Ice fishing in Canada

Steve Dickinson has done his fair share of trout fishing throughout New Zealand and a few places offshore. He reckons he has learned a bit over the years, but on a recent overseas trip he discovered that none of it seems to apply to ‘ice fishing’…

Sun Peaks, Canada, it’s just breaking light at 7 am. A knock at the door and there stands Cam Bryk, a quintessential Canadian; it’s minus 12 but he’s dressed in waders, a lightweight polar fleece (arms pulled up) and a floppy sunhat.

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“So are we on for ice fishing eh?”

We, the Kiwis, are festooned with snow boots, thermals, ski pants, puffer jackets, goggles and woolly hats, and that’s just for following Cam (from ‘Elevated Fishing’) out to his truck. We pile in and drive off. After turning the heating all the way up, we chat about the area. We discuss the 200 plus lakes and the nature of the fish stock, before Cam finally tells us how the business came to be, which is quite a story.

Cam Bryk is passionate about fishing – from game fishing to carp and everything in between. He was raised in the outdoors with his brother, and hunting and fishing have been his passion. He was determined to turn his love of fishing into a sustainable business on a continent that is ‘frozen’ for half of the year. In most cases, this would put a stop to a fishing charter! Amazingly, while at Kamloops University studying adventure tourism, he developed his business plan as part of an assignment.

A few years later, after gaining some experience working for another outdoor adventure activity, he tweaked his plan and took it to the head of Sun Peaks marketing and asked if it would fly. He was told it was a solid plan, but they had no idea of the number of people that would be interested – that was two years ago, and it has been going from strength to strength since then.

We arrive at Lake Heffley. Corny as this sounds, it was a ‘winter wonderland’– like fishing in Narnia. Cam pulls the sledge off the back of the truck, ties it around his waist and says, “follow me.” We track through ankle deep snow through the trees till we come to the edge of the lake and a vast expanse of white stretches out in front of us. Cam heads out and we follow in his knee-deep trail. He points out features on the lake, how deep the water is, how thick the ice is (currently about a foot and half), and he tells us not to be concerned if we hear loud cracks as it is quite common – we didn’t hear any thankfully!

Cam points out a fishing camp made up of several buildings that had to be closed because they were built in the valley that was always in shadow and it was simply too cold to maintain. He explained in detail the variety of fish in the lake. The rainbow trout were broken down into two specific groups, ‘native’ (those that bred in the lake) and those ‘introduced’. Those that were introduced were sterile so as not to affect the native population. Later, we would see first-hand the distinct difference in colour.

The tramp across the lake, which is of course iced over, was worth the cost of the trip. We felt a bit like Scott in the Antarctic; it’s quiet, wide, expansive, almost desolate and deathly silent. To the fish below, however, it must sound like a bunch of teenagers having a party in the upstairs apartment as we trudged along on the ice. Cam eventually stops and explains that this is where he wants to fish. Continuing in stealth mode (anything but!), he pulls out a giant cork screw and starts winding through the ice. It’s surprising how quickly he gets through the half a metre of ice before the ‘scooping’ begins. With a large ladle, all the bits of ice are scooped up to stop it freezing over again. Once this is done, Cam tells us it will take ages for the hole to freeze over even though it is way below zero. Continuing to make more noise than you can imagine, we make two more holes and start fishing.

A hand auger is used to 'dig' the hole.

A hand auger is used to 'dig' the hole.

Broken ice is ladled out to prevent refreezing.

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Broken ice is ladled out to prevent refreezing.

Fishing gear consists of what I can only describe as a “baby rod” – they are as tiny as you can imagine, only 60cm long and rated for up to 1-3kg fish. Sitting on a stool or a bucket over a hole, one does not want a surf-caster, so these short rods were professionally developed with Shimano. We each have a different bait – mine is a cluster of what looks like pink peanut butter, supposedly to represent a cluster of shrimps; next is a similar cluster of something but with a spinner attached; and the last is a small half-piece of worm.

Shimano has developed specialist rods for ice fishing.

Shimano has developed specialist rods for ice fishing. 

Each is placed in the hole and suspended just off the bottom by those floats you can get from the two-dollar shop. We wait.

Our ice fishing 'hot spot'.

Our ice fishing 'hot spot'. 

Cam then erects a fold-out tent, which takes about two minutes, zips up the flaps, and turns on a small gas heater. In moments we are all stripping off layers as the tent heats up. What is amazing is that as soon as the tent is erected, the small black hole that we have been fishing in turns clear blue – as clear as looking into a fish tank. Peering into the hole, we can clearly see the bottom as the ambient light travelling through the ice makes it crystal clear. We can see bugs swimming around, small fish and our bait. We could easily see a trout if one came by... I said ‘if’.

Our 'home away from home' on the ice.

Our 'home away from home' on the ice. 

Cam explained that the lake is normally lush with weed but, once the ice forms, the weed dies and turns into a mush at the bottom of the lake which is where the bugs now live and the trout feed.

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Time starts to tick by and no trout. Cam regales us with a range of fishing stories, hands round some hot chocolate, but still no fish. He tells us in the two years he has been doing the charter only twice have they not caught fish, and for those that do not catch fish he will take them out again for free until they do!

Still no fish. Like a scene from Scott of the Antarctic when Capt. Lawrence Oates says he is going outside and “may be some time”, Cam goes for a wander with his hand-held auger in search of fish. After a while he returns, and we chat about the blood moon and how it could have affected the fishing.

But then he decided to try his secret weapon, ‘garlic’. He puts on a small piece of garlic, lowers it into the ice hole and explains it’s not that the trout like garlic, it is that they hate it – it draws them in and they want to be aggressive with it. Sure enough, within seconds a small trout swims in, flaps its tail at the garlic and then consumes the pink shrimp. We unceremoniously haul him up through the ice hole and onto the ice.

Cam explains it’s a stocked fish and shows us how a native would differ if we ever caught one. By NZ standard it’s a small trout, but Cam tells us it’s a keeper. It gets donked on the head with the back of a metal coffee cup and put to one side. Within a few minutes a large one swims by, and then another, but neither show interest in our bait.

We must be creating some serious noise and vibration, but I wonder if it is the light of the holes that draws the fish as the rest of the lake would be dark or at least dim when covered in snow. Then another trout arrives; same process – unhappy with the garlic but takes the spinner bait and up it comes. This is a native fish, a little bigger, but far darker and rich in colour. In a few seconds he is returned to the icy water.

And so the three-hour morning unfolds. Cam is happy we caught fish but wishes we had caught more. We are just thrilled to have been part of the experience – it’s not something you do every day!

The sun starts to warm things up a bit, it is only now about minus 10. We pack the tent and make our way back across the ice to the truck. Cam tells us he will drop off the fish later in the day, and sure enough an hour or so later he arrives with a vacuum-packed, headless and gutted trout. We bake him with butter and lemon as instructed and it is without doubt the nicest trout I have ever tasted. The experts say you should keep your fish on ice for the best flavour and maybe that’s why it tastes so good – these fish are pre-iced even before they are caught.

   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

April 2019 - Steve Dickinson
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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