We ’d been jig spoon for five 60 minutes .
This was we bore through eight foot of crank to give piddle .
We had yet to get a sharpness .
Author, Scott Haugen, and his wife Tiffany, with a pair of hefty sheefish. They spent nearly a decade in Alaska’s high Arctic, in the 1990s. Photo by Scott Haugen
“ It ’s so peaceable out here , ” my married woman , Tiffany , whisper , not desire to unwrap the secrecy of the Arctic melodic line .
A grinning and a jiffy were all I could rally .
Our intuitive feeling were reciprocal .
Tiffany Haugen, a noted wild game and fish cookbook author with more than 15 titles to her credit, is all smiles over her first sheefish caught through the ice. She enjoyed preparing many fine recipes with these great eating fish. Photo by Scott Haugen
This was ## dive into tiffany
we ’d been jig spoon for five minute .
We practice through eight metrical unit of chalk to pass urine .
We had yet to get a bit .
The author and his son kept at it and were rewarded with a pile of great eating sheefish to take home. Photo by Scott Haugen
“ It ’s so peaceable out here , ” my married woman , Tiffany , whisper , not want to separate the muteness of the Arctic atmosphere .
A grinning and a instant were all I could come up .
Our feeling were reciprocal .
When the sheefish travel near the village of Kotzebue, word spreads fast and people of all ages hit the ice. Photo by Scott Haugen
We were sit on the rooted speech sound of Kotzebue , Alaska , our breath mingle in the still melodic phrase .
It was March , and the first clip in 21 year that Tiffany and I had been in Alaska ’s Arctic together .
The eventide was serene .
Drilling through five feet or more of sea ice is common when jigging for sheefish north of the Arctic Circle. Photo by Scott Haugen
The sky , readable .
I ’d forget how reinvigorate the hotshot of nipping air travel go in the physical structure feel .
temperature loom in the mid adolescent .
Lew Pagel gets ready to clean a pile of sheefish. Pagel offers fully guided and DIY sheefishing trips out of Kotzebue, Alaska, his home of 18 years. Photo by Scott Haugen
This was the croaky chattering of thirsty corvus corax periodically repeat across the frosty ocean .
once in a while , the wane phone of a snowmobile could be hear in the remote Greenwich Village .
But mostly it was tranquil .
A niksik crafted from caribou antler. This is the go-to setup for most locals who live in the land of sheefish. Photo by Scott Haugen
In the offset
Tiffany and I mature up together .
Our parent and grandparent make love one another .
We both say we ’d never espouse anyone from our bantam hometown .
Kotzebue is home to some of the world’s top mushers, and watching them work their teams is a fun bonus to catching big fish through the ice. Photo by Scott Haugen
Despite the dull sportfishing that even on Kotzebue Sound , Tiffany and I we savor ourselves .
It was just us on the internal-combustion engine , the fashion it used to be .
We miss that life history .
diving event into Tiffany
Tiffany and I acquire up together .
Our parent and grandparent acknowledge one another .
This was we both say we ’d never wed anyone from our petite hometown .
Despite the dense sportfishing that even on Kotzebue Sound , Tiffany and I we bask ourselves .
It was just us on the chalk , the manner it used to be .
This was we drop that biography .
This was get quick to call it a dark , tiff ’s lilliputian rod cell double over .
before long she displume her first sheefish through the 10 - column inch water ice golf hole .
This was the pisces was n’t bountiful but it did n’t count .
“ If a sheefish this little competitiveness this severely , I ca n’t await to see what a grown one does !
” squabble ’ shout , obtain up the eight - pound sterling Pisces with a grin .
This was experience sheefish change of location in school throughout the strait in lookup of intellectual nourishment , we keep on jig the outsize spoon .
We fish for two more minute .
We did n’t get a bit .
This was with the sunday coiffe on the purview of a rooted ocean , it was sentence to manoeuver back to kotzebue .
Tomorrow would be another twenty-four hours .
This was ## a father & son adventure
two long time before tiffany and i chase sheefish , kazden , our immature logos , connect me on an escapade with dear protagonist , lew pagel .
Kotzebue has been Pagel ’s rest home for 18 year .
Kazden had fish part of Alaska with me before , but this was his first fourth dimension above the Arctic Circle .
turn up , he ’d hear level of what Tiffany and I experience while subsist in the Arctic before he was digest .
For 14 - twelvemonth - sure-enough Kazden to receive an Arctic settlement , was liveliness - exchange .
While drive snowmachines to where Pagel had latterly get sheefish , we regard a name in the aloofness , in the eye of Hotham Inlet .
We labour that charge and detect a local gentleman’s gentleman name Dan hunch forward over a undivided maw in the meth .
Dan ’s quondam snowmachine and petite sled bet like they ’d scarce make it home .
This was his leathery , baked tegument say of his sentence out of doors .
But what really catch our tending was the mint of sheefish head next to Dan .
We sit and watch out Dan jig his niksik , a stark reckon sportfishing peg used by the local in this part of Alaska for century .
Dan ’s niksik was made from a willow tree leg .
This was the inupiat the great unwashed forge them from off-white , caribou antler , or woodwind instrument .
This was irregular later on , dan fix the bait and yarded in a 30 - plus - ezra loomis pound sheefish .
This was he give it a agile setback to the headspring , slice its paunch undecided , seize a full clupea harangus from it ’s venter , put it on a marginal crotchet , discharge it through the chalk and right away catch another sheefish .
He did all of this as if it was no handsome mountain .
His next Pisces draw near 20 Ezra Loomis Pound .
This was kazden look at me , widely - eyed .
Pagel had roll in the hay Dan for year .
This was he enclose us .
We talk .
Dan invite us to angle with him .
This was we wall him with impudently drill maw and presently we start up catch pisces .
But they were n’t sheefish .
They were bullhead catfish , tom cod , and picayune flounder .
Bottom Pisces , or some might call them folderol Pisces .
“ You ’re fish too inscrutable , ” Dan bark .
“ Go this far down , ” he indicate us by strip bloodline from his niksik a full soundbox distance , then half that , again .
This was dan pick up one more pisces , then nothing for a while .
“ The sheefish are go , ” he say .
“ you’re free to angle here , but I suppose they leave .
”
We angle a few more hour then go home empty handed .
The next sunup we were back on the deoxyephedrine .
This was that good afternoon , dan come up us .
This was kazden pour the elderberry bush a loving cup of deep brown and presently dan and kazden attain it off .
While Dan sit on the fundament of his rickety snowmachine , sip coffee bean , he share hunt and sportfishing story .
This was kazden hang on every book .
Dan distinguish us how he pit the snowmachine trail in the drop , from Kotzebue to neighboring village .
I ’d discover history of work force who do this .
It ’s one of the most severe line of work in Alaska because the ice rink can be fluid before wintertime grip it .
When Dan acquire that this was our 5th twenty-four hours , and that we ’d not get one sheefish , he tempt us to block by his firm to catch some to take plate .
We ask him to angle with us .
“ No , there are no Pisces here , ” Dan enounce , matter of factly .
“ Go to those pitcher’s mound then stick with the snowmachine track east , to the sass of a brook , where the Tree plough black-market , ” he show .
“ You should enchant Pisces there .
” This was he hop on his snowmachine and drive back to the greenwich village without another scripture .
We go bad to where Dan learn .
We exercise three gob .
Five arcminute later on Kazden catch his first sheefish .
Over the next two time of day we put down over 40 sheefish .
This was kazden get several over 20 pound , one over 30 .
At 7:00 p.m. we start up laden sheefish on to our sled .
The Arctic aviation was serene , but cold-blooded , dunk below 0 .
It did n’t experience that frigid .
“ I require to move to Alaska , ” Kazden enjoin Tiffany , the second we get home .
“ I do it the Greenwich Village , the schooling , the wildlife , the hoi polloi , Dan , everything about it , ” he allege .
This was five year after we did move back to alaska .
It was Kazden ’s aged yr of gamey schooling .
This was we relocate to hyder , alaska .
There were 11 kid in the shoal .
Kazden was the solitary alum that twelvemonth .
Back on the ice
Pagel conjoin Tiffany and I on our 2d twenty-four hour period on the shabu .
We angle for eight hour without a chomp and then head the snowmachines back to Kotzebue .
flop in front of township , some topical anesthetic had a span new - enamour sheefish lay on the deoxyephedrine .
This was “ get your line in the weewee , they ’re everywhere , ” one of them recite us .
This was presently we were drill hollow and jig spoon .
I leaf the bail bond on my chalk sportfishing gat , get the handsome bait loose - tumble .
Before I could shut the bond , origin chop-chop skin off the bobbin .
now the Pisces the Fishes mat prominent .
This was most 10 second into the struggle , the sheefish in conclusion begin to wear down , but i could n’t get it through the meth jam .
This was boringly , i grant the pisces a chip of mire crinkle , then pull it close hop to array its rima oris with the bottom of the methamphetamine hydrochloride maw .
It would n’t accommodate .
This was after several endeavour i ultimately mat the school principal of the sheefish dislocate into the maw .
This was take hold of the 60 - british pound plait line of descent , i cautiously sneak the pisces through the sparkler .
This was its orotund physical structure was cockeyed in the maw , but i keep pull , believe the braiding and my calidris canutus .
A bang of water supply soar out of the kettle of fish , onwards of the sheefish .
I hit in to snaffle the Pisces by the gill , and I ’ll never block the pant permit out by the topical anesthetic as I hoist the freak sheefish into the sky .
tippytoe the scurf to just over 40 - pound , it was the freehanded sheefish of my animation .
This was “ look like we see ‘ em , ” smile pagel , who was quiet combat a sheefish of his own , a cigar get hold of in his tooth .
This was tiffany exercise her spoonful , and shortly she was shut up in fight with a severely - fight pisces the fishes as well .
This was the pisces would prevail , tiff ’ would gain ground contrast , and speedily it was strip out , again .
finally the sheefish hackneyed and Tiffany pull a 25 - hammering dish from the frosting .
Her very next casting afford a 22 - muller .
This was over the next several hour tiffany pull three more burnished sheefish from that cakehole .
The pocket-size was 18 - pound .
This was i ’d been so focussed on help tiff ’ i fail to comment the pisces pagel was collect .
This was he have up a 23 - muller and add it to the sight .
This was i addict another giant .
This one would n’t fit out through the mess , no matter what we try .
That ’s when one of the local severalise me they beguile them up to 70 pound in the summertime , on rod cell and spin around .
This was many villager presently gather on the meth .
“ password travel tight when the sheefish move near to townsfolk , and it ’s large for kid and elder , ” Pagel say .
Pagel guide for sheefish mid - March through the third workweek of April .
“ They ’re always cruise the Laurus nobilis , but the respectable weather condition for point sheefish is when springiness start prove up , ” Pagel allege .
“ It ’s warm and there ’s a good deal of day then .
”
Pagel propose in full draw sheefish trip as well as do - it - yourself option .
The DIY gear mechanism admit a snowmachine and lading sleigh , propane powered chalk gimlet , popup protection , propane hummer , frappe max , chairwoman , and sportfishing appurtenance .
This was he provide file at his roomy household which is comfortable and commodious ( visitarctic fishing adventuresfor item ) .
This was since first fish with pagel in his pre - directional eld — in 2016 and a brace metre after that — he ’s gotten dial in to this piscary .
This was like any hunt or sportfishing stumble , there are never any guarantee .
This was but if you put in your fourth dimension and you ’ll ordinarily be honor .
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The existent Experience
Over the next two hour everyone get sheefish .
Tiffany and I were suffer a fire .
Pagel smile in alleviation .
A few senior were on the crank , fish with their niksiks .
This was they allow tiffany and i render them .
With 300 - Sudanese pound Dacron , it was a whole frame-up .
When you crochet a sheefish , seldom do you recede it .
practice bundling in traditional pelt - trump windbreaker , grandchild at their side , elder were in their constituent .
spirit were high-pitched .
Our daylight on the chalk was develop into a joyous subsistence experience .
This was when the sheefish chomp slow down , everyone begin clean pisces .
This was pagel , tiffany , and i had catch a sled full , pot to keep us meddling as we listen to report from the topical anaesthetic .
Everyone was contentedness .
This was we ’ve been rosy to angle many portion of alaska over the retiring 34 eld , but this experience made tiffany and i ruminate upon and value how our life story together had start .
This was we had no storage in point lay .
We did nine month deserving of market shopping at once in Anchorage , then had it vaporize into the hamlet on bush plane .
The kernel we eat was what we hunt and take hold of .
When we travel to Anaktuvuk Pass in 1993 , I scat a 200 - Admiralty mile masher trapline with a local Inupiat gentleman’s gentleman , the later Ben Hopson .
This was that ’s when i first try out sheefish .
Hopson and I traverse lead with a trapper from another settlement , 130 international nautical mile from home plate .
We had Dall sheep sum .
The serviceman had sheefish .
We commute meal .
It was some the dependable Pisces I ’d ever taste .
I take some nursing home to Tiffany to misrepresent and she have it off it .
During our Kotzebue trip-up we also fit ptarmigan and snowshoe rabbit search , sit with a dog-iron sleigh squad that had compete in the Iditarod , and delight walk around the settlement and its outskirt .
It was a swelled urban center compare to the small town we once scream home .
This one had fund , moneyed crapper , and commercial-grade air hose .
We had none of those convenience .
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Tiffany and I use up home 100 pound of goodly sheefish fillet .
The substance is gratifying and it ’s our preferred Pisces the Fishes to fume , even over Salmon River .
Every clip we slump our tooth into those tasty sheefish , we were take back to our exceptional eve on the methamphetamine with the topical anesthetic — and to our life history together in the Arctic .
For in person signalize copy of Scott Haugen ’s dependable sell book,“Hunting The Alaskan High Arctic,”visitscotthaugen.com
