DAVE TAYLOR

. SKEENA ANGLER ~
ROB BROWN

The Art of fishing

aday I arrived home to find one of
those promising foam-filled en-
velopes spilling out of my mail
box. Minutes later, after a slit and a
shake, Fly Patterns of British Columbia by
Arthur Lingren tumbled onto the kitchen table,

“It bas been said that it is important to under-
stand where you come from in order to see
where you are, and to find out where you are
going,” writes Bob Taylor in his preface to The
Fly Patterns of British Columbia. ‘‘Art Lingren
has filled a much needed gap in this province’s
history and in the history of angling in general.
Just as importantly, he has rescued the achieve-
ments and artistry of some notable anglers from
obscurity.’’

Taylor who, it tums out, has a nice turn of
phrase when asked to set down a few para-
graphs, hits the nail on the head. Art Lingren
bas been collecting letters, assembling fly pat-
tems, conducting interviews, scouring libraries
and maintaining meticulous diaries for years.
During that time his basement has tumed into a
museum, aad he has become B.C.’s unofficial
angling historian.

News ages well; it becomes history, open, in
that form, to all sorts of ornamentation and ex-
eggeration and conjecture. Lingren indulges
none of those temptations. He is meticulous,
wacing the history of B.C. angling using the fly
patterns of its most prominent practilioners as
book marks, Tie well known: figures-of B.C. an-
gling’ are all here. Casual anglers will know of

‘Haig-Brown, Dedicated anglers will know of

Bill Nation and Tommy Brayshaw. But, how
many devotees of the sport will know anything
of John Keast Lord, Bill Cunliffe, Frank Darling
or Paul Moody Smith?

Speaking of ‘Smith's Illusion’’, a simple
winter steelhead pattern, Lingren cites a letter
wherein the latter describes his ferry trip across
Burrard Inlet to the lower reaches of the
Capilano River. Under the rubric ‘Whiskey and

_ Soda’’, Art sets out a quick bul poignant history

of the upper part of the same river, listing the
famous riffles and the anglers who fished them.
These anglers and the many other ‘honourable
mentions’’ in Art’s book are worth knowing, as
are their lures.

Ant has divided his book into interior trout
patterns, steelhead pattems, coastal trout pat-
terns and flies for saltwater salmon. Being a less
than adequate lake fisher, I was particularly in-
trigued with the first section which is jam-
packed with useful information that will come
in handy on the fabled interior lakes of this pro-
vinee.

Ar’s selection of steclhead patterns is
wonderful, including some beautiful Brayshaw
and General Money dressings as well as some

more moder patterns. Unfortunately, only a
few flies of the many from Skeena are men-
tioned. None of them are pictured. As Bob Clay
of Kispiox is quick to point out, his river alone
has many time-tested dressings, as do the
Babine and the Bulkicy.

Ideally, Art’s book should have been printed
in binder form with supplements. Now that Fly
Patterns of B.C. is published, Tm sure all sorts
of anglers will be alerting Ari to patterns that
might have been included. Hopefully this will
stimulate him to write a Volume Two.

The other gripe ] have with Art’s book are

- graphic, The cover is ghastly. Designer Alan

Reid, in what appears to be a frantic desire to be
hip, ha¥ really done this volume a disservice,
The layoul is loud and garish: where Art's work
begs to be clad in Harris Tweed and brogues,
Mr. Reid dresses it up in a fortrell leisure suit
and white shoes. Plates in a book on flies should
be as crisp as northern mountains on a windy
winter day. The -full page plates of Jim
Scholilmeyer are excellent, but the pictures of
the individual dressings that sit atop the story of
cach are grainy and often out of focus.

Art's ‘‘As Specified’ — as beautiful an ex-
ample of minimalist elegance as you are likely
io find ina steelhead pattern — Is set against a
purple background rendering its purple body in-
distinct and making mush of its clean lines. The
wings of other patterns are cropped along with
their clegant sweep. Mr. Reid should have had
Jim Schollmeyer lake these pictures too, or
opted for Hine drawings wilh a reference lo
Schollmeyer’s plates. Similarly, the data set in
boxes under each fly looks as if it bas been done
by someone who does not know how to format
text,

Aesthetic considerations are vila} in any book
containing artistic reproductions. T hope Frank
Amato Publications will do something about
this in reprint. a as ”

umble in Terrace

Karate kids gear up for Northern B.C. Games

YOU CAN’T miss the ka-
rate event at the Northern
BC Winter Games _ this
weekend,

Just follow the shouts of
“'Kia!l’? to Clarence Michiel
School.

That's where Terrace
alhleles will be testing their
metlle against some of the
best karate enthusiasts from
all over northern B.C..

Some 25 Terrace youth,
and about the same number
of local adults, will be com-
peting in both Kata and
Kumite events al tbe

“t's a really good
chance for the younger
ones to see different
Katas and __ fighting
styles, and meet new
people at the same
time.’? -Len Hovanes-

Games.

Kata is the performance of
a set pattern of moves tbat
together simulate a fight,
while Kumite refers to a
sparring match between two
competitors.

Athletes will compete ac-
cording to bath age and belt
level. The belt colours range
from white for a beginner
through to black for an ex-

pert

T

ERRAC

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 9, 1997 - BS

THE TERRACE Karate Club is sending dozens of both adult
Games here this weekend. Organizers say the Terrace group should fare well in the medal standings.

and youth competitors to the Northern BC Winter

__838-7283

And Len Hovanes of the
Karate Clud says he expects
to see some preat competi-
tion al the Games.

“Many of the clubs that
will be coming use different
styles than we do,” he says.
“Is a really goad chance
for the younger ones to sce
different Katas and fighting
styles, and meet new people

- atthe same time.”’
Hovanes says he’s always
impressed by the formality
of karate tournaments and

Snowarama

SNOWMOBILES ARE
tuned and ready, riders are
out gelling pledges and
everything seems to be fall-
ing into place for the 19th
anual Snowarama.

Everything except the
snow, that is,

Rain and warm tempera-
tures have members of the
Skeena Valley Snowmobile
Association hoping there'll
still be some snow left for

Athletes head for the hills

Powder hounds
defy deep freeze

rats

THE SNOW was shoddy and the weather cruel,
had fun out at Shames two wee
Prince Rupert cruising to 4 secon

their 100 kim ride.

The ride is the club’s con-
tribution to Snowarama, 4
joint fund-raising event be-
tween the B.C, Snowmobile
Federation and the Lions
Society. Snowmobile clubs
all over the province choose
an event and rais¢ money
for the Lions.

The Skeena Valley Asso-
ciation has raised over
$120,000 since 1979 — the

the respect involved.
“People are given respect
up and down belt levels,”
he says. ‘‘It’s a very tradi-
tional system that hasn't
change much over time.”
Hovanes has becnu training
in karate for over eight
years. He says learning the
physical aspects of karate is

just one part of the overall:

experience,

“The self discipline, self
confidence and self accep-
tance you gain is probably

second-highest amount in
the country.

Usually the club runs ils
100 km ride out at Big
Cedar in the Nass Valley.
But logging in that area this
year means the club will
have to go elsewhere, Right
now, the ride is scheduled to
start near Onion Lake and
wind up al Kitimat, but that
could change if there isn’t
enough snow,

but Powder Elght competitors. still
kends ago. That's brothers Mike and Jim Morris of
d place finish. (phote courtesy Rod Gee), -

. Skiers

more important than the
physical part,’’ he says.
“But they go hand in
hand.’’

And Hovanes points out
that while learning how to
defend one’s self is often
the reason why many people
get involved with karate, he
says that’s not why
enthusiasts stay with the
sport.

“By the time you reach
black belt, you are certainly
capable of defending your-

Local Snowarama
organizer Jayne Mckenzie
says she’s optimistic the
event will go as planned,

“As long as the weather
holds out, we'll be fine,’’
she says, ‘‘T’m looking for-
ward 10 it.”

Mckenzie says last year's
Snowarama saw some 150
machines come out for the
ride. It’s a true family affair
foo, with many snow-

COLD — EXTREME cold.

Contestants in the Powder
Eight Ski Competilion held
two weekends ago at
Shames Mountain can be
forgiven if they remember
nothing else from the
tournament.

“It was freezing,’’ says
fourth-place finisher Wendy
Shymanski of Terrace.
“That wind was something
else.”

But Shymanski says in
splie of the icy wind, frozen
fingers and tumbles on the
wind-packed stow, . every-
one had a great time,

They even managed to un-

— thaw the two brothers from

Rupert who wan the compe-
lition and bring them back
to civilization alive.

A total of eight two-skier
teams. competed at the
everit, Which involves paired
carving perfect
figure-eights as they ski
down a slope in unison.

“However, perfect form

_ was Virtually out of reget
ay

for .the competition
Wind-swept, variable snow
conditions produced aii ever

tougher-than-usual chal-
lenge for area skicrs.
“Ti was really tough

skiing,"’ says Shymanski.

“Bul we had some great

wipe-ouls,” -
In the end, it was Jessy

-and Brook Palmer of Prince
-Rupert who took first piace.

self,’ he says. ‘But mental-
ly you don’t think thal way.
You Ieam to control situa-
tions so you don’t have to
fight.”

Look to see the Terrace
group take several medals at
the Games. Hovanes says
they’re all very eager for the
competition.

“They're excited, espe-
cially the kids,” he says.
"It’s an excellent group. 1°
think they*Il do quite well.”? -

mobiles towing cabooses
carrying little ones,

“Tt’s a real social thing,’’
she says, ‘‘There’s a bonfire
at the 50 km mark. Every-
one roasts hot dogs, drinks
hot chocolate and checks
oul the different machines.
It’s great fun,’’

The 19th annual
Snowarama is set to take
place on February 16, be
ginning at 10 a.m.

The brothers edged out an-
other pair of siblings from
the port city, Mike and Jim
Morris, who finished sec-
ond.

A Terrace team of Josh
MacDonald and Mike
Ternes took third. Fourth
place went to last year’s
champs Wendy Sbymanski
of Terrace and Jake. Palmer
of Prince Ruperl.

Fifth place finishers were
Jon Bartlett of Terrace and
Greg Palmer of Rupert. Six-
th place went lo Faye and
Dean Campbell of Terrace.

You may have noticed a
lot of Palmers named in that
list. That’s because Jake,
Jessy and Brook are all
brothers, and Greg Palmer is
their father,

**They’re a greal bunch of,
guys,’ Shymanski says.
“And they're all really good
skiers.”

Their win means the
brothers Palmer will
represent northwestern B,C.
al the National Powder
Eight Championships — in
Lake Loulse, Alberta this
coming March.

Success al that event could
lead to a World’s bid in
Blue River.

Last year, the north-
westem B.C, team of
Wendy Shymanski and Jake
Palmer finished ninth of 18
teams al Ihe Nationals,