Soon it will be time for my annual trek up to the Lake of the Woods for a winter fishing trip. While going over my ice fishing gear this afternoon it occurred to me how important fishing has been to our wonderful state of MN, both in the past and current.
Prior to the coming of European peoples to this part of the world, the native Americans settled on the major bodies of water, for good reasons. One is obviously transportation. It was much easier to travel along the waterways of this state than ‘cross country’. I would say any time of the year. For during the short summers, the consuming insects, mosquitoes, black flies and deer flies were/are a horror to anyone caught in the woods or even on the prairie, if the wind was calm and the grasses were high.
During the wintertime, the many large lakes and rivers make for ‘super highways’ to travel on, either by snowshoe or dogsled. I have often wondered how the reality would have been to have been in this state, say around 1800, before there was much “civilized” influence to bring in roads, railroads and other modern forms of transportation. I have heard some “old timers” tell stories of their parents and grandparents who were some of the early settlers to the northern part of this state. They describe fish and fishing in terms that is hard to imagine for current day sportsmen. Naturally, the big excitement was in the spring of the year when the northern pike and walleye are moving up the small rivers from lake to lake. I have seen by spotlight some remarkable “schools of fish” at that time of year, but nothing like the old timers talk about.
The natives and settlers would harvest an mountain of fish in the spring by means of spearing fish in the streams as they migrated. Even now, the game wardens have about a month or so of busy activity during that time of year when they patrol for ‘outlaws’ who can’t seem to resist the urge to spear fish in the springtime.
Another means that was used in the past was fish traps. These were generally wire cages, just imagine a cage about 4 feet long and 2 feet all around, with a funnel of wire on each end and you have a fair ideal of a good fish trap. They would put these in steams under overhanging banks which are the fishes favorite passage way. Stories are told of traps so full it took several men to pull them from the water.
What I can’t get over is thinking about the fish feast these folks must have had! That at a time of the year when fresh food was hard to come by.
Then there is winter ice fishing. Most years from the central part of the state on north, from late November until April the lakes are covered with several feet of ice. I have wondered how the natives cut their holes for fishing, but I suppose they chipped them out with an ice chisel before the invention of augers. I am also guessing that they would have done what I would and that was to cover the hole over at night so a chopped out fishing hole could be used for many days before freezing shut.
For those who have never ice fished with a decoy and spear, it is an activity that is far different than fishing with a hook and line. I will describe the way it is still done and assume it was not a lot different from how it has been done, for who knows how long.
You start with a dark house, that means a structure build without windows of any kind and sealed against any light shining through the walls, doors or around the bottom of the shack. For the ideal is to lure the fish up close to the surface where you can run him through with a spear, about the size of a pitchfork, only the prongs are heavier with barbs to prevent the fish from getting off once you have it speared, northern pike is the legal species now, but in past history, any fish would have been ’fair game’.
The ideal spot is to go out on the ice in fairly shallow water, say 6-8 feet with some cabbage weeds showing in the water. That is a favorite place for the pike to hang out looking for an easy meal. Then you cut a hole in the ice, usually around 3 feet long by 2 feet wide, although we once used a house build for two people, that had a hole that was 2’ wide by 8’ long, that made a nice big hole to watch.
Once you have your shack over the hole and banked on the outside with snow to prevent light and cold air that will freeze your hole, you are ready to fish. It is best to have heat in the house, not only for comfort but also to keep you hole open and free of ice. Then the most common practice is to use a artificial decoy carved from wood with a lead weight sunk into it to hold it under the water. These come or are made in almost any size and form to be imagined. It is common for them to be from 4-6 inches long and of a bright color, red and white being the most common. You put this decoy on a string tied to the roof of you shack and drop it into the water anywhere from 2 to 4 feet below the ice. The decoys are made with metal fins that can be adjusted so that they will swim in a circle when you work the string, this swimming action is what will attract the predator fish. Then you wait. Sitting there in a darkened shack while the cold wind roars, with the water clear and bright enough to sometimes reflect light back into your shack and watching and waiting for a great northern pike to come in to attack your decoy is exciting to fisherman, all the more if you are hungry for some fish!
Sometimes a northern will cautiously swim up to have a look at your decoy from several feet away, usually under the edge of your shack where you can’t get a jab at him. At other times they will cruise in like a torpedo and attack the decoy like lightening and be gone before you know what is happening! It is for that reason that we sometimes use a live sucker. These baitfish are around 7 or 8 inches long and are rigged up with a harness around their middle and tied to the string just like the artificial decoy is. Under this circumstance you have to be on close watch or a northern will come in and kill your live decoy with one good bite and sometimes make his escape when he discovers his food is anchored to a cord. Then you are left with a piece of dead meat that is not likely to attract anything. No matter how you do it spear fishing for northern is great fun and can be very exciting. Regrettably, I had to give up the sport several years ago due to arthritis in my neck. One can be amazed at how stiff your neck will get while staring down into a hole of water all day. All the more reason for us to not put off the things we wish to do while we are young, there will come a day when we can’t do some of the things we would like too, due to the great enemy “time and age”.
All ice fishing is not so demanding. When we arrive at the Lake of the Woods, we will be met by our guide who we rent the ice house from. He will escort us out however many miles it is to where the fish are located this season (sometimes as far as 15 miles from land) and see that we are settled into a large sleeper house. These houses are completely outfitted with bunks, tables, gas lights, a gas cook stove and all along one wall will be our fish holes cleanly cut and ready for fishing. Such services come at a “cost”, but once a year me and three friends ‘bite the bullet’ and make the trip. If all goes well we will have a couple good feasts of fresh walleye cooked right in our ice house and good memories.
Sometimes I think God gave us fishing, more for the joy and memories than for the meat. I will enjoy both.
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