Ice fishing is social fishing at it's best
BY KEITH INGRAM
The days are short as the light quickly fades on the ice
F
or years, in fact ever since I spent the summer of 1970 down on the ice, as in Antarctica, I have been thinking it would ne nice to have a white Christmas, and when the chance came to visit newly acquired outlaws in the middle of the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada for Christmas, it was off to Kathmandu to kit up with the winter thermals.
This part of Canada is known for its extreme weather, from stinking hot in the short summer to bloody cold over the longer winter.
The trick, we were advised, is to take layers and good boots rather than bulky Kiwi winter woollies, because you just keep adding or removing layers depending on the time of day or longer night.
ood boots
The temperature on the prairie gets as low as minus 32 degrees celsius and can even drop further. Add on up to 15 degrees more for the wind chill and the minuses quickly climb, so it is easy to see why all the homes are triple glazed with boilers and central heating. I mean, it takes 20 minutes to get dressed to go outside and another 15 minutes to get undressed when you get back in.
But the Canadians take it all in their stride, as they adapt to the rapid transitions from season to season. You can set your
date on the calendar for the change date on the calendar for the change
of season, which is hugely important for the sodbusters. Saskatchewan is a wealthy province, with the prairies producing oil and grain. As we left Calgary, Alberta and headed north, the country gave a new meaning to flat, which is best described by a local saying: "When your dog gets pissed off and runs away, you can watch him for three days." Yep, it sure gives a new meaning to flat. Everywhere you look is either grain fields and silos or oil-nodding donkeys and pumps, pumping into large, black, heated insulated tanks to prevent the crude from freezing in the winter or getting too hot in the summer.
While the oil pumping is an all-year event, the grain-growing
Heading out onto the ice to the fishing shack village
30 30 Pr Professi n essional Skipperki per r ssional Sk ppe Ju y/August 2012 Jullyuly//Augus 20 ugust 2 12
Ice fishing is a social event for the whole family
