Bé - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 29, 2000

TERRACE | TERRACE STANDARD |

SPORTS _

638-7283

SKEENA ANGLER

ROB BROWN
Birds and bozos

T’S TEN. It’s Tuesday. I have the river to

myself. The water is cold enough to pe-

netrate waders and wool. It stings my
legs. ] take its temperature: 38 degrees F. But
the Lakelse River is an oasis of activity despite
the temperature drop.

Against the rattle of Herman Creek and the
rush of the river are the shrieks and squeals of
eagles, the wing whistle of green-winged teal
overhead, the high-pitched squawking of gulls,

they leap from, and glide onto, the water.

A species of duck I can’t identify slices
through the cold air, leaving in its wake a high-
pitched how! identical to the one frozen fan
belts make on cold winter mornings.

A natural symphony, this is Music of the
twenty-first century, reverberant and dissonant
in the wet, red bush behind me. It’s a good ac-
companiment to solitary angling.

Solitude is conducive to experimentation.

Steelhead aren’t supposed to rise to the sur-
face for flies in water this cold. But how many
anglers have put this to the test? Here, at Her-
man’s Point, where steelhead stop and hover in
mid November, I have a laboratory,

I put on one of Ron Grantham’s Sedges, cast
it, and let it plough through surface. A fat trout
full of the roe and flesh of other fish flops on the
fly. I bring him along side. I slide my right hand
down the line, grasp the fly and twist. He shows
his heavily spotted sides, rights himself, hovers,
flickers, and vanishes.

I move slowly..A substantial fish boils under
the fly, He takes it on the next cast, making lil-
tle disturbance until 1 tighten down on the line.
At this, he bolts down river, jumps, rolls, then
comes unpinned.

I'm about to finish fishing the run when two
young men emerge from the woods, make their
way past me, and begin assembling their rods. A
fishing hole is like a hole on a golf course: eti-
quette dictates that the first one there has the
Tight to play through.

“Uh...excuse me. Are you fellows planning to
fish right there?” I ask.

“Uh huh” replies one of the young men.

“You're supposed to go behind me...follow
me through. it’s river etiquette.”

“T didn’t know that.” :

“Besides,” I add hastily, “I’m just experi-
menting with this surface fly. I’m not likely to
hook any steelhead. There'll be plenty for you
guys.”

“Oh...OK.”

After this I fish through too quickly. Soon I’m out
of the pool, past the Rock Garden and the Counting
Fence. In one pocket five large trout move to the
sedge. Two take hold but come unstuck. I make a
mental note ta fish here later, but with a wet fly. At
the sound of distant honking [ look up to a great qui-
vering chevron cf Canada Geese. I lose count at forty.

When I reach the Flats I see three trumpeter swans
downstream, half way to the rock island above the
Upper Coldwater Pool. They are big, white, and
bright to the point of brilliance against the dark, drab
valley bottom.

We begin a game we play every year, I press the
button to activate my camera, then move down-
stream heron-like, pretending to fish. The swans slart
craning their necks as I approach. When I’m about
200 yards away they emit a round musical sound that
seems to bubble up and spill out of them. At 100
yards the notes become distinct and lambie: a six-
teenth followed by a dotted eighth, rising a perfect
fourth. At half that distance the trumpeting begins in
eamest, followed by the unfolding of those magnifi-
cent seven-fool wings, Next there is the splat of web-
bed fect atop the water, lift-off, and the giant birds
surge past a dozen feet above my head, as I snap
frantic photos which never capture the power and
beauty of the moment,

I make my way back to Fintay's cairn where I Jean
my rod against a bush and warm up wilh a thermos of
coffee and a sandwich,

Back in the river, ] knot on a Sack Fly and probe
the riffle where earller I'd risen trout. I hook and re-
lease five large cutthroat and dolly varden of close to
five pounds. Wrapped up in the fishing ] go over my
self-imposed limit of four fish. “Time lo go home,” 1
tell the dog,

We make our way up the trail to Herman's.

The two young fishers are still there, standing in’
the same Place. One is playing a fish, an old coho,
He's cursing it. I stop and watch as he kicks it ashore
then crouches to disengage the hook, That done, stiil
cursing, he picks the fish up, and throws it in the

ush.

Tcan'l belicve my eyes.

“Hey!” T yell. “You go in the bush. Get that fish
and put it back in the river or 1°11 report you."

Obviously surprised, shocked, shamed into doing
so, the young fisherman disappears in the brush be-
hind him,

“You tell our partner he’s got no business on this
river if he’s going to act like that,” I yel! to the other
young fisherman.

“OK, OK,” says the first man, returning with the
coho and tosging il into the river.

Some people don't deserve to fish,

and the hisses and splashes of mergansers as

—

mw Fire one!

A SKEENA WILDCAT volleyball player. launches the ball in‘a game Satur- o
day against Family Ties of Smithers. THé two teams Were-among six ”
competing In the City of Terrace Parks and Recreation Mixed Volleyball
tournament. The Wildcats, all students from Skeena Jr. Secondary, were
solid performers despite being up against bigger adult mixed teams.

Medal shot
eludes Cal

Soccer team edged out in
crucial games at provincials

THE WINS came
but net when it counted
most.

The Caledonia boys
soccer team won two
games, tied one and lost
two at the AA provincial
championships in Powell
River Nov. 16-18.

They finished 11th in
the 16-team tournament, a
stat that didn’t reflect the
closeness of the games or
Terrace’s strength.

Cal did wel] but in the
critical first two games —
where they needed wins
in both to advance to the
medal round — they came
up short.

In game one, Caledo-
mia held down a one-goal
lead over H.D. Stafford
until the last 15 minutes
of the game when the
Langley school scored off
a comer kick for a 1-1 tie.

Game two saw Terrace
lose 3-0 to Victoria’s
Lambrick Park.

“We had lots of
chances but couldn’t put
the ball in the net,” coach
Nick Kollias said. “You
have to win the first two
games fo go to the
~ medals.”

“ad aln-the third game, Ca--

ledonia put it all together
to top Burnaby Mountain

'

Game four, against Gulf

Islands, was another heart-
breaker. The two teams
were tied after regulation
time, but the islanders
scored in the second over-
time period for a 2-1 vic-
tory. Cal earned a point for
the tie at the end of regu-
lation.

Caledonia ended the
championships on a vic-
tory, defeating Kamloops
2-0,

“I'm very happy with
the results,” Kollias said.
“The team played very
well,”

Their southern competi-
ters had a number of ad-
vantages, not least of
which was their ability to
play more often and cam-
pete with more teams.

“Those guys play all
year around, we only play
a few months of the year,”
Kollias said.

Cal also had to contend
with two injuries after Josh
Murray hurt his knee and
captain Brian Rigler
played the whole tourna-
ment with a swollen toe.

Caledonia’s top scorer
was Mark Viveiros, who
put the ball in the net six
times. He earned the hon-
our of being named to the
tournament’s second all
star team.

Rigler also scored twice
and’ Jason Klein and Mark
Arruda each added a goal. ~

See Page B7 for a team
photo of the Caledonia
boys.

Terrace takes Kitimat 5-4 at peewee tourney

THE FINAL duel between a pair of Kitimat
and Terrace peewee house teams was a barn-
burner.

Farwest Fuels of Terrace took on Jose’s Ex-
cavating of Kitimat for first place in the TL&T
Peewee House Tournament two weekends ago.

Six teams had taken to the ice for the tour-
ney, each playing three games in a round robin
format, with two 20 minute periods and a third
of 15.

Farwest Fuels and Jose’s both emerged
from round robin play undefeated.

On their prior records, the Kitimat squad
had the edge, outscoring their opponents 20-7
compared to 10-5 for the Terrace team.

Five club records

The final opened with Jose’s underscoring
that goal-scoring ability before Terrace skates
could even cut ice.

Aaron Sevigny loosed a zinger into the goal
a minute and a half into the second period. A
minute later Bryce Harrison made it 2-0 Kiti-
mat.

Farwest got on the board when Ricky Call-
ikoo broke through Jose’s defence to score
with six minutes left in the second period.

Calihoo then banged in a second to tie it up
with just 18 seconds left in the period.

The second opened like the first with Curtis
Day potting a marker less than three minutes
in to restore the Kitimat lead.

This time Terrace answered quickly when
Mark McKamey drilled one home two minutes
later on the power play to restore a deadlock
that lasted for 10 minutes.

Farwest then took their first lead of the
game with five minutes left when Callihoo
completed his hat-trick.

But Harrison got his second of the night
three minutes later to tie it up again.

McKamey proved to be the hero for Ter-
race, coming through with just 22 seconds re-
maining to score the go-ahead goal and make
it 5-4.

The Farwest squad held Kitimat at bay
throughout the third to secure the victory.

Barton leads Bluebacks in P.G.

TERRACE SWIMMER Jenine
Barton set five new club records
for the Terrace Bluebacks in
competition at Prince George this
month.

Barton turned in a powerful
performance at the Prince
George Fall Invitational and re-
qualified for Youth Nationals in
Winnipeg next summer.

The 15-year-old qualified for
the first time in the 400-metre in-
dividual medley with a time one
full second faster than required.

The competition was one of
two important meets for the
Bluebacks in November.

Four of 11 team swimmers —
Fernando Polanco, Caitlin Scales,
Conor Simpson and Edmund Swan
— posted personal best times in all
their swims.

Coach Mike Carlyle noted the
team overall hit personal best
times in 74 per cent of the swims

DON’T MESS WITH US; Terrace Blueback swimmers Marlee Cater, Amy Peltier, Meagan Moi and
and first time regional competitor Brendan Patershuk ham it up with faux-wrestling poses at the
Bulkley Valley Invitational swim meet in Smithers in November.

at the meet.

“The swimmers performed very

well technically and mentally,”
he said.

Since the earlier Methanex
swim meet, the Bluebacks have
focused on technique of all
strokes.

Carlyle said their efforts have
paid off with tremendous improve-
ment in time ~ sometimes as
great as 20 seconds in distance

events.
He also noted they’ve been

practising mental skiils with the-

team’s sports psychologist.

“Those efforts will pay huge
dividends all year,” he added.

While the senior, more exper-
ienced swimmers were in action
in Prince George, the Bulkley
Valley Invitational mect in Smi-
thers was, a chance for younger

development swimmers to test
their skills.

Nine-year-old Evan Watson
made the finals of the age 10 and
under 50-metre sprint eliminator
and placed an impressive fourth
overall.

Seven of 11 Terrace swimmers
at the meet hit personal best
times in all but one event. They
were Justin Barton, Marlee Cater,

Meagan Moi, Brendan Patershuk,
Amy Peltier, Leanne Pratt, and
Jason Ruchotzke.

The Bluebacks were smal! in
number in Smithers but number
one in team spirit.

Development coach Julie Van-
derlee said the Bluebacks perfor-
mances on Sunday werd boosted
by the spirit of support and excite-
ment all team members exhibited,