"Here's Mike with a large male
steelhead. Fust a minute, let me

get this in sharper’ focus. There, .

that’s better. ° oo
"This had to be about seven
years ago.” ‘It was Mike’s second
trip up the river and my first.
-H- was. April..Fool’s Day.
_ There were no buds on the trees
"yet. The river was so low I had
to get out and walk while Mike
navigated some of the shallow
tiffles. We didn’t. make them
all, though.; Only a mile from
the mouth of the river the jet leg
- Seraped bottom and a shear pin
snapped.
‘Mike is- ‘always: prepared for
’ these contingencies, He ordered
me to fish as he found a ‘spare
pin and installed it,Ina matter
of. niinutes we were up on the
step and. jetting upriver again.
‘Here is a picture of one of the
many wide swaths avalanches

. ‘cute down: the sides o
Sometimes they shoot out over
‘Fidge and take the. ‘tops right off

the trees.

The sun ‘it JOT beginning to |
find the bottom of the: valley as.
we dragged the boat:.over :a |
gravel bar, motored” past this: .
“Inassive rock wall, then through gag

a’ steep: riffle. to this’ fi ishy-
looking piece of water.
Mike dropped the’anchor. on

the beach and pointed to the tail .

ofthe run. “There; he said,
“Put adry fly through there."

I tied one of those ‘buoyant, .
¥ ‘special fish: P'd bet it was the

first fish to see and rise to a sur-
face fly in that river.

brash piles ‘we make for
summer-run steelhead, threw: it
out after a few false casts and

let it wake across the water, Not
even the spectacular. scenery .

could draw our eyes from the

passage of that fly, There was: a

bulge behind it,
‘Did you see that!”? I yelled,

valley. a

The Skeena
Angier
_ by Rob Brown

“Mike nodded. I cast again. here

is a slide of me with the fish that

took the next drift. It’s only
‘about eight pounds — a female.

Not a spectacular: fish but ‘a

“After we'd released that
steelhead, Mike touk out his
float rod and began to hook fish

“after fish, I persisted with the

flyrod, catching dollies but no

more. steethead. Here's Mike

m8

with another fi sh a
This is the trail leading to. the
falls on the Tseax river, I think.
Yes, that’s right, here are-the
:falls. And here are the pools
just below them. What a place!
We watched steelhead leap from

the tail: race and hurl themselves —
We. didn’t .
- see any make. it though..:: ‘

at the rushing water.

I was having’a diffi cult. time
too, as I recall, Mike knew it,
“Pick a river,’ he said, ‘and
we'll spend a few days. on it.”

ee

The

T hadn't: fished i ‘the Nass

“valley very often, so I suggested .
~ the ‘Tseax: . Off -we went down

the : ‘dusty. road ‘towards
Aiyansh.- 10s like. fishing ‘on.

‘the moon; : ‘ said ‘Mike, ‘the
_ bottom of. ‘the river is lava and it

rolls under. your feet.”
Here I'am drifting a fly. over

, at: least.a hundred steelhead...
' Mike had taken my.camera and:
+ Climbed a tree to: get: this. shot.
‘He looked “like ‘one ‘of ‘those:
lions draped over the boughs of
‘a tree on the Serengeti. See that
log there?. We crossed it later:
i and found ‘a place where -we:

could see-into the pool. We
couldn’t see the bottom because

it was covered with fi ish.

- “Neither of cus- had: seen. : 0
“Many” steethead :in ‘one ‘place.
_ before. But none of them would
bite. It. didn’t: matter though, .
- as, Mike:

weekend,

; Capilano troughs

“track of one of the 8 Zales thay t
“prowl the‘area, ’ j

"suspected, ‘tured ol
good medicines’: #5 *:"

reaches | of the Zymoelz>
Fossil City. Again’Mich
the tour guide.’ ‘This {s.
where ‘we. raised -. chinod

tw .
mers. The place’ it’ ‘behind. Had-;
son Bay.:Mountai 4 e:
alpine meadows: an

. That’s. the: tnd ‘of thétray. | ‘

Aside froma couple’ ‘Of slides, :

all these pictures are‘ mifie; The:
difference in quality’ ‘wis: pretty: :
obyious wasn’t’ itsOne ‘day ‘1?
hope the.travels of my: good and:
generous friend Mike Whelpley, ; j
as recorded on thousands, of:
splendid = : transparencies, “will
find their: way into print ’so.we!
can’ all spend;some: time along}
wild rivers’ with him, ' Dds

SPO

JEFF NAGEL 638- 7283

TERRACE STANDARD

-—ALL THE RIGHT MOVES

Games here this weekend,

WRESTLER Kyle Welr, maintaining a defensive position o on ‘the F mat, resists efforts of Ben Praught ‘
to expose his back to the mat or attempt a pin. Weir, from Caledonia Senior Secondary, and
Praught, in Grade 10 at Skeena, are two of the focal high school wrestlers who competed at a
tournament in Kitwanga two weekends ago. The Terrace team finished second; behind Smithers, .
_ with Weir winning a gold and Matt Kerby picking up a silver. The local wrestling program is new {
this year and is based at Skeena, although students from ather schools are also participating in
organized practices three times a week, They'll also be in action in the Northern B. C. Winter <

Boxers blaze at
Silver Gloves

TERRACE — Local boxers
Joey Losier and Darren Bell
shone again two weekends ago
at the 1991 Silver Gloves boxing
tournament in Vancouver, cap-
turing division championships.

The two Terrace 14-year-olds
have been impressing coaches

across- the province in their —

Junior ‘B' division, and were
this rte moved up-to Junior
‘C’ bystheip. coach to face older
15- “an ieyear-old am “otic

The’ 125-pound Losier foo
on 15-year-old David Shuck, of
Vancouver's Astoria : ‘Boxing’:

Hare

Club, who-advanced to facehim .§

in the final on ‘an earlier win
against Vancouver's ‘Wally.
Valdez, ,

Losier unloaded midway. iy
through the first round, dropp-

ing Shuck to the canvas at. the
33-second . mark:: with his
trademark left hook.

The first-round. ‘knockout
came as no surprise to Terrace
club coach Jeff Dilley, who has
now watched’ Losier’ dispatch
several opponents just seconds
into the bout.

“It was another classic Joey
fight — first-round knockout,”
said Dilley. ‘‘The’ first mean-
ingful punch he landed stopped
him."

- Bell; also 14, was: the: un-

contested champion in the |

Junior ‘C’ 139-lb apen class,
‘But Dilley said the boxers didn’t .
travel 600 miles to not compete, -
and raised him to intermediate
division to face Jose Alvarez,-a
recent immigrant -from_:-El-
“Salvador fighting with the
Spruce Capitol Boxing Club.
’ That: was: a’ mistake, Dilley
conceded, as he later learned -
Alvarez was actually. 18 years
‘old — above the 17-year-old in-
termediate division age limit.

* Bell lasted into the ‘second

round against the stronger,

more experienced Alvarez
‘ Before: ‘the © fight was stopped.

“win

 Kermodes begin home stand

‘TERRACE. — For the Caledonia Ker-

modes the’ road ahead is a long one, but at.

least it’s all on home turf from now on.
-The senior boys basketball team ended

their last road trip of the season over the

_weekend in Prince Rupert. ~

.- It-was the wrapup of a rough string of

“weekends .on . the road: to: out-of-town

‘games that Kermodes coach Cam MacKay.

says was clearly affecting performance,
: The, latest symptom , of that, was. the
team’s O-and:3 record in a'tournament at
Vancouver ‘College, two weekends ago,

“We shot.an ‘average: of about 23 per |
cent there, which is:very abnormal for our:

regular. average | of. about .44,’*:: McKay

noted. ‘All-the shots were good shots, they.”

just weren't sinking for us,’ ,

It was. clearly the offence: ‘that was the

. ‘problem, he added, as all three losses were
low-scoring.; By the end:of:. the second
game; McKay had pulled: his main ;

. let the second string pick up court time...

He said Gary Peden was the teain's most
“consistent scorer.in that tourney, and ‘said

good defence came from Jason Krause, as

well as Brent and Mark Neeve.

It had been a different story earller this
month in Calgary where the Kermode boys
went head-to-head with several tough
teams from across western Canada,

In Calgary they-were just on fire — at. .
least for the last two games," MacKay.
. Said. ‘It was unbelievable.”*.

Game one saw them drop a ‘close one toa *
against thelr arch-riyals to the west

~ Prince*Rupert Rainmakers.” The "Makers -

Winnipeg team by a 70-64 score,
But then the Terrace players ‘got ‘hot:

they struck back for # 98-63 blowout vic-
_tory over Father Lacombe; of Calgary.

And then:they struck: again witha ‘big

118-98 win: over Calgary's St. Francis to.
post a 2-1 record and claim the tourney! 5

consolation side title, |;
“Tt was a fast-paced, rough game, and it

turned ugly at the end; MacKay. sald; -
ye With: two minutes: left dn - the: game,
Caledonia’s Mike Parker was teaping for a ,
-basket; when: he:was: altacked: in: what =~
MacKay described as a football tackle aim-
ed at his legs by an opposing player...

|

a brawl.

“The blatant submarining of Parker — he
hit the floor landing on the back of his neck
— cleared both benches and nearly sparked
_ Both: players were. “ejected. from. ‘the

game, and: ‘Parker is uninjured.’
MacKay:’ .said Parker,:-Steve:: -Dhansaw

_and " Geoff’. MacKay: "were particularly
" strong for the Kermodes in

Calgary,
‘Zone competition will ‘pit the ae
¢

shook ‘up the books of provincial high -

“oo school ‘basketball ‘observers by winning a:
» wecent tourtiament in Steveston to grab the
“No, 10'spot in provincial rankings. ©

- Next up for the Cal squad is their Feb..7__

game against Victoria's Spectrum hoop

° squad, ‘They're also in action at home the

following week. with a Friday: night game.

Feb. 15'a t the number: Ahree-tanked’
_ Weat 1s agniast Highlanders, .

“Both: es start at 8 p.m.. at the

‘Caledonia ‘gym.and both are expected fi to
_ draw. plenty, of- Kermoyen fans at ee

“Joey Losier
“I threw in the towel because

he got knocked down,” Dilley
“said. “‘He was doing well in the

first. That's the sad part — I
thought he was going to win.’
Terrace’s Clinton Bell, a
novice 105-lb boxer: fi ighting i in
Junior 'A’ division; also travell-
ed to the tournament and won
his first Silver Gloves cham-

_Pionship, He stopped Campbell

" River’s Brian Milot in the third
round to earn ‘the tournament

‘Next on the card for the Ter-
race boxers is the Northern B.C.
-Winter Games here this

. weekend, Then comes the B.C:

Golden Gloves championships
‘and the provincial champion-
ships 'in March. . > ©

=~ boxers - are.‘ still. 14 and
year,

‘ chance the ‘two ‘could”b
"there the following year. ‘
‘year, T can't see why, not,
: said. rT

organizers’ ‘alo’ called in.
out if Losier and Bell -eguld-
fight in the 16- to 17-year-old:
intermediate. division... at: thi

Dilley said
pointed to learn the two

: But he ‘said. 4 there's g

Lay
vf

¥ Fd

| ‘SKEENA’s junior girls basketball players i were sou attabhers
“two weekends ago In a regional junlor’ hoop. ‘tourney ‘here
where they romped through thelr own. pool to meet Hazelton: “3p.
J: In the final, winning 45-25. Thornhill’s girls bowed out 40-34: a oe
to Nisga’a arid 48-47 to Hazelton after. double overtime, On | ‘ “
the boys side, Kitimat were 69-40 winners over Bulklay Valley +!
Christlan School in the final. Thornhill’s squad Were 68-42 vic- 4

ee ee ee Se

afors over Hazelton after dropping thelr initial match to Kitimat. Sy