutelage from Finlay had seeped into
my soul. I was on well on my way to geezerhood.

I began to wonder about the roots of the word. I
went to OneLookDictionary on the web.

“Variation of the Cockney ‘guiser,”” it read. “ A
man who is usually old and eccentric.”

’ | dug deeper with the help of an etymological
dictionary, and learned that the word sprung from
the vocabulary of the old French word “guise,”
which was born of Ancient Franks’ “wisa,” mean-

_ing wise. Geezers are wise guise. I thought so.

\

TERRACE STANDARD

ORTS

/

“"

638-7283

Recreation and enjoyment
are goals of ladies hockey

“LADIES HOCKEY players are tearing up.

the ice for another year While hoping to find
a coach.

About 20 women of all skill levels have
registered for the season,: from those who
have never been on skates to rep players,
says organizer Ambur Hall.

There’s enough women for one team that
usually scrimmages during the one hour of

- ice time every week.

_ “Not all the players are comfortable play-
ing games,” says Hall, adding they practise
a few drills too.

‘The team’s goal is recreation, “just for
fun, to get out and enjoy each other and en-
joy hockey,” says Hall.

Women have been lacing up their skates
for more than 20 years here, she says.

Vida Carson, who has been on the team |

for four years, came-to the game to spend
time with her daughter, Alyssa, and found it
to be fun and more.

“You can hit people,” she says.

Val Harlow is one of the team’ $ more.ex-
perienced members.

“T just love it. It’s just a pood gamie. It’s

z

‘she says. »
“It's constantly changing. you know in
the beginning if you could skate, you could
score.
“We used to be quite a competitive team
about 10 years ago or whatever, now it’s

fun,”

_ strictly recreational.”

A. coach would be an asset for learning
more skills and to take the players to the next
level.

In the past couple of years, ice time has
been broken into practising skills then skat-
ing in a few scrimmages

“That’s how we try to mect the needs of

the players,” she says.
Several new players have joined up this

-. year so anyone who wants to try. the sport
for the first time doesn’t have to worry about’
‘feeling awkward on the icc.

“That's why we're really hoping: to get
more out,” she says,.. ° a

“Don’t be afraid, just come out.”

Players, use their own equipment and
those interested in trying out the sport are
encouraged to borrow gear. from someone
they know.

a B Snowflakes | 4
. THE COPELAND rink won the B event of the Snowflake Ladies Open Bonspiel i in Kitimat over the Nov. 17

weekend. Accepting the winner's plaque from the sponsor are, from second from left, skip Joan Kucha-
ryshen, third Kathie Simpson, second Sylvia Griffith and lead Margaret Copeland. MALCOLM BAXTER PHOTO

LILLIAN RUTLEDGE, foreground, one of the new play-

ers onthe ladies hockey team, takes her turn with the
“puck while Heidi Siebring looks for a pass during an
ice time i in the arena Nov. 22.

Caledonia soccer boys score
best finish yet at provincials —

FIFTH place isn’t so. bad
when it’s the best provincial
soccer finish in several years,
but it can be disappointing
when it’s one goal from a
spot in the top four.

The Caledonia senior
boys soccer team finished
fifth out of 16 teams. at
provincials in Burnaby af-
ter winning four of its five
round robin games.

If Cal had won.all five
games, the team would’ve.
played for one of the top
four spots; instead, that one
loss placed Cal in a position
to finish at least fifth.

Cal won its first two
games against Kamloops’
Valleyview 2-0 and Wil-
liams Lake’s Columneetza
2-0.

' "The kids were
spectacular
each time,”
~ Gill Redpath

. The third match saw Cal
take on Archbishop Carney
from the Fraser Valley for
what turned out to be a very
tight game that remained
tied at one until the last four
or five minutes when Carney
scored a heartbreaker to win

4

CALEDONIA soccer player Demetre Darvoutis, left, battles a Notre Dame player for
the ball while teammate Tyler Clark watches at the soccer provincials in Burnaby.

- WILSON WONG PHOTO

2-1,

Cal rallied in its final two
games to beat Richmond’s

Notre’ Dame 5-1 and. the.

North Shore’s Sutherland
2-0.

Going into the tourna-
ment, Cal was ranked sev-
enth and Sutherland was
ranked number two.

“The kids were spectacu-

lar each time and after that
loss in the third game to
Archbishop Carney we were
just so proud of them that
they stormed back and won
their next two games,”
spokesperson Gill Redpath,
adding that the team. went

into provincials hoping to.

win it all.
“Even if they’d won their

tion.

said .

first three (games) and lost

‘the next two, they would’ve

come out in a higher posi-

“They just didn’t get the
result of the day unforiu-
nately but they could live
with it.”

Alex Redpath was chosen
for the Commissioner’s 11
— similar to being chosen for

the All-Star team.

Although Cal did place
fourth at soccer provincials
in 1994, the tournament was

_set up differently back then

so this is Cal’s best finish
in the current tournament
setup.

Cal finished in sixth place
last year and in eighth spot at
provincials in 2002.

MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

Peewee >
Reps
‘notch

first. loss

IT WAS a battle’ of the

‘undefeated.

The Terrace Pizza Hut
Peewee Reps took on Kiti-
mat at Tamitik Arena in
their first matches of the

» season Nov. 10 and 12, ..
“4 A lot-of hype lead up-to ‘-}-
“the meeting between the top ©
two squads in the Skeena
Valley Hockey League, said

Peewee Rep spokesperson
Lisa Stella.

Kitimat scored three
quick goals and ‘Terrace
stayed close, playing catch-
up for the rest of the game.

Terrace battled hard de-
spite suffering an 8-3 loss

and outshooting Kitimat:

36-24. Luke, Gordon-scored
two goals.

°

In Sunday's game, Ter-° ,

race came back hard, domi- '

nating the game with physi- .

cal play and puck control.
Terrace was up 4:3 with
six minutes left when Kiti-
mat scored to tie. The game
ended 4-4 even though Ter-
race outshot Kitimat 43-18.
Jeff Kennedy scored a-
hat trick with one goal com-

ing from a penalty shot after.
he was hauled down on a:
breakaway. .

tivalry continues -

The onti
when the Terrace Peewee
Reps host Kitimat at 8 p.m.

this Friday, Dec. 1 and 10 |

a.m. Saturday Dec. 2. _
Victory
strikes
twice for

Bantams

- VICTORY SCORED twice

as the Bantam Reps whipped
the Prince Rupert Wamplers
8-3 and 7-3 on home ice..

Coach John Amos: said:

the players figured out how. :

.the Prince Rupert goalie.

moved and kept putting
pucks into the end and tak-
ing advantage of rebounds.
“It was just a good all-
around effort and they played
up to their potential. They
seem to be improving every
time they play,” he said.

Joey Cormano netted six ”

goals over the weekend, Ra-

_jan Sangha scored four, Will

Fisher and Corbin Legros
scored two each and Reid

“Turner and Ben Reinbolt

scored one each.

After taking this week-
end off, the Bantam Reps
host Prince Rupert again
Dec. 8 and 9,