. SKEENA ANGLER
___ROB BROWN

Some lure,
some catch

OR A CHANGE the sea was

calm. “It’s Mat calm,’ I says to

Bill. "Flatter than pee on a

plate. ‘‘ Who pees on a plate?”
he says. Bill thinks he’s a real comic.

I told him the good weather wouldn’t last
long and we had to go right now ’cause the
fish only passed the polnt for about a week.

He said he’d like to, but his old lady had to
go lo town,

“Why donicha get someone else to take
her, she’s got lots of friends,”’ I says. ‘‘Tell
her it’s a lifetime fishin’ thrill, Tell her
you'll be catching big, silver cohos, ane
afier another and it’s a sure thing, Tell her
she'll have lots to cook and can.”

‘Oh yeah, she'll really appreciate the op-
porunity to can fish. And that thrill of a
lifetime stuff’ll really persuade. her,’’ Bill
Says in that kinda sarcastic way he has.

Anyway, he shows up the next day.

I don’t ask him if he had any trouble con-
vincing Helen, it was obvious from the way
he acted — like a man who knew he would
have to face something terrible in the near
future.

But I knew he’d show.

Bill and I have used our Alyrods to catch
coho in the salt water before and he just
couldn’t pass up a thrill like that.

Oh yeah, I know what you’re gonna say,
compared to steclhead and chincoks, coho
fight like dishrags. Well, wait until you
catch one: you sit just off the weed beds in
your boat until you see -bailfish skipping all
aver the water, then you pitch out a bucktail
— not one of those big gaudy trolling
things, but a little Mickey Finn or something
like that — and you strip it in different
speeds until you hit the right one and then
~ look out.

I mean # good coho in salt water, it'll
make a steclhead look sick.

No kidding,

Anyhow, when we get out in the chuck
and anchor the boat near the dropoff, it’s
still flat bul nothin’s happening.

Then we spot this duck. He looked like he
had a busted wing 'cause he’d try’n take off
but he couldn't, he’d just flap around on the
top.

We watch him for a while then this huge
tail fin slides out of the water off in the dis-
tance.

*Jeez,”? I says to Bill, '‘look at that, an
orca,”

Bill couldn’t believe it either. I mean, here
was this poor duck with more problems than
he could handle already and this whale starts
comin’ after him.

Then the fin disappears for a while then it
shows again. Then, slash, the whale comes
out of the. water like a trout after a maytly
and just misses the duck. "

. The duck goes crazy.

T almost wet my pants.

Bill says, ‘‘Did ya sec that?”

Tsays, ‘Of course I scen it.”’

And he says, ‘The bow wave from thal
orca pushed the duck out of the way — it
saved him.”

And while he’s tellin’ me this, the whale
comes up for another pass, And the same
thing happens again,

Well, the duck is fit to be lied - flappin’
and thrashin’ and squackin’ like you
wouldn’t believe.

Then everything gets real calm.

I mean real calm.

You coulda heard a hook drop on the bol-
tom of the boat. It’s spooky how quiet it got.

Then all of a sudden il happened.

Like we're sittin’ there with our mouths
open watchin’ this poor duck twitch and
from right underneath comes the orca.

He comes straight up, no kidding, Right
out of the water ~ the whole whale - the
whole damn whale from head lo tall, with
his mouth wide open.

Then there’s this splash like a cannon
goin’ off and he’s gone,

So is the duck.

So there we are, right?

Me and Bill. And for the longest time we
don’l say nothin’,

Then Bill looks at me and he says “You
know what we gotta do, eh?! >.»

‘*No,’? [ says, “what?” :

“We gotta get some. mallard flank
feathers, tie a fly the size of that duck and go
fishin’, Hee

‘TERRACE STANDARD |

PORTS |

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 7, 1994 - C1

| ~ SECTION Cc.
MALCOLM BAXTER 638-7283

_ Gibson’s set grass alight

THE ARRAY of machines local
racers Ken and Trevor Gibson
brought to Grass Blast °94 was
impressive.

And so was their performance
at Terrace’s third annual snow-
mobile grass drag.

A line up of finely tuned
Yamaha models — Vmax 600,
750 Pro-Stock, Vmax 800 and a
"cookic sheet" V-max 750 wilh
hilrous —~ made up the duo’s ar-
senal,

Their skill at handling those
machines did the rest as the Gib-
sons carricd the local colours
against a strong oulside entry.

Trevor started his first place
collection in the Improved Stock
800 division, added another in the
Pro-Stock equivalent, made it
three in the Open Modified 800
and rounded out a trophy-filled
day with a victory in the Open
Fuel Unlimited.

Ken saved his best effort for the
event finale, powering to the
King of the Grass title andthe

_ $1,000 cheque that went with it

Also making a big splash at the
event was John Raposo, another
Terracile and newcomer to the
circuit.

Raposo was kept busy in the

weeks leading up to the Blast.

Trevor Gibson
building his sled from the ground
up, all from borrowed paris,

He christened the Arctic Cat
chassis-Yamaha Exciter engine
sled Grasshopper and hop is just
what it did.

A second place finish in the
Open Modified 585 and another
strong performance in the Open
Mod 660 left more experienced

racers with something “to think

about for next year,

Wrapping up the ladies title was
Barb Essay while Kelly Thomp-
son took third in the event.

And Jan Black (Stock B) and
Brent DeJong (Pro Stock 1000)
provided the more than 400 sun-
soaked spectators a couple of
more local wins to cheer,

Other notable homer showings
came from Fred Dunn, second in
both the Stock C and D, and Rob
Maroney, Clint Wood and Rob
Essay who also managed runner-
up finishes.

And .Brent Schmidt, Lanny
Paul, Peter Muric, Sean Brady
and Norm Larson pushed through
to third spots.

The Grass Blast attracted a
dozen raiders from Quesnel,
Prince George, Vanderhoof and
Burns Lake.

Leading that out-of-town pack
was Claudia Holland of Quesnel.
A familiar name in northern drag
circles, she raced against the men
as usual and, as usual, left them
behind most of the time.

Holland picked a pair of vic-
tories and a.second in the Stock
Classes, then added two more tri-
umphs and a third in the Im-
proved.

_,Deseribing Grass Blast *94 as

“fa beaming success’’, Ron Nies-

. ner, one of the event organizers,

paid tribute to. the hard work of
numerous volunteers, .-

"You need the right people,
doing all the right things, at the
right time,’’ he said, adding that’s
just what happened again - this
year.

In particular, Niesner passed on
thanks to Henry Rosenav, the
owner of the property on which
the races took place, for putting
up with all the traffic through the
gates and competitors testing
their machines prior io the event.

And special acknowledgments
also went to Leo and Brent
DeJong who provided the equip-
ment and cut the grass field in
preparation for the event.

' Niesner recommended anyone
wanting to take in more grass
dragging should head for Vander-
hoof this weekend.

That community is hosting this
year’s B.C. Grass Drag
championships on Sunday.

Once the grass disappears under
winter’s while mantel, tiders will
of course be switching to amore

conventional surface for a full

line-up of snowmobile races, ice
drags, snowcross, hillclimbs and
enduro racing.

He said the official calendar of
events is expected to be out soon
and will also outline the coming
season’s Super Series events,

w Equine —
elegance

LEADING OFF a. fiull
weekend of events at the
Thornhill Community
Grounds was the Terrace
Fall Horse Show. The
annua! event got under way
Friday afternoon = with
dressage. A steady drizzle
made for less than Ideal
conditions but fortunately
the sun came out the next
morning for the open
competitions.

THERE ARE a couple of sig-
nificant changes awaiting
Blueback swimmers when the
new scason gels under way at the
end of the month.

And coach Mike Carlyle says
both will benefit club members.

The first is a realigning of the.
ages for the junior and senior
provincials.

Used to be swimmers 15 years
and up were classified as seniors,
This year, Carlyle said, ‘hat
changes fo 17 years and up.

That makes a big difference
given the ages of the Bluebacks
potential provincial qualifiers, he
sald, noting three of the boys turn
i5.this week,

Instead .of having to send a.

small . group . to . each
champlonship, the club: can- now
look forward to eight or nine tak-
ing part in the juniors. Pt

“Psychologically, that's a big
plus. -When there’s just a few
swimmer goitig. down, they can

fecl left out, Carlyle explained. |

The larger’ the group, the greater

the Support they are able to give
one another, to lift cach other,
The other big change sees the
10 years and under swimmers
taken out of the pravincials and
given three . regional
“jamborecs”* as a replacement.
“That’s a good thing because
they’ll bea lot less intense than
the provincials,’’ he suggested.
They will still get the competi-
tion bul. there will be more of a
fun element, a better way to intro-
duce them to the higher level of
competition.
Carlyle said Terrace will likely
be part of a region covering the
area north and west of Williams

Lake.

The first Jamboree is set for No-
vember 26, Although the venue
has yet to. be decided, he sald it's

unlikely fo be Terrace, “It’s —
"tough to-get pool-time and we
have two meets booked ‘already, aa

he explained,

Although ‘the swim .stason-

won't start until the pool re-opens

| Mike Carlyle
maintenance shutdown, Carlyle
said some of the older swimmers
will be go to work next Monday. ©
But rather than head for the
- pool in Kilimal as in years pre-
vious, they'll be staying here and

doing dry land training such as

~ running and aerobics.
Sept 28 after Its, annual,

That, he sald, will allow (hem to

get back into shape without risk-
Ing the injuries, particularly
shoulder injuries, thal can come
from overusing specific muscles
loo quickly.

Looking to the season ahead,
Carlyle expected a-high percent-
age of retumees from last season.

The club will again. offer
Novice Development [, II and I
programs plus Senior Develop-
ment, including an introduction to
weight lifting.

There will also be the senior
group for the velerans and most
dedicated swimmers,

And the club has added a Senior
Sprint program for those 13 years
and up who want to stay in shape
and keep up what they’ve learned
but for whatever reason are not’
able to commit to the six to eight

training sessions a week the -

senior group does, .

Youngsters ‘who didn’t. get a
chance to sign up at ‘Clubs Day
on Saturday can still register dur-
ing the first couple of days of
practice at the end of the month,

Or phone Carlyle at 635-7988,