Ice Fishing Getting Hotter in the North

Photo: Northwest Territories Tourism

Ice fishing calls for slightly different equipment from
that used for summertime fishing: a drill,
a few baited hooks and short wooden sticks.

People have been ice fishing in the Northwest
Territories for thousands of years - initially
for survival, more recently for the sheer
fun of it. Some stick to traditional techniques,
while others use decidedly modern paraphernalia.

BY SIMON BÉRUBÉ

The Northwest Territories have long enjoyed a great reputation for sport fishing, but lately ice fishing has been carving out a prominent place in the list of outdoor activities available north of the 60th parallel.

Compared to summer fishing, in which a range of fancy high-tech equipment boosts the chances of a trophy catch, ice fishing is a simple affair. In general, pretty much all that's required is a drill, a few baited hooks and some short wooden sticks.

"The cost of ice-fishing equipment is a fraction of that for summertime fishing," says Dale Johnston, manager of the Wolverine Sports Shop in Yellowknife. "About $150 will get you a hand drill, fishing line, lures and hooks."

But some fishermen go to great lengths to ensure a successful ice-fishing trip. And with the average thickness of the ice reaching 1.22 metres by late winter, lots of fishermen view a power drill as a necessity, not a luxury. "But then you have to add about $700 to your budget," Johnston notes.

Recently a sonar gadget called Polar Vision has become in demand among northern ice fishermen. "It's no bigger than a flashlight, and it tells you both how deep the water is and whether there are fish around," Johnston explains. "It's used a lot for walleye fishing."

Some fishermen have other means to make sure they'll be able to see exactly what they're doing. "When I went fishing with the mayor of Yellowknife, he brought along his underwater camera," recalls journalist Mike W. Bryant. "We could see the lure hanging above the lake bottom, and if a fish had bitten, we'd have been able to view it very clearly."

In an area where fishing is part of daily life, Bryant pens a twice-monthly satiric fishing column in the daily Yellowknifer. His research consists of inviting local or visiting luminaries out for a day of fishing. He's fished with the likes of Gordon Downie, lead singer of the rock band The Tragically Hip, and Quebec singer-songwriter Kevin Parent.

Like Downie and Parent, more and more visitors to the Northwest Territories are going ice fishing. "It's less active than summer fishing because you're limited to fishing the area where you've drilled holes in the ice," Bryant says. "But it's still a great excuse to get out into nature." In fact, he adds, a growing number of travel companies are adding ice fishing to their line-up of winter activities.

Blachford Lake Lodge, 90 kilometres by air from Yellowknife, is a case in point. "Along with people from the Northwest Territories, we get English and Irish visitors, lots of Americans, and some Japanese, Swiss and Austrian visitors," says lodge owner Mike Freeland. "And almost all of them try ice fishing." Ice fishing, he notes, has become one of the lodge's most popular winter activities.

"People want to know how to dig the hole, but mainly they're fascinated by the purity of the ice and water," Freeland observes. The water here is so pure that when you're out on the lake, it's like walking across a thick pane of glass, even when the ice is a metre thick. Japanese visitors, who come here to see the northern lights, never fail to be amazed that they can walk on ice that is virtually transparent. And they often do a little ice fishing. Or try to, anyway.

"It's usually their first time, and they have absolutely no idea what to expect," says Freeland. "They get terribly excited when a fish comes out of the hole. But more often than not they're afraid to touch it. They basically don't know what to do with it. At that point the guide takes over."

The lodge will cook lake trout, whitefish or walleye pike caught by guests. Quite often people come back to the lodge with trout weighing 1.5 to three kilograms, or a northern pike weighing 12-plus kilograms, pulled seemingly miraculously through a tiny hole in the ice.

Winter also gives fishermen access to lakes that are impossible to get to in summer, thanks to the ice roads that form in winter and are strong enough to bear the weight of snowmobiles and even cars. Ski planes are another option as well.

Whatever the transportation mode, many in the Northwest Territories tourism industry now see ice fishing as a potential gold mine.

"We fly lots of locals to their secret little fishing spots," says Peter Archuk, co-owner of the Yellowknife charter airline Air Tindi. "But lately we've noticed an increase in the number of tourists, especially the Japanese, who fly to ice-fishing areas on bush planes. We think ice fishing has incredible potential. The catch is always abundant, and the fish that come out of these frigid waters are among the finest in the world."

For more information on this or other Canadian destinations, visit the Canadian Tourism Commission's website at www.travelcanada.ca.

source: Canadian Tourism Commision

This reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor has it been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Canadian Tourism Commission.