a een oT al ee an ae eat ie ie re

It was hot, awfully hot. My
"outside foot, the one nearest the
stream, ° ‘slipped ‘inthe ’ loose
gravel with each laboured step.

Dark, wraithlike silhouettes of |

dog salmon appeared then

_ disappeared in the chalky water...

The alternative to stumbling
along the unstable bank was a
struggle through the dense

alder, not an appealing idea *
considering the sandy tracks’

laid down during the cool sum-
mer evenings by the salmon

patrol. An image of bears lying -

in sandy, shaded depressions,
panting like dogs, crossed my

mind. 1 stayed to the original .

route.

There was a ‘clear line where
the cedar-stained water of the
creek met the floury water of
the river channel. I waded in op-
posite the confluence, moving
slowly, feeling my way through

: the opaque river water, A hook-
nosed chinook, red and huge,

rolled purposefully to the sur-

face to examine the creature

shuffling clumsily, through: his

domain, then dove back into the
depths with a beaver-like slap of
his tail, The spray against. my!
face was a cold shock,

Chest high in the flow, nat
sure if I would ship water with

“the next step, I paused to plota
route and to let the refreshingly’:
- cool water-swirl around me, The

salmon, unconcerned now that

‘Vd ‘stopped making waves,

began to roll regularly. The en-

tire channel was alive with por-

poising fish — hundreds of
_ them.

_ I made the far bank and
started up the creck. A pair of
chum, startled by my tread,
bolted upstream leaving a wake
and their red behind. Feeling
guilty for the intrusion, I step-
ped back and walked upstream
with more stealth. The water
was tea-coloured yet clear — so

The Skeena
Angier —
- by Rob Brown

clear I could. ‘make out every
detail’ of the , masonry on the
dark bottom. |“: .

The creek. was running at
summer speed’ —- no more than
six inches deep in the deepest
riffle, barely three feet in the
deepest pool, and easily crossed
in two wide strides. At the first
bend a group of dog salmon
hovered in a pool roofed by the
limbs of a fallen alder, The
snouts and backs of the large
male fish were: covered with
white gungus, their size — I
judged the largest to be thirty

pounds — was magnified by the
confines. of the small creek.
They hung quietly, fins quiver-
ing like a pod ‘of barnacle-
encrusted whales. i
Upstream, in shallower

water, a school of vulnerable .

pinks — the males humpback-
ed, black on the back and white
on the -belly, the females still
silvery — nervously grouped
and regrouped waiting for some
change in water to trigger the in-

. btinct ‘to move.
I looked hard for the sea-

trout that had te be there,

vehind:.the salmon, but saw
none. They had to be there. I'd
been at this viewpoint before:
strained to spot trout, spotted
none, -steered a fly over the
backs of darkened salmon, seen
a mercurial flash and watched.

_ . the salmon move casually aside

to make room for the fighting

. eutthroat,

I unhooked the fly — one of
Findlay’s Skinny Skunks built
on a small, barbless salmon
hook.,—' from the keeper. A
piece of pearlescent tinsel tied
under the polar bear wing
caught the sunlight and gave off
a blue-green flash. 1 sent the fly
out.at the end of a floating line
and long leader, watched it
disappear. along the edge of the
deeper current and felt the pull

‘ ofa heavy fish. The calico sides

of a dog salmon appeared
momentarily followed by a
splash and the snap of my
leader,

- Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 22, 1890 — Page-85°

Foul hooked, Ithought ‘tied :
up another skunk and. began.
working’ downstream” ‘to’ the:
main river. The trout. had: no
chance at the fly. Pink salmon,:
males-and females ‘alike, grabb-
ed the, little lure. or impaled.
themselves upon ‘it, After: pia
ing three more flies i in salmon, I-
gave up

L might ‘have cut the: leader’
back to where it would bear. the:
weight of the salmon, I: ‘ebuld:
even have wrestled one of those: _
giant crimson chinook to. the
beach, but these creatures had
passed the boundary and: could
no longer be considered: sport-
fish. Catching fish at this point
in their run — though some,
were relatively firm and. un-
marked — is akin to shooting
calf moose or grounded ducks:
it's meat hunting not sport.

I should have forgotten the -
rod, It was a day to watch’
salmon not catch them.

_ SPORTS N WS,

Colette St. Amour 638-7283

TERRACE STANDARD

FAT: TIRE FAN Curtis Bretherick is one
lovers who are using mountain bikes,

o

of a growing number of urban commuters and wilderness ~
He says it keeps him in shape. and gets into the woods,

he bike of choice |

- And someone on a moun-

Trails

Terrace has excellent
mountain bike trails ranging
from the steep n’ pgnarly to
the gently rolling, say local
riders. Here are a few to try:

The read up to Kit-
sumkalum ski hill is a good,
hard ride for an advanced
rider (taking about three
hours to complete.

For an easier ride try the
powerline road that begins at
the top of airport hill coming
out on. Lakelse.Lake:road.a -:
couple kilometres past the ©
pub.

More advanced riders will .
enjoy the technical riding on
the Terrace Nature Trail,
watch out for hikers though,
which begins off the end of
Halliwell street exiting on
Hanson sireet.

If you like to climb take a
ride up the Copper Mountain
road which turns left off
Lakelse Lake road just past
the garbage dump. An
average rider will need a cou-
ple hours of riding — and
pushing — to get to the top.

Many short (rails are also
located in the Franks Field
area across from the e college.

reach here Kantakis says ad-

SMITHERS—
cAy

to 6.

the women’s singles event.

time in the single's

Jaarsma 6-1, 6-1.

says.

Krieg] emerged the victors.

Singles
Men
Matt

“A' side:

Terrace
residents won three of the five
events at the Smithers
Open tennis tournament Aug. 4

Janice Mann and Nancy Con-
don paired up to win the
women’s doubles title for their
third time, and Mann captured

‘Mann had a relatively easy
final,
defeating Telkwa’s. Janice

She had been bested” by
Jaarsma in last year's tourna-
ment, but she’s been working
on her singles game lately, she

In men’s doubles action Ter-
race's Swarn Mann and Richard

The two played each other
earlier in single’s play, with
Mann upsetting defending
champion Kriegl, in what was
one of the best single’s matches
in the tournament. Mann was
eventually defeated in the finals
by Matt Cachia from Smithers.

Results from the tournament
(“B” side was for those players
who fost in the initial rounds):

Cachia

| Terrace does well
at tennis tourney

(Smithers) defeated Swarn
Mann (Terrace).
“B'’ side: David Knight
(Kitimat) defeated Chris
Klassen (Telkwa).

Women
‘*A*? side: Fran Mann (Terrace)
defeated Janice Jaarsma
(Telkwa).
‘BY’ side: Diane Cey (Terrace)
defeated Dee Janion (Terrace).

Doubles

Men
“A”! side: Richard. Kriegl ; ‘and,
Swarn Mann (Terrace) defeated’.
Matt Cachia and Dan Olmstead
(Smithers).
“B”’ side: Guy Kiland and Neil
Fleischmann (Terrace) defeated
Shayne Boucher and Nick ©
Karelis (Smithers/Telkwa).
Wolmen

“A” side: F, Manm and Nancy.
Condon (Terrace) defeated Cey
and Ada Sarsiat (Terrace). —
‘RB’? side: Hester Flewin and Ja-
nion (Terrace) defeated Pat
Chadsey and Joyce Vrienot
(Telkwa).

Mixed
“A’ side: Cachia and Jaarsma
(Smithers/Telkwa) defeated
Kriegl and Flewin (Terrace).
“BR” side: Condon and Kiland
(Terrace) defeated Sarsiat and
Fleischmann (Terrace).

’ though ‘according to Kan-
takis, who races both moun-
tain and road bikes.

“The trails around here
are excellent, and you rarely
see another soul,” he says.

Most of .the. appeal of
mountain. biking for -Kan-
takis is’ getting into the
woods;..‘It’s just you, the
bike, the trees and the road.””

It's also a good physical
workout, strengthening the _
shoulders and arms as well as _
the legs, he says,

“The trend i in the ‘eighties j is.
for things to be narrower — -
ties, pant bottoms, the ozone
layer; but bike tire fashion is
going wider.

This-year more than 85 per
cent of the bicycles sold at
Terrace’s bike shop'were of

. the fat-tired variety. Moun-
tain bikes have replaced the

| trusty ten-speed as the bike
of choice for urban com-
mutets and wilderness ware
tiors alike.

But only 10 per cent ‘of

ding that the biggest danger
is probably not to the en-
vironment, but to cyclists
who risk startling bears or
logging truck drivers on lone-
ly logging roads.

He doubts mountain bikes
significantly damage trails,
says he, and most riders he
knows, are considerate of
hikers,

A prospective fat tire affi-
cionado can buy a trail-
worthy bike for under $500,

. tain bike can access an area
in a hard day-ride that a
hiker would need two or
three days to get to, he says.

' Despite the: sport’s
popularity, fat tire fans are
reputed ‘to ‘be a bunch of
neon- rlycraed adrenalin

~ junkies who rip up trails and

mow. down defenceless
hikers.

. Trails in both Canada and
the U.S. are being closed off
to mountain bikers because

those knobby tires ‘ever taste But thereis more toitthan — a
dirt says Chiron Kantakis of ~ just brute strength — — ofa supposed’ threat to Kantakis Says.

> Sundance Sports. ~ ‘although it helps. . hiker’ 8 serenity and safety. With the | higher-priced

“People. don’t know what “There is a lot of finesse ir in But as hikers are few and bicycles you're paying for

lighter and stronger com-
ponents and frame, he says.
“You pay more for less the
higher you go in price."

college

tificate, but she wants to learn
as much as she can, she says.

far between on the hardy log-
ging roads. most northwest
‘mountain. bikers use, it’s
doubtful the problems will

riding rougher trails like the

_ Terrace nature trail; climbing
steep. pitches; over Tacks, a
between narrow trees,”

. they're missing out on,” he

says.
. Terrace has an active
- mountain biking crowd

Gymnastics coach. goes to

TERRACE — Terrace’ s- Kris
Fairless will be learning how to.

lege.

coach gymastics at a two-year
program at an Ontario voles
this year. ;

A former head coach of: the.
Kitimat team and an assistant.’

coach of the Terrace Peaks “leveliwon ‘coaching certificate

gymastic club, Fairless hopes ¢
coach at the national level after
| graduating fr Sen

-,. She'll be learning judging,
‘Gdioreography, ‘and coaching at
the:college which has Canada's
only symnastics coaching
- school,

‘Because . she: already has a
altless could attend the college

A former gymnast who has
spent.up to seven hours a day
practicing gymnastics when in
training,

ever really dane.”

She hopes to do some
concting fs in Terrace next sum-

mer. o

pe naptrgr AA AH

19 year-old Fairless ff
has “'wanted to coach since she |p
was 12. It’s the only sport I’ve

- Sharples. «

MARCEL PAGE Is:one af more than 150 youths from around the
province who are attending the Terrace minar hockey ieague's,
summer hockey campv which is coached by Wade Flaherty and Jeff

SF ap ee cet iy ek ni 0 SO arth.

Vetta anal irate lame Ally, Binet: We att) ek tte: emanate ann me Me