The verrace Standard, Wednesday, January 26, 1994 - C4

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No disgrace in defeat

“WE SHOWED what we

points on offensive rebounds. dying moments to take it 84-65,  ““Afler Saturday night, they

SKEENA ANGLER: —
ROB BROWN

A true gentleman

N THE BEGINNING, there was Ted
Rawlins, fishing the same rivers we
fish today when those rivers were
different.
The ‘rivers ran clear and low then during cold,
snow-filled winters that began in late November

and ended in March, like winters in the Skeena -

Valley should,

Heavy snow pack inland took months to melt,
keeping the Skeena high and gray most of the
summer, a time free of rain-on-snow events and
the violent floods that now rip our rivers apart.

The loggers were working ihe Skeena islands.
At Gallagher’s Point, Gleason ferried trucks
across the Skeena where they loaded at White
Bottom for the return trip and run to the mill.

There was plenty of logging in other places too,
but as yet logging roads didn’t take a fisherman
far up the valleys.

There were few people in Terrace. Fewer river
miles were exposed, fishermen were fewer in
number, fish stocks larger and the fishing better.

A gob of salmon eggs and T-spoons were the
lures of choice but Rawlins was different, choos-
ing to chase big fish with a fly rod.

Born on Vancouver Isiand, Rawlins spent his
boyhood near Parksville. As near as I can gather,
he served his apprenticeship in the sport of an-

_ pling under his father, an education probably
similar to the formalized and rigorous. tutelage
Roderick Haig-Brown writes about receiving
from his uncle on the rivers of the old country.

If that was the case, it is casy to understand why
Rawlins might have considered ‘it unsporting to
fish rivers —- especially rivers carrying many fish
—- with anything but a fly rod.

Ed Chapplow recalls working under logging
foreman Ted Rawlins in the Kalum Valley three
decades ago. “‘He was the best boss I ever
worked for,’’ says Ed. ‘*Ted was kind and com~
passionate. He had a real feeling for people.’’

Ed tells of the time when work was done carly
and Ted suggested they go Gshing. Rawlins’
prowess was well-known, Eager to fish with an
expert, Ed quickiy drove home, gathered up his
gear and made for Ted’s house: the small yellow
building still standing next to the Bavarian.

t

“Ted’s casting was poetry in
motion. He worked that split
cane rod as gracefully as

anything you’ve ever seen.”

When they were ready to go, Ted noticed his
young partner’s spinning rod. ‘You're not plan-
ning to go fishing with that thing?” he asked ina
firm but gentle voice that made the question
sound more like a command,

“Is the only rod I've got,”* said Ed apologeti- '

cally.

Ted went into the house and came out with a
glass rod armed with a Hardy reel and a full sink-
ing line, ““Today,”’ he said, handing the rod to his

young workman, ‘‘you are going to learn to fish -

with a fly.””

‘We drove up the Copper River to a pool above
the first canyon,” Ed recalls. ‘‘Ted showed me
how to work out a short line and I caught my first
steclhead.’?

There was a healthy population of cotto in the
river in thoss days. Ed watched as Ted caught.a
brace. For Bd this was the first day of an enduring
love of fly Gshing that continues to this day.

“Ted's casting was poctry in motion. He
worked that split cane rod as gracefully and
smoothly as anything you’ve ever scen,”’ says Ed.

Like other master flyfishermen, Ted’s flies were
simple, a few dark patterns and his favourite, a
red-bodied pattern with a matching tail and wing
topped with a polar bear wing and dubbed, natu-
rally enough, the Polarand Red.

Finlay Ferguson, who fished with Ted often,
recalls the Englishman’s prowess with a cane rod.

**Ted fished the Greased Line method, as adyo- |

cated by A.HLE. Wood, with a cane rod and a silk
line as well as techniques involving the sinking
line. He loved that pool on the Copper above It the
Clore and just below Bluff Run,’’

Another of Rawlins’ favourite spots was the run
behind Bell Pole. That stretch of ihe Kalum may
have changed considerably since then. I seldom
sce anyone there, bul Ted did well in it.

Gene Llewellyn, Ferguson and Chapplow, true
veteran flyfishermen of the Lower Skeena; all-use
the word “‘gentleman’’ when they refer to the
‘English fiyfishing pioneer.

Ted passed away some five years ago in
Parksville,

I'm for designating the classic stretch Of river
-behind Bell Pole Ted's Rifle in his memory. |

—i*y your do too, it will soon be so.

could do.’”

That was coach Cam McKay’s
verdict on the Kenmode’s per
formance against provincial
powerhouse North Delta.

And though Cal went down in
both games, McKay was gencr-
ally happy with what the squad
had done.

Ranked in the ‘AAA’ boys bas-
ketball top five, the Huskies com-
fortably took the opening Jan. 14
game 90-59,

While the Kermodes appeared a
little intimidated on the night,
McKay said there was never any
question the effort was there.

“Th fact, they might have over-
played a bit,” he said, trying too
hard at times,

. With seven players at 6’3'’ and
up, North Delta used that height
advantage to good effect, racking
up more than a third of their

Dean Beeson led the Cal attack
with 22 points with Jassie Osei-
Tutu and Joseph Dominguez ad-
ding 14 and 12 respectively.

Deseribing Beeson as one of the
Strongest players overall on the
court, McKay said, ‘‘He kept us
there.’”

Saturday’s rematch proved a
much closer affair as the
Kermodes settled down.

After opening a 21-9 lead in the
first quarter, a few misses close in
afitr good set-ups allowed the
Huskies to regroup.

But the visitors were never al-
lowed to establish the runaway
momentum of ihe previous night.

Only four points separated the
teams at the half and Cal were
still in it at 71-63 with just three
and a half minutes left in the
game.

North Delta turned it on in the

but McKay pointed out the gap
would have becn narrower had a
couple of calls gone the other
way.

Coming off an excellent first
half, Osei-Tutu finished the game
with 26 points while Beeson
repeated his 22 tally.

McKay also noted the play of
Chris Tomas in both games who
went to the hoop weil for
rebounds and continued to show
improvement.

For rookie Dominguez, the
weekend proved an education as
he came up against a white-hot
Husky point guard.

Four-fer-four on three-pointers
and equally faultless from the
line, the Kermodes’ nemesis sank
35 points in the second game,

But dealing with opposition of
that quality can only help Cal,
McKay maintained.

TERRACE PETITES sweep In on the attack again during a Saturday league game which saw
them dominate the late stages for a 6-2 win over Burns Lake. That margin owed a lot to
several fine stops by Terrace goalie Smyth. Prince George were also in town for the weekend.

knew if they stuck with the game .
plan and kept their composure,
they could beat these guys,’’ he
said of Ihe Kermodes’ reaction to
the experience. ,

A young team, Cal were bound
to make mistakes, he pointed out.
“And that’s okay so long as you
go out there next time and try to
correct them.

**] made a couple of mistakes as
well,’” he added.

_A two-game total of more than
800 spectators turned out-for the
match up and Cal is hoping for
similar support when Ihey take on
Abbotsford this weekend.

The first game is 8 p.m. Friday
night with the rematch scheduled’
for noon on Saturday.

Admission is $3 for adults, $2

for students and free: for Mini- : .
Basketball players. who show. Up ae

in uniform.

proves
howling |
success.

THORNHILL put it
together when it counted
to win a Jr. Girls
basketball tourney on
home turf,

But they had to come

bow through the ‘B’ side to do

it,

:The Wolves had earlier
been sent to that side by
Centennial Christian.

‘But there was to be no
repeat of that when the
two met again in the final. -

Thornhill ran out 33-20
winners with Lisa Clark.
pumping in 15 of the

Wolves points.
Coach Shannon
Murdoch said she was

very happy with the
team’s performance.

On the consolation side,
Stewart doubled Houston
40-20,

Thornhill will be back in
tournament action this
weekend, this time in
Prince George.

School’s out for Jake

AFTER SIX years, Jake De Jong
is hanging up his figurative skates
as one of the organizers of the
Hockey Summer School.

“It’s tough,”” he admits. ‘“*It
(the school) is an emotional
thing,”

It’s particularly hard given he’s
been there from day one,

“We went from nothing to one
of the most successful schools in
the country,”’ De Jong pointed
out,

The numbers bear that out: 160
kids the first year to 275 now, the
maximum number it can handle.

Jf there’s a secret to that kind of
success, it lies i in the original con-
cept.

“All those PeeWees have
probably been going for
three or four years.”’

From the outset, he explained,
the idea was to make it financial-
ly possible for as many young
hockey players as possible to at-
tend.

“Most places - are jist too oR

pensive,’” he added,
He suggested the full enrolment

was clear evidence the school had —

achieved its objective, —

The quality of the school also -

kept bringing kids back.

At the arena to watch the local
PesWees take on Prince George,
De Jong waved in the direction of
the game.

“All those PeeWees have prob-
ably been going for three or four
years,” he suggested.

A major factor in keeping the
costs down had been the support
of ex-Terrace Minor Hockey
players like Wade Flaherty and
Geoff Sharples.

They came back each year to be
instructors at the school but were
generous in not accepting a lot of
money for their two-week stint.

“They do it because they're
giving something back to Minor
Hockey here,’’ De Jong pointed
out.

And in one of his final acts on
behalf of the school, he was part
of giving something back to
Minor Hockey as well: the $2,000
the organization had lent the
school as seed money.

But the cheque he and Cliff
Sharples handed Minor Hockey
officials included a bonus of an-
other $3,000.

“T's repayment with interest,’
the pair joked.

Minor Hockey president Brian
Downie said some of the money
would be used to top up the orga-
nization’s scholarship fund as

~ part of the goal to make it self-

sustaining.

| Jake De Jong