Fish Live Under Ice

On January 2nd I had an awesome day Ice Fishing with Christian, a new friend from France who has been living in the Area since the 80's, who serves with me at the Habitat Restaurant. Prior to 2012 I had never caught a fish before, now I've caught a few from under the Ice!

Christian picked me up at 9:00am to head out to the Spray Lakes, 16km past where I lived last year (see earlier posts from 2010). It was a gorgeous mild day with just a bit of a wind blowing. Christian loaded up the Sled with a shovel, two fishing rods, an auger (giant screw driver for making a hole in the ice), some snout for bait and a giant ladle he assured me was for making soup. I was dubious.

Gear loaded & sled in tow Christian definitely had this organised! 

We wandered out onto the ice. Which was cracking, apparently a good sign that more ice was forming. Though I felt a little nervous. Christian engaged his mental GPS to find his lucky spot and we halted on the ice to set up the holes. After ensuring the Auger was running straight Christian left me to hand turn it to create a hole for him and myself. Others use power Augers but Christian is a Frenchman and a traditionalist, no point interrupting the peace with an unnecessary tool and it is a good work out turning the Auger! I was puffed with only a foot of ice to get through, sometimes there are 3 or 4 feet!!

Christian set up two hooks on a rod for me with the little snout cut his special way, and after clearing out the ice with the "soup ladle" we were ready to get underway. We dropped the lines to the bottom and then pulled them back about 15 turns of the reel. This is about 65ft under the ice. Deep but not too deep as apparently down really deep there are only little fish & the bigger better eating is a little off the bottom.

My wonderful guide. He was definitely more appropriately dressed than me. Apparently cosy hats are a must!

Our little holes, protected from the wind.

Christian pulled up a gorgeous lake trout as soon as he dropped his line, he demonstrated how to pull the fish away from the hole and make sure it didn't dive back to freedom. He then demonstrated killing the fish by bashing it's head against the shovel - kind of brutal really but at least then the fish didn't have to lie waiting to freeze to death. We buried the fish in snow to make sure that they didn't freeze too much as it is slightly insulated compared to the air. It was time to reset the hooks and try again. Alberta rules say with one permit you may take 3 fish per day so we still had some fishing to do!

My first catch came shortly afterward. This was one of the most awesome feelings ever! I have never caught a fish from the sea or a river & now I was pulling one out from under the ice!! WOW. I took the honors of killing the fish via a few sharp hits to the head on the shovel and buried him neatly next to Christians catch.

Christian fish dancing in the Sun! 

We were ready to get number three after a short break to eat some PB & J sandwiches and chocolate. Fishing is tiring work especially in the cold & the wind! The fish seemed to disappear for awhile which led to much fish dancing to stay warm. The fish can't hear it so it is okay. I suggested that they may have wised up to the idea that bait was not good food. Christian assured me that these Lake Trout have a short memory & that he had in the past gutted a fish and found two of his pieces of bait inside. Dumb fish - perhaps they were just lost!



We had a few bites, lost a few fish and eventually pulled up a couple of little guys each that were catch and returns and had declared that we would only wait until 1:30pm to see if something bigger came along. My feet were getting very cold & the wind began taking its toll. As is the way, after saying we were going to leave in 40 minutes Christian had a whopper on his line. It was a good fight but the Human won and we had a big guy to add to our catch to bring home & cook up!

Fish number 3 and the tools. What a good 'un!

With our catch! So stoked & a little cold!

Ice is cool.

Although there were other groups of fishermen and women it was amazing how peaceful the ice was. Standing facing away from the wind and watching the line with one eye and the majestic mountains really does give you some time to re-evaluate. Listening to the ice crack as you stand there (which apparently is fine????) makes you realise how insignificant you are, somewhat like watching a big open ocean. As Christian said, ice fishing is very Zen. Very Zen and very exhilarating at the same time. It is impossible to be anything but in the moment as you pull a fish carefully from the black hole in the ice.

WOW! 

I bought my fish home and was taught to gut it by another man at the hostel. So many lessons in one day! This was quite shocking how easy it is to pull out all the guts from a fish. However, once all the guts were out it was still quite a beautiful little guy. I couldn't wait to cook him up!

My friend Ali came out from Calgary for the night so we feasted on Baked Lake Trout (with butter, lemon, sage and garlic), Baked Potato and Sweet Potato Salad, Roasted Beatroot and Goats Cheese Salad and Green Salad. Yummy!

I think everyone in the Hostel heard about my big catch. I was pretty proud at this point of my wonderful dish. Though his eye was a little creepy!

And here are the remnants...

It was such an incredible day, an amazing new way to enjoy the mountains and a massive learning experience. I am very grateful to Christian for including me in his favorite activity, I'm sure I interrupted his Zen somewhat but definitely enjoyed the lessons taught (imagine these with a thick French accent!)

• Fish are not patient. Fishermen must be patient.
• Small bait is better for catching bigger fish. (I feel like this could extrapolate to some deeper meaning though I'm not sure what!)
• A soup ladle is critical to ice fishing.