The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-09-10
FISHING IN ARCTIC REGIONS.
How the Eskimes Catch Fish Without
Bait Through Holes In the Ice.

Bait Through Holes In the Ice.
Whenever there is level field of ice in
closed by lines of hummocks the fish are
sure to be plenty. Such field as this,
about half mile long, practically afford
living to most of the people in the village
during the season of 1888, because that
wear the ice was very unfavorsble for seal
ing and food was very scarce IN the village.
The fishing is carried on mostly by the
women and children. though one or two
old men generally go cut, and one or two
of the younger men, when they cannot go
sealing and food is wanted at the house,
will join the fishing party.
Each fisherman is provided with long
handled ice pick, which he frequently
leaves sticking in the snow near the fishing
ground, a long line made of strips OF
whalebone, reeled lengthwi on slender
wooden shuttle about eighteen4nehes long,
and provided with copper sinker and two
pear shaped "jigs" of walrus ivory, armed
with four baTblrss hooks Of copper, and
SCOOP or dipper made of reindeer antleTs
with wooden handle about two feet long
Hardly an Eskimo, and especially no Es-
kirno boy, stirs out of the house In winter
without one of these scoopsin his hand
Te every party of two or three there will
also be good sized bag Of sealskin, gener-
ally made of piece of an old KAYAK cover,
for bringing home the fish. Arriving at
the fishing grounds each proceeds TO pick
a hole thEough the ice, which is about four
feet thick, clearing out the chips with the
scoop. The "jigs" are then let down
through the hole and enough line unreeled
to keep them Just clear OF the bottom,
where the fish are playing about.
The reel is held in the right hand and
serves as a short rod, wkiAe the scoop is
held in the left hand and used to keep the
hole clear of the scumsof new Ice, which, of
course, is constantly forming. The line is
kept in constant motion, jeFkedup quickly
a short distance and then allowed to drop
back, so that the. little fish that are nosing
about the whitei'tjigs," after the manner
of Goldfish, are hooked about thejaw or in
the belly.
AS soon as the fisherman feels a fish on
his hook he catches up blight of the line
with his scoop and another below this with
his reel, and thus reels up the line on these
two sticks in loose coils until the fish is
brought to the surface. when a skillful toss
throws him of the barbless hook on the
ice, where he gives one conclusive flap and
instantly freezes solid. The elastic whale
bone line is thrown off the sticks without
tangliHg and paid out through the hole
again for another trial. II fish are not
found plenty at the first hole the fisherman
shifts his ground until he STRIKES q
school"
They are sometimes SO plenty that they
may be caught as fast as they can be hauled
up. One woman will bring in upward of a
bushel of little fish-they are generally
about five or six inches lonR-from single
days fishing The fishing lasts until the
middle of May, when the ice begins to
soften A good many are also caught along
the shore in November in about foot of
water, when there are no tide cracks in the
ice.-Cor Forest and Stream.