Ice fishing

Winter activity of catching fish in frozen-over bodies of water An ice fisher reels in a chain pickerel Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice fishers may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks and amenities. History Long before it was considered a form of recreation, ice fishing "was a matter of survival". Archeological findings of tools and equipment across those Arctic regions show the ubiquity and sophistication of the practice among these early communities. Arctic communities have used under-ice net fishing since the last ice age, with the Antrea Net in Karelia – the oldest archaeological net found in the world – being over 10,000 years old. Winter ice fishing in Fonyod, Hungary (1910) Korean aristocrat teaching Japanese soldiers to ice fish on the Yalu River (1904) For First Nation communities in Canada, ice fishing remains a way to have access to traditional food, and an important source of nutrients. The Ojibwe people of northern Ontario were among the first to rely on ice fishing as a source of food. Shelters Ice shanties, Saguenay River, Saint-Fulg