River Fishing

FTLComm - Red Earth
May 7, 1999

The Carrot River makes its muddy way through the Red Earth First Nations about forty-five miles East of Nipawin. There are two bridges on the reserve over the river but this one only a few hundred yards from the band office is the most popular fishing spot.

On Thursday night around 8:00 this group of boys were tossing lines into the water and the area was littered with fish. Only two were using fishing rods and normal tackle the rest were just using some line with a lure and all seemed to equally successful.

Though there are various species in the Carrot River it would seem that by far the Northern Pike (Jack Fish) was the one that was being caught Thursday night.

For these boys and young men the process of catching a fish is no big deal and within hours these fish will be cooked over an open fire in the back yard. Red Earth and Shoal Lake communities have maintained traditional cooking far more then many other communities in the province. Almost every house hold has a fire pit in the back yard and in the fall the fires burn steadily as ducks are dried and smoked on rows of sticks around the fires.

The seasons of the year are marked with the food that nature provide; fish in the early summer, Moose in the fall, smoked duck in the middle of winter (that's the time to use the ducks preserved in the fall). These communities are not into fur trapping as you might find in Cumberland House but prefer to gather their food during the year. As well as the food from their environment Red Earth has long had cows as part of their community and a few horses. These animals wanter around looking for food and several families have some land cultivated to provide fodder for their livestock.

This past week Red Earth has been the recipent of a considerable amount of moisture as you can see in the pictures of the horse below thing look pretty wet.

FTLComm - Red Earth May 7, 1999 The Carrot River makes its muddy way through the Red Earth First Nations about forty-five miles East of Nipawin. There are two bridges on the reserve over the river but this one only a few hundred yards from the band office is the most popular fishing spot. On Thursday night around 8:00 this group of boys were tossing lines into the water and the area was littered with fish. Only two were using fishing rods and normal tackle the rest were just using some line with a lure and all seemed to equally successful.

Though there are various species in the Carrot River it would seem that by far the Northern Pike (Jack Fish) was the one that was being caught Thursday night. For these boys and young men the process of catching a fish is no big deal and within hours these fish will be cooked over an open fire in the back yard. Red Earth and Shoal Lake communities have maintained traditional cooking far more then many other communities in the province. Almost every house hold has a fire pit in the back yard and in the fall the fires burn steadily as ducks are dried and smoked on rows of sticks around the fires. The seasons of the year are marked with the food that nature provide; fish in the early summer, Moose in the fall, smoked duck in the middle of winter (that's the time to use the ducks preserved in the fall). These communities are not into fur trapping as you might find in Cumberland House but prefer to gather their food during the year. As well as the food from their environment Red Earth has long had cows as part of their community and a few horses. These animals wanter around looking for food and several families have some land cultivated to provide fodder for their livestock. This past week Red Earth has been the recipent of a considerable amount of moisture as you can see in the pictures of the horse below thing look pretty wet.