I bet you Michigan guys know what this pic is about...

Been a few years since I used one of those,,,we call them jiggers,,not sure what you call them ,,,used them here to fish carp in the winter,,,not sure if there all the same or not but does yours have the clicker so you can follow it without seeing it?,We drank alot of Bacardi white trying to stay warm back then but had a great doing both
 
Exactly. We call them jiggers too. Probably imported the technology from some trapper from Ontario. The wind was howling that day so the clicker couldn't be heard. We had to dig swaths in the snow to find it at the end of the rope.

Geting it set to "launch". We had 2 1/2 feet of ice. You tie a rope to the stern and by pulling it, an arm digs a pick into the underside of the ice and the jigger creeps along. Stretchy rope makes for big pulls.

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Once we were along far enough, we found the jigger and dug it out. After you dig as much snow away as you can, a bucket of water splashed on the ice makes it easier to see through.

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Once the jigger is up, you tie your gillnet on to the rope and pull it back trough, dropping an anchor weight off both ends. It hangs like a volleyball net underwater as deep or as shallow as you like. No one I know checks their nets more than once a day, and some leave them two days. The water is plenty cold to keep the fish fresh. In the summer people net whitefish but in the winter they catch lakers.

Its traditional here for the women only to touch the fish that come up in the net. With a -25C windchill no one was offering to help Mrs Tizya and get their hands wet. She's tough I guess. We only caught a few, but in the 5 lb and up range so it was worth it. No whoppers. I was hoping for some for myself, but there wasn't much and the guys really wanted the elders to have a bunch of fresh fish.


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Good times!

MIke
 
Ya that sure brings back memory's of fishing with my cousins back in the 80's,,,I still have a commercial licence for Lake Ontario but I let another fisherman use it as its not worth trying to make a living from.
How much ice did you have to cut to get it down,,,we use to use an old c51 homelite with a 29 or 30 inch bar for our holes,,we also set hoopnets the same way,,I find it easier just to go to the fishhouse down the street and get mine now
 
I can't imagine a tougher way to make a couple of bucks. I don't mind cold hands, but everyday? We drilled 6 10" holes close together and then chisled them smoother. I used to use a chainsaw to cut holes for 330's when I was a beaver trapper. We only had about 2 1/2' of ice this winter. There's not usually more than 3" unless you get into frozen overflow.

What's a hoop net? I have some dipnets may Grandpa made but have never caught a fish with them yet. The hoops are about 3" across with heavy wire baskets on 10' poles. Is that what you mean?

I hear you on buying fish. When we really want a bunch of fresh fish we head to Haines Alaska during the pink run. We're allowed 20 each/ day, kids get their own limit, and you can process them, as in brine or can them, right on the bank. They get a few halibut down there too as well as Kings and Coho at the right time of year. No ice ever either!

Here's some pinks and sockeye in my home made smoker getting extra delicious.

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Nice to meet you Chuck.



Mike
 
Mike
what temp do you smoke at? Are you cold smoking or hotter?

Those look good.

Is your brine salt only or do you add sweet?
 
Here is a pic to kind of get an idea except the one's we make have hoops made from 3/4 conduit and are about 3-4 feet high and the front of the net has squares that are 5-6 feet high.
This is the net then we attach a leader to the squares that is made from course web and around 100-120 feet long and most times you start it from shore to cut the fish off or like right now to get them when they are in the shallows to spawn . The fish run into and it causes them to follow it to the net where they go into sections that have a tunnel that gets smaller as they get to the end.
The fish are all alive and you open up the tail end and dump them in your boat and sort out what you want and the rest are released alive
If you ever get to southern Ontario stop in and I'll show you one.
Nice smoker,,,nothing better,,my old uncle next door has one that looks like an outhouse to anyone that see's it but you can do about 150 - 200 pounds in it,,I smoked eels ,mudcat ,whitefish,trout and even had ducks done its a tradition that not many people do the old way,try to find a hickory tree anywhere around here and all the branches are gone from the ground to 20 feet up,then just add alitte apple wood for heat,,,,Chuck

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Yep we use to use them all the time when we commercial fished here on the Mississippi. I still commercial fish about every other year, mainly to fill the freezers. We use a lot of hoop nets. The Catfish love to swim into them.
 
I use a salt and brown sugar brine, cold smoke, dehydrator to finish. If stuff gets too dry I chop it up in the blender and mix with cream cheese for a spread.

Cool nets, I've never seen that before. If I ever get your way I'm going to take you up on your offer Chuck.

Its hard to believe, but even with all the lakes up here I can't get a permit for even personal use these days because I'm a white guy. Best I can do is partner up with a friend who's got traditional rights and split the catch with him. Trouble is, its hard to find anyone who is willing to do the work. Crazy system.

Mike
 
Hi Mike,

I use hoop nets for sampling fish populations for research. On the Sevier River mostly carp and channel cats were in the hoop nets.

Did you catch the Sockeye near Haines?

Matt
 
Smoked Salmon!! You're making me hungry. My Step grandparents live in Wasilla and every time we go up we come back with fresh and smoke salmon. Nothing tastier on Earth!
 
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