INSIDE | SPORTS MENU C2 --SKEENA ANGLER | n the fifties my allowance of fifty cents was enough for the Saturday matinee at the Vogue, a bag of pop- com and bus fare (one way). It wasn’t enough for motor boat or a salmon rod or even a Tom Mack spoon. There were no salmon fishermen in my family, so there was no op- portunity to get out in the Straight of Georgia and catch one of those magnificent brutes—those Tyees tipping the scales at forty, fifty, sometimes sixty pounds--whose enormous cadavers I ad- mired on the sports pages of the Vancouver Sun at the end of derby week. Instead, I drooled over the handsomely turned, wooden Peetz reels and trolling rods displayed in the hatdware store and read of the splendors of salmon angling in Lee Straight’s columa; and I dreamed. Some ten years later, a time when long-haired protesters were stuffing flowers down the gun ‘barrels of minute men and tribes of hippie war- ors were thronging to be-ins in Stanley Park, I ‘still read Lee faithfully. Even now I vividly recall Lee and Greenpeace co-founder, Bob Hunter, slugging it out in their respective columns over the ethics of sportsmen: Hunter (ironic he should have that name) was convinced anyone who in- dulged in blood sports was an environmentally unfriendly Neanderthal; Lee, correctly, asserted that the only people doing anything meaningful to preserve fish and game ai that time were fishers and hunters. During the course of a writing career spanning 33 years, and well over a million words, Lec de- veloped a deep underslanding of the fishery in this province and its history. Over the course of his tenure as BC’s most prominent outdoor writer and the years he spent as BC’s first Sportfishing Ombudsman for the Department of Fisheries and ‘|- Oceans, Lee made over 200 trips to fishing destinations throughout the province as well as trips to famous rivers in the rest of Canada, and the U.S. and also found time to angle in the. Bahamas, Mexico, Christmas Island, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, Denmark and France. Al 78, Lee shows little signs of slowing down. _ He is a life member of no fewer than five outdoor creation groups, sits on the Pacific Salmon 'Foundation, the Sport Fish Advisory Board and as ‘a director and Past President of the Steclhead Society of B.C. * When you meet Lee, you are immediately taken with his barbed but gentle wit, his intelligence and by his vast knowledge of outdoor sport, the auidoors, and conservation, Lee knows how much of the fishery resource we have lost in the last fif- ty years, how it was lost, how quickly it was lost, and how very near we are to frittering away what is left. Lee has the ability to see where the rubber meets the road; when he speaks on conservation ' and the environment wise men listen, In the latest issue of The Osprey, the newsletter of the Steelhead Committee of the Federation of Fiyfishers, Lee warns us thal the apparent prog- Tess made toward a solution of the interception problems of our mixed stock fisheries may be little more than window dressing. The efficacy of modified gill nets, or weedlines, Lee correctly points out, is not backed by ex- tensive, or thorough, testing. Similarly, releasing - the fish that have not been squashed when brought in over the stern rollers, or ponding then brailing fish along scine boats at the whim of the skipper, are not likely to lead to a meaningful reduction in the interceptlon of sleelhead and ‘coho. On one of his trips, Lee Found himself on the Cowlitz River in Westem Washington State, where he was able to see a machine fisheries per- sonnel there call a "fish sorting device". It was a fish trap, a highly effective one, and it convinced Lee thal such technology was not only relatively simple to fabricate and operate and was capable of wide-spread application. If we are to restore the health of the West Coast salmon fisheries, the government must strive to install fully sclective terminal fisheries on the ap- proaches to, or in, every river on the West Coast of North America, argues Lec. “We may not be able to persuade the aborigines that angling for sport is justifiable," he adds , "and we must con- vince them of the need for first capturing alive every single salmon, including steelhead, before .we decide what to do with it and whose it is. That’s real fish culture and fish husbandry. That’s what (he native people did first," he points out, "The longtime improvident method of commer- cial salmon harvesting has sustained a heavily subsidized, wasteful market Gshery--little more than a vast welfare system—that has resulted in no real profit to either Canada or the United States, while overlooking the massive potential (and profits) of the rccreational-tourist angling resource," laments Lee, noling that the con- tinuance of this regime will nol only lead to the. extinction of the coastal salmon fishery, but the demise of the commercial fishery as well—just as At. has done on Canada’s east coast. Isuspect he is tight. 4 -of the RRACE STANDARD - _ Coxford shrugs off bug | The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 20, 1994-1 © ‘MALCOLM BAXT SECTION C to break personal barrier TERRACE BLUEBACKS ex- ceeded expectations al their own Pizza Hut Invitational mect, says coach Mike Carlyle. Although the team had to settle for third behind the Prince George Barracudas and Kitimat Marlins, Carlyle noted they blazed to 73 per cent best times in the process. “We only expected 40-50 per cent because over the last couple of weeks we’ve been concentrat- _ ing on starts, turns and strokes rather than speed,’’ he explained. And, with the Bluebacks having consistently lowered their per- sonal marks all season, it gels tougher cach time to beat that lasi clocking, he added. One of the . more satisfying swims of the weekend came from - Garth Coxford, 13. Scratched from Friday nights events because of illness, . he shook off the cffects lo break the }2:10 barrier in his 100m Fly vic- TIRED SWIMMERS Liam Murphy (lef). and ‘Thomas ‘Demetzer relax aiter the weekend's Bluebacks swimathon. Nearly $2,000 was raised, 10 per cent of which will go to the Special Olympics so local athletes. can attend provincial competitions. The remainder will go to the Bluebacks’ own travel needs. Those in the two-hour or 200len ing a non-perishable food item for the food bank. gth swimathon. registered by bring-. Fifteen year mark falls to Erb NO FEWER than eight pool records tumbled and another was equalled at the Pizza Hut Invitational swim meet. And five of those per- formances came from members of the host Terrace Blueback club, Leading the record book rewrite was Chris Kerman, 12, who began his assault by carv- ing four and a half seconds off the 100 Individual Medley mark, Kerman then went on to lower the standard in both the 50m and 200m Back, beating out times set in 1989 and 1990 respectively by Blueback Cory Holland. However, that still leaves Hol- land owning a dozen records for the 11-12 years age group. The oldest record to fall was In the girls 11-12 years 50m Breast where Audrey Erb shaved iwo-tenths off the time set by Kitimat’s Dianne Bar- hetti way back in 1979, The final Blueback triumph was delivered by ‘Thomas Demetzer whose 17.99 second 25m Free equalled the 8-years and under mark set in 1988. Kirsten Eby, 14, of Prince Rupert come away from the Pizza Hut meet with records in the 50m, 100m and 200m Back. The first sliced seven-tenths of a second off Blueback Aimee Peacock’s 1992 performance while the remaining pair were improvements on times set last year by Eby herself. Peacock’s name was again re- placed in the record books in the 100m Breast for 13-14 year old girls when Kitimat’s Candi- ce Young sliced close to a sec- ond off the three-year-old best time, Coxford had been “hovering around”: the mark for the past year and Carlyle admitted ‘sur- prise. he should finally crack it under such circumstances. : Winning four of his five events, Coxford had reason to celebrate even his lone second place finish, posting a ‘AAA’ qualifying time in the 200m TM. Chris Kerman was flying once again, winning all seven events and selling three pool records. " That ensured top spot overall among 11-12 year-old boys. The Bluebacks also dominated the girls’ side in that age group, Marina Checkley taking gold and Audrey Erb silver with Stacey Parr and Sarah Thompson giving the team four top-seven finishers. Carlyle said Checkley, 12, was definitely ‘‘the class'’ of the divi- sion, winning five of seven and posting six personal bests. Meanwhile Erb, 11, showed she’s beginning to adjust well to the older age-group with four wins and a six-for-six personal best performance which included. a pool record. Blucbacks were also strong in the boys’ 13-14 years category, Kevin Andolfatto taking silver with Coxford fourth just ahead of teammate Seth Downs. Downs’ performance included hitting ‘AAA’ qualifying times in both the 50m Free and 200m IM. Dylan Evans kept up his steady progress, the 10-year-old winning five, posting five PBs and adding another ‘AAA’ time on the way - lo his division's silver. Unfortunately there was. .no medal for Thomas Demetzer ,despite his perfect six win record, That’s because the meet didn’t award points to the 7-8 year olds. Other noteworthy performances came from Ian MacCormac who notched three more ‘AA’ times and Liam Murphy, Bryan Palah- icky, Marcie Pritchard and Judy Stevenson each with hwo ‘AA’s. Carlyle said the Pizza Hut had proved an excellent preparation for the long course scason. ‘Their technique held ‘up well,”’ he said of the Bluebacks, pointing out the importance of technique increased in the long course 50m pool. Now the emphasis would shift lo hitting a higher intensity, speed and endurance, : All that work gets put to the test this weekend when the Bluebacks head for Prince George, a meet where they traditionally post fast times. Top guns target Rod & Gun meet SOME OF the country’s top guns will be at the Thornhill rifle range this weekend, They'll be taking part in two In- ternational Practical Shooting ‘Confederation (IPSC) pistol com- petitions being slaged by the local Rod and Gun. - Club spokesman Sarah Lambert said shooters from Dawson Creek to Vancouver and across the north to Quesns] have already signed up. ‘And they include three mem- bers of the national team and the country’s top female. With late registrations expected up to and including the morning competitions, she anticipated entries could hit 75 for the IPSC sanctioned meet. The qualifiers get underway al 8:30 a.m. both Saturday and Sun- day and, depending. on the final entry, could run until 5 p.m. Each day, competilors will shoot al seven different target set" ups, known as stages. Bach stage has a different target layout with rules. on the. number of shots to be fired, firing posi- tion and whether one or two- hands can be used to grip the weapon. , For example, Stage 3 on Satur- day features eight targets; 18 in-. ches apart, in a fan five yards from the shooter's box.: Three of the targets will be full size, three will be partials and the remaining two are ‘‘no-shoats’’, targets of no value thal competi- tors have to remember to ignore. Shooters begin by standing in the box with hands held at Shoulder height. On. the signal, they draw and fire, one hand grip only, with only one hit per target counting. . Essentially the scoring sysiem is the total points scored for hits divided. by ithe: time taken to shoot. : The fizst stage on day two again has six largets in a fan but this time. 8 metres from the box and with two shots per target scoring, There's also a mandatory reload thrown in. Although the stages offer con siderable varicty, the: need for a combination of speed and ac- curacy remains consistent, * As does the emphasis on safety. No matter how good _ the marksmen are, they face dis- qualification from the. event if they break safety mutes... While the Rod and Gun wel- comed. specialors,. Lambert polnted out safety requires they wear car and eye protection. - Any type of glasses, including -Slinglasses, qualifies as the latter: and spectators will be able to buy. inexpensive foam ear plugs. ” - _ . a . = ' STAGE SHOW. Pistol shooters taking part in this waekend's IPSC competitions at tha Rod and Gun club will face a variety of target layouts, called stages, where combined speed and ac- - curacy are the key to winning. Spectators are welcome. ER 638-7283 :