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LAKE VERMILION- It may have been snowing and blowing outside on Tuesday, but inside the warm confines of several Everett Bay fishing shacks, fifth and sixth-graders from Nett Lake and Tower-Soudan …
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LAKE VERMILION- It may have been snowing and blowing outside on Tuesday, but inside the warm confines of several Everett Bay fishing shacks, fifth and sixth-graders from Nett Lake and Tower-Soudan elementary schools enjoyed a break from the usual classroom fare to learn about ice fishing.
The morning started out slow with just a few nibbles, but there was more than enough to keep the kids entertained as they played with bait, looked down the holes and monitored any fish activity on the electronic graphs set up in some of the holes. The kids were spread out among seven icehouses, all maintained by Fortune Bay Resort Casino, which the kids were using for the morning.
The guides and supervisors told stories of what fishing was like when they were kids, sitting freezing on a bucket, possibly with a tent, or maybe not, to protect you from the wind and the cold. These kids fished in comfort in warm icehouses, with folding chairs, and wood paneling. Chris Johnson, from the 1854 Treaty Authority, told the kids about how Native Americans would ice fish in the past. Johnson said the natives would lay down on the ice and cover themselves with a hide and speared the fish through a hole in the ice. The light coming from the sides of the hole illuminated the water well enough to see the fish as they swam by.
Most kids said that this was their first time ice fishing or they had been ice fishing only a few times before, though some said they’ve ice fished a lot. Hannah Aldrich from Tower Elementary was one of the first kids to get a real bite and she hauled in a modest-sized whitefish just before lunch. While it was Hannah’s first time ice fishing, she said she fishes often in the summer and that she caught the most fish at at ADAPT fishing event last summer.
Ice Fishing Day was sponsored by the Lake Vermilion Guides League and Fortune Bay Resort Casino. Zup’s Grocery of Tower donated the lunch.