FISH CHASING

Evening Star, Issue 22276, 29 February 1936, Page 3

FISH CHASING

EXCITING CANADIAN ICE SF3RT One of the most thrilling winter sports in Canada, in which old and young join, is known as fish skating. In certain districts of British Columbia, where the freeze-up is not accompanied by snow, the lakes become so transparent that they resemble gargantuan window panes, through which fish, visible to a depth of 20ft, can be followed for miles by skaters. The spears carried are from loft to 25 ft in length, and are often the means "of saving the lives of skaters who crash through the ice. At the age of 71 years Duncan M'Kinlay, son of a, former Hudson Bay Company factor, is still an ardent fishskater. Before a fish can be speared it must be skated'to a standstill. Some favour skating hard on the fish’s tail and “ winding ” it in a short and continued burst of speed; in this the wild horse hunters are most adept. Accustomed to heading off the mob in the ranges, they can anticipate the movements of a fish and keep it travelling in the direction of shallow water near the shore. Others prefer skating to one side, at some distance from the fish, after it is “ spotted,” and in this way preventing it from reaching deep water before it is played out. When a char lias just finished a meal, of trout or squaw-fish it is much easier to skate down; a hungry char is much more agile than one which has gorged itself on a couple of pounds of whitefish, Char range from 81b to 401 bin weight. Driven to desperation, a fish will raise a screen of mud from the bottom. Yet when buried thus it is often an easy mark for the skater's spear. Holes are cut in the ice when the fish are tiring. Skaters may cut half a. dozen holes before a fish is speared. To skate down a char requires a fair amount of skill, but to capture a rainbow trout one has to be as expert at dodging as a cow-horse or a polo pony. The proportion of char to rainbow taken is 14 to one. The sport is actively followed by aspiring ice hockey players. When snow obliterates the fish skaters return to their normal winter occupation of sleeper cutting, trapping, or hunting down wild horses, which are sold for fox feed in Vancouver.