"A couple years ago Jackie and I and some other people went fishing back at Kuyukutak for pike. It was a sunny winter morning when we left. There were about 20 people that went, and when we got there people were already fishing all over the place.

Since there were holes already made in the ice ready to fish, each of us took one hole and started fishing. After a couple minutes or so a lot of people started catching pike. There were all different sizes of pike. Jackie and I were pulling up fish left and right. It was a lot of fun in the morning.

In the afternoon it was boring, though, because the fish were napping. Everyone decided to eat because their stomachs were hollering for food. We all gathered around the fire and ate. We were all telling stories and making one another laugh, and everyone got tickled to their bones, and laughed from the bottom of their lungs. Soon an elder said, "You guys must've got full, that's why you guys are laughing so much."

Then we all returned to our fishing holes to fish again. It was in the late afternoon about four o'clock when the fish finally woke up hungry enough to bite our hooks. I was fishing not too far away from Jackie when suddenly I caught a fish so big that it couldn't fit through the hole. So I called for Jackie to get the ice pick and chop the ice around the pike's head to where the hole was about 10 and 3/4 inches wide in diameter.

After Jackie made the hole bigger I pulled the fish out. Everyone turned to see how big the fish was. The huge pike measured about 4 feet tall. That was the biggest pike I ever caught!"

By: Herman George