Since we didn't catch any eels this past fall, dog mushers here in Marshall had to look for other sources of dog food. As soon as the ice was thick enough to travel on, my brothers and I found a good spot and set out our lush fish trap. It took four and a half hours to set and has averaged about five fish per night . We also have nets to catch white fish and pike, and the nets and fish traps have sustained us through much of the winter. But just as food was getting scarce, the blackfish arrived.

From time to time blackfish show up at different places.Their numbers are so great that they will melt a hole in the ice, and that is generally how they are found. This usually happens when the temperature is between 10-40 degrees below zero, making it dangerous to go and gather these little fish.

Jaylene and I went early one morning before daybreak to a spot about 10 miles north of here. Someone had been there the day before us, and there was a total of about 16 gunny sack bags in several piles around the area. We found an active hole with fish in it and started to scoop them out using a small dip net. After scooping them out we emptied the net into a gunny sack. The temperature was -20 degrees, so we had to clear the ice from the hole frequently. The process of filling the net and then the bags was slow, but we soon had eight bags filled up, giving us mushers relief during a time when food was scarce.