Two Great Years of My Life

Words and photos by Nadine Klengenberg-Kuneluk

It was a calm day with no wind, and there was not a cloud in sight. It was the day the fishing derby began, the most exciting day of my life.

My parents and I were getting our gear set to go camping. They said it would be a long drive, so I played my favourite songs in my head and sometimes sang them while I was sitting in the sled. That made the wait go by faster, and before I knew it, we were at our destination. We were at our second home, where we feel free and forget about our worries like bills and taxes. I was 13, and I always felt weak. I wanted to fish, but my dad told me the fish where we were could grow up to my height - and I was 4’9” at the time.

We set up camp and ate our lunch. We were ready to start drilling holes in the ice, or I should say my mom and dad were. (I was always helping them by getting the snow out of the way or just pushing the auger back upwards.) We left the canvas tent to find a spot to put our fishing hole, but when I went to look into the clear spot on the ice, which was next to where my parents wanted to put a hole, I saw the rocks at the bottom and noticed that the area was too shallow. I went to my parents and told them that this area was too shallow, and they both agreed that we should move. We found a nice spot without any wind and began drilling. After all the pushing and pulling my parents and I went through, we all felt relief when the auger cut through the bottom of the ice, which was pretty solid at the time.

My mom told me to go and get her aullatiit (fishing jigger) and she put the hook into the water. It was the perfect depth - not too shallow and not too deep. When you hit the bottom, she told me, you rewind the aullatiit twice, so the fish think the hook is dying and would be easier to catch. A few minutes later, my mom was pulling out fish after fish for 10 minutes and caught over 15 fish! I asked if I could try and she said, “Go and make another hole with dad.” When we finished, I took out the excess ice and looked through it, and I was able to see the bottom of the lake. It was pretty, and I wondered what it was like to live as a fish. I went to get my own aullatiit, and put the hook into the hole. After I put my hook in the hole my mom stopped catching fish, so she asked my dad if he wanted to make another fishing hole. They made one more, and my mom began to catch even more fish. For 10 minutes I waited patiently, not catching anything. I was getting bored and started yelling at the fishing hole to bring me fish. My mom heard and told me, “Say please!” I said please and thank you to the fishing hole, and less than a minute later I felt a small tug, but the fish came off. A minute later I felt another tug. This went on for the next five minutes, and each time they got stronger until my arm was pulled just above the fishing hole. I held on as hard as I could, and my mom started to giggle because she saw me shaking and pulling as hard as I could. My dad rushed over to help me pull the fish out of the hole. The fishing hook came off of the fish, but my dad clenched onto the gills, threw it five feet in the air and the fish slammed onto the ice.

My face was red, my arms were tired, and I was gasping for breath. My whole body was shaking with relief, and I looked at the fish with great respect. It took me all my might to get the fish out. I was so thankful that the line held up, and I was thankful that my dad was able to grab the fish. He measured the fish across my body, and it stood to my collarbone. We all knew I would win first place because where else would people get this kind of fish than from Ekakhakvik! The rush was over. After I ate some bannock and Klik to calm me down, I let my dad take over at my fishing hole, and my mom began to catch fish again.

We spent the next day and a half fishing, and then it was time to head back to town. I never want to leave a place like Ekakhakvik, but I knew I had friends at home that wanted to see me. During the three hours heading back to Ulukhaktok I was daydreaming about what I would buy when I got the money for the largest fish. I wanted a new bike, but I also wanted a new iPod. What should I choose?

When we got back home, I asked my dad if we could take my older sister Juliet and my younger brother Royce out to Airforce Lake to catch a small fish before it was too late. We ate supper and went as fast as possible because we wouldn’t be able to catch any other fish by midnight, as that’s when the fishing derby would be officially over. We drilled a hole by the shore, surprisingly didn’t hit the bottom, and put in a fly fishing hook to try and catch a tiny fish. (This is my favourite part of the fishing derby.) After a minute, small fish came for the fly fishing hook like mosquitos to a leech. I caught five and gave the fishing line to Royce so he could have a chance, and he caught a decent sized one. I checked which fish was the smallest and put the other lucky four back into the fishing hole. When we got back home, we were all tired from a long day of fishing.

The day after, things went back to normal, but I still wanted my siblings to know what the fish’s strength felt like. It was time to bring our fish to the weighing entry at the hamlet. When it was my turn to bring my fish to the scale, I had my dad carry it for me. I noticed that after I took off the garbage bag all the adults began to talk to the person beside them. I bet that they didn’t believe I caught that fish because it was so big. After I entered the other two fish, I felt like I would win all three categories for youth. I did win all the categories. First category was longest fish, the second category was heaviest, and last category was shortest, and I won all three. The cash prize all together was $650. I didn’t know what to buy so I spent it at the local store and bought my dad new snow pants which cost maybe half my winnings, but it was his prize from me for taking me and my mom out. I was excited for next year.

The next year my parents and I went to camp in the same spot and the same things happened. We all caught at least ten fish, but we didn’t stay as long as the year before. I caught a fish big enough to win the longest fish category and caught myself a small fish again too. For the heaviest fish, I caught a fat short fish, and I was sure to win for the second year in a row. At the weighing, a lot of adults talked amongst themselves about my fish again. It showed that I was strong. I won $650 again, but I gave some of my winnings to my siblings.

“Dini, we’re getting ready,” is the first thing I heard when I woke up. My parents were both discussing where to go, and it was decided that we were going to our favourite lake - Ekakhakvik - to start off this year’s fishing derby. But a week and a half before the fishing derby was to start, my parents had been at Ekakhakvik for what was supposed to be a weekend trip. However, instead an unsuspected turn took place.

As I woke up on Saturday, May 14, it was almost noon and I heard my brother Royce yelling out the window saying, “Dad burned his feet!?” I went downstairs to find my dad removing his thick parka and snow pants, with everyone in the house gathered around him. Still shocked by seeing him this way, I blinked several times, but it didn’t help with the other confused faces of my little brothers and sisters. So I asked what had happened.

My dad explained that he was pouring boiling water into two small cups for hot chocolate for himself and my mom, and then the pot holder slipped off of the rim and most of the water poured onto his right foot. After a few moments of silence, my dad told us that he had second-degree burns on the top of his feet, and warned us that you should always be careful with hot water no matter what. My parents had already gone to the nurse and had his feet disinfected and wrapped in bandages, but it seemed like the painkillers were just beginning to work. My mom told us she was glad that he didn’t go into shock, and so were we.

Despite his injuries, we went fishing anyway. This time we set up camp at Ekakhakvik but didn’t sleep out. We went for three day-trips, each time catching more than ten fish. The first day was really slow, so we got home with just nine fish overall. When I woke up the next day, we decided we would try George Lake, so we geared up, ate, and left as soon as possible. I felt quite excited to be going to a different lake, especially one that I hadn’t ever been to. My parents went there once and caught nice fish, but they didn’t know if there were any ihuut (large fish). Sure enough, my mom nearly caught an ihuut, but it came off near the bottom of the ice. This happened to her several times, and it looked really irritating to have that feeling of shock and excitement, and then suddenly have no more pulling on the end of the line.

A few relatives came along to George Lake - my aunty Helen, uncle Larry, aunty Delma, cousin Grace and grandpa Joseph found us while on their way to Twin Lakes. By the end of the day, we caught at least 40 fish! It is always fun to run into relatives while out on the land.

It was time for my parents and me to go home. It was almost 10 p.m. and we were tired as we all woke up in the early morning to get to the lake early enough to catch the lively and active fish and increase our chances of getting some ihuut. On our way home, I had a clear shot of two geese that I could have shot with my dad’s HMR rifle, but we just passed by them. I went straight to sleep when we got home so I could wake up rested for our last day trip.

After a well-needed breakfast, we were on our way to Ekakhakvik again. On our way there, I noticed there is a landmark - an enormous hill - that I could follow if I ever tried to go to Ekakhakvik by myself. This was my last day to catch a huge fish, so I panicked, but tried not to show it to my parents because they would either tease me or tell me to just have fun. After what felt like hours of trying and only catching three more fish, my dad suggested that we try a lake just a few miles north of Ekakhakvik. My dad used to catch seven ihuut in a row in a bay he fished at, so we tried the bay right next to it and caught almost 20 really fat fish! My dad told me my aunty would have enjoyed fishing on that spot because she likes having a good “fish fight”.

We left the lake with a lot of fat-bellied fish, and the smallest fish I had caught in over four years. I was looking into the shallow hole - so shallow I could see the bottom - and using a small Pixee spoon hook. I could see several little fish attempting to eat the solid metal parts of the outside rim, and waited for a tiny fish to go near the treble and hooked it by the belly. Once out of the fishing hole, I laughed loudly and told my parents said, “Come look at this puny fish!” They probably thought, “What the heck?” because we’re used to getting such large fish at that lake.

When we got back to our camp at Ekakhakvik, I decided we should chum the holes we made this morning. (Chum means cut up fish guts and boney pieces.) I tried to cut one up but only got halfway so my dad helped with the rest. I helped to put the pieces of fish into the holes. About an hour later we started catching more fish. After my mom caught four fish in a row they stopped biting, and I felt a soft tug on the end of my line, which soon turned into an aggressive pull. I tried to pull when the fish stopped swimming, but as soon as it felt me tug my arm went straight back down. This went on for five minutes, with both me and the fish struggling. I don’t think I have ever had such a longer fight like that with a fish, but five minutes began to seem long to me because my back and legs felt like they were nearly at their breaking point. The excitement and cheering of my parents did not stop, which only made me feel more pressure to get this massive fish out of the little eight-inch fishing hole. Every time the fish stopped pulling, I would wind up the fishing line at least two feet more. After what felt like an hour of pulling and releasing, the head appeared inside the hole. I became more and more anxious to see what this fish looked like and pulled harder and harder so I could get it over with. On the brink of the ice, my dad grabbed the fish by its massive gills and once again pulled out a giant fish. Me, my mom and dad screamed with joy! Only we could hear our voices, like there was not another noise in the world. I loved that feeling. As the excitement slowly vanished, I became tired again, especially since this time I woke up at seven in the morning. Wanting to go home and sleep, I began packing up.

The weigh-in time was 1 p.m. I was so excited I could barely wait, so I ate my lunch like there was no tomorrow! But then I ate so quickly I had 45 minutes until the hamlet was even open. After the agonizing wait, me, my mom and my dad went to the hamlet and surprisingly there were no children in sight to compete with me. This made me feel sad, like one of those “winning-losers” who gets the trophy but doesn’t win the battle. I obviously could have beaten all of the adults again with my longest fish, which is why I wasn’t surprised when I found out I won all three categories again! I felt fulfilled.

This is my story. I would like to thank my parents for always taking me out fishing and hunting, and my sister for always babysitting when I am not home to help. I also would like to thank Tusaayaksat for sharing my story with you! Happy fishing!

Nadine went on to win the Ulukhaktok fishing derby for the third year in a row in 2016.