| B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 21, 2005

SKEENA ANGLER

ROB BROWN

”

To hatch. or not to hatch?

"first ‘read it at the top of an article on the use of

Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine some 30 yearsago. Thearticledealt withenticing summer steelhead to the surface with waking flies. .. “Then accepted wisdom had it that the key to. " steelheading was a line dense enough to take a fly down and keep it there as long as possible. Here was an angler advocating the opposite. Waking and skittering patterns built of hollow hair on light wire _ hooks was the ticket, according to Bill McMillan. " «The black and white photographs punctuating the piece showed McMillan with steelhead caught “that way. They were as good as sworn affidavits to me. Inspired, I wrapped up some surface flies then took them and my floating line to the river. They exceeded my expectations, so much so that I’ve done ali my summer steelheading with a float- - ing line and variants of those strategies ever since.

books,>y Bill I could lay my handson. ©

emerged: here was a man who escaped to streams, got close to them, then, as a product of that inti-

: ineluctably to. an avocation as an advocate for fish and common sensible fish management. ©

-Bill has fished and fought for the fish of his

home rivers for many years. Understandably, his

vig ren as Sicd

-’ stateside.

By ie Recently, The Spence’ S ‘Bridge Sicelhead Advo-

cate Association (SBSAA) invited a former Wash- - ington State\professor and a long time. apologist for hatchery technology in his home state,-to give a presentation. Presumably the SBSAA wants to examine the possibility, of redressing the problems afflicting Thompson River steelhead.

Concerned about this, Ed Fleming, a dedicated Thompson angler, asked his friend Bill McMillan to comment. ‘Through the miracle that is e-mail, that commentary found its way into my computer.

It’s instructive.

“Why would Canadians look to the U.S. for an

-example of how to restore a threatened or endan- gered wild fish resource, given the American re- cord: an ever growing list of salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act with no recoveries emulate?” asks Bill.

“There is a clear understanding of what has led to salmon and steelhead depletions i in the’ rivers of the Western States.

tat-loss, hydro-development, over-harvest and hatchery-proliferation,” they are the Four Horse-

~ men of the Apocalypse when it comes to crippling _what were once the richest anadromous fisheries i in the world.

' * Once the hatchery commitment was made by the states, money that should have been spent to solve ‘the very problems that led to the consideration of

- enhancement in the first place was spent on hatch-

eries. ~

Yet the stocks continued to decline.

A whopping three billion tax dollars has been spent on hatcheries since 1981 on a putative solu- tion that is a central part of the problem. McMillan thinks it might .be the biggest failure in conserva- tion/restoration on the globe.

Real estate developers, power brokers, loggers and agricultural corporations have pushed hatchery augmentation as mitigation since decreasing water extraction, protecting fish habitat, and breaching dams is obviously against their vested interests.

Hatcheries perpetuate the status quo and mask the primary problems with a fishery.

It’s no accident, argues Bill, that the trio of fish- eries successes in the Columbia Basin have all been achieved in the absence of hatcheries.

With a growing consensus among scientists that the hatchery-as- factory model is bankrupt, those with a vested interest in keeping the institution go-

‘stock to bolster depleted populations. When you approach a trough full of hatchery- _reared fish, they swim to you, hoping to be fed. When you approach their wild cousins astream, ‘they bolt for cover. ” -Jf you take creatures from the wild, you domes- ticate them. A domesticated creature is less fit for survival in the wild. It’s that simple. Where wild brood projects have been tried, there

ster populations of wild fish, they do the opposite. As Bill McMillan points out, the Thompson steelhead have only two H’s to contend with at present, over-harvest by an unwieldy net fishery and habitat destruction due to water extraction. He cautions us to consider the American experi- ence and not add a third.

floating lines in steelhead angling in an issue of |

Since that first literary encounter was such a suc- - ‘cess, | looked, found, and read all the articles and .

~From those words a ‘clearer picture of. him .

macy, developed an.aesthetic and ethic that led |

-Most.recent articles have dealt with the fishpoltik. . i

TERRACE TANDARD

PORTS

ee: SPOONES

Aa a cee ae

638-7283

CONTRIBUTED .

THEY MAY not have always been . »

on the winning end of the stick but all five ringette teams showed a lot

of heart.and determination at the

14th annual Joy, Hoffman Memorial

Invitational Tournament in Prince - George.

The Junior team walloped Prince George 11-1, tied Quesnel six-all, fell to Quesnel 5-3 in their second meeting and dropped one to Prince George 7-5.

Quesnel was hard- -fought, especially considering Terrace played most: of it shorthanded.

At 10:46 of the second period, with Terrace down by a goal, Ques- nel drew a delayed penalty that saw Terrace pull the goalie and play SIX on five.

It paid off.

David Tooms scored a goal that was hotly contested by the Quesnel

The squad’s, first, game, against, ,

and Andrea Lenardt scored two each with help from Ethan Hampton and Taylor Grant. — In-the final game, Grant gave a The second match against Ques- fantastic performance in net. nel saw a late start due to the offi- Katie Wafzig netted two goals cials’ failure to be ready. ‘s even though she Played a different

the play as the ring hit the net.

After the officials conferred, the ‘goal was counted. The game remain tied until the finish.

As a result, the game was short- « position. ened by 10 minutes, time Terrace Other goals came from Tooms, could have used as it tends to be a Hampton, Seymour, _Denomme, ccome-from-behind squad. | Metcalfe and Lenardt. oo

The Petite C team lost all three games to Houston, Prince George,

The Petite B team saw only vic- tory, defeating Prince George 5-4,

Never gave up. “Strong goaltending came from

Dennis Pearce and Aimee Qualizza. Karyn Roseboom, Miranda Tuin-

ing Houston 8-3.

.Brittiny Seymour’s and Ashley * Denomme’ s exceptional defensive play plus Tristen Metcalfe’s great goaltending helped pull off their first victory despite being short of outstanding performances, showing key players like Rylee English, who sportsmanship, drive and most im- missed the game due to the flu. ' portantly, the ability to have fun.

Terrace’s offence dominated its The team, who had only been second game. together for one month prior to the

Kristen Tooms led the scoring tourney, played with five Novice-age

slamming Quesnel 9- 5, and dump;, ,,and.Quesnel, but played its best and,

inga, and Stephanie Mailhot gave

A NOVICE ringette player far left, shoots thet ring in n behind the Houston goalie’ 's knees during a tournament here Oct. 23. The novice team lost four close games at a tourney in Prince George recently after letting five of its players compete on the Petite C team.

Ringette teams play with heart

FILE PHOTO

bers who were’new to the sport. . The Novice team lost four very

“close games after giving up five of.

its strongest players to the Petite Cc

. Squad.

Leadership came from Shaydon Leblond, Janelle Tuininga, and Ash- ley Kuehne.

The Menugget Bunnies won’ two and lost two, but has showed a © steady improvement since a tourney at home earlier this season.

Deborah Wraight, Crimzon Leb-

_lond, Tess Tuininga, Myah Bowal, " Karolanne Gagon, Jenna Hooren-

borg and M.J. Wraight scored goals.

Logan Duriez, and Michelle “Blue Blur” Roseboom gave great performances.

The Digger awards went to Zach Johnston, Alyssa. Monsen, M.J. Wraight and Gage Duriez. .

Julia Tuninga said the players’ families had a great time’ thanks to the Prince George volunteers, who

coach as officials had blown down

with a hat trick. Montana Zaporzan

’ “Commonly referred to as the four. “H’s,” habi-

ing have come up with the idea of using wild brood

is a growing body of evidence that rather than bol-

Bantams cage Lions in best games yet —

By MARGARET SPEIRS THE BANTAMS played their best games of the season in Kitimat Dec. 10. Terrace toppled the Bantam Lions 2-1 and 5-4. “dt was a really good hockey game,” says coach

John Amos. “Even the parents said it was one of the .

best games of the year.” .

In the first game, Joey Cormano ) put the squad on the board first.

Chapen Leblond scored the winning goal with 18 seconds left in the game on feeds from Cormano and Reid Turner. Devynn Ames picked up the win in net.

In their second meeting, Leblond lead the team.

with two goals and one assist.

Turner, Cormano, and. Colton Dunsmore scored

singles. Scott Simpson and Colby Ames had assists. Spencer Krupop took the win in net, filling in for an

. injured Garrett Muir. -

The two teams are quite evenly matched, Amos says.

“Their goaltender made a big difference,” he says of Kitimat goalie Tony Losier, who moves quickly i in

’ front of the net.

The Terrace club gave a stellar performance.

“] just thought they played really hard and really well,” he says.

“The thing about it was the effort was there for both games and all three periods which was nice.”

Terrace is tied with Kitimat for second place in the standings behind Smithers.

The club look forward to playing Prince Rupert for

' the first time this season in the new year, Amos says.

And the Best Ever tryouts for Under-16 players goes in January in Fort St. James.

-For two days, Jan. 6 and 7, players will give it their all in two practices and two scrimmages to try to make the team.

All their hard work up until then doesn’t count:

their play on the ice during the tryouts is all that deter- .

mines if they’re successful, Amos says.

Defensive player Alexa Grant may try out for the girls’ team. “She should be one of their top players there,” he says.

Amos believes Leblond has a good chance to make the team and Kevin Haworth and Scott Simpson have a good shot if they work hard and play like usual.

members and three first-year mem-

held a well-organized tournament.

Young swimmer excels | at first competitive meet

By MARGARET SPEIRS A YOUNG swimmer in his first year of competition stroked with lightning speed through the pool and gave a medal-winning performance that even surprised _ his

coach. ; Brandon Williams, ° 11, —

who just this year moved into the age group where he can compete against other clubs, cut valuable seconds off al- most every heat he swam at the Christmas. Cracker Meet in Victoria the first weekend of December.

In the 400-metre individ-

ual medley, Williams took 10 seconds off his prelimi- nary heat time, and chopped another seven seconds off his final time, scoring him-

_ self a bronze medal.

Going into. the event, coach Mike Carlyle wasn’t expecting he’d be quite that fast, but Williams gave that little extra bit he needed to reach the podium,

Williams and with better technique, says Carlyle.

“He’s doing a great job with his training and this is the type of competition that Brandon very much enjoys,” he says.

“He enjoys racing and

.with this provincial level

meet this is something he very much thrives on.” Carlyle says Williams

‘walked into the Common- wealth Place pool in Victo- ria one day before the meet

began and felt comfortable tight away despite the high

caliber of competition await- -

ing him. “He wanted to begin right

swam faster -

BRANDON WILLIAMS powers through the water with

his breaststroke at the Christmas Cracker Meet in Vic-

toria earlier this month.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

then,” says Carlyle.

Williams works hard on his" mental skills that help keep him focused.

“It’s quite exciting what he’ll do with his mental skills,” Carlyle says, adding his mastery of them leaves him without any ‘bad’ ner- vousness.

“There’s nerves. but it’s

what we call ‘good nerves,’” .

he says, adding that means the swimmer can’t wait to

compete. Williams’ mental skills include. recognizing the -

purpose of the competition, looking at what he wants to accomplish and narrowing

his focus onto himself.

' His race plan is his pri-

-Ority and he uses the other

competitors.only as a way to allow himself to ‘swim faster.

“As. someone who loves to race then he’ll just go for it and just find that way of making that little extra dif- ference as he pushes him- self,” says Carlyle.

Williams’ desire to be the best could take him right to the top like teammate Al- lison Knoedler, who’s ex- celled in swimming for sev-

. eral years now.

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