Ice Fishing - manaq'ing'

Not everyone felt comfortable being out on the ice. Cold temps, warming up, river current, open spots, add up to unstable. These folks asked if I wanted to help pull the net (where the two men are), and I said, nope! The fellow sitting is jigging for Northern Pike. 

 The set net is under the ice. Each end is tied down with a willow stick. When it's time to pull the net and check for fish (shefish), one end is pulled with a rope dragging on top at the far end. When all has been checked on the one side, the rope is pulled dragging the net back under to wait for more fish.

 One way of catching fish in the winter is setting up a brush net. Willow is cut and woven and tied together. It needs to be tall enough so that it is pretty close to depth. A line is cut in the ice and the "willow wall" is lowered and frozen in.

As fish swim they come up against the wall and travel up and down looking for a way around it. The hope is that they school up. Next, another hole is chopped in the ice on the upriver side and large dip nets are lowered. These can be quite large and may take more than one person to hold.

                   

                             Brrrr and brave.