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Fish Traps |
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In the old days, when the whitefish were running up rivers to spawn in the fall,
people would build large spruce fish traps (?eh, in Dogrib) at special
locations like this. The trap was like a 3-sided log box with a loosely spaced
spruce pole floor, and was placed in the rapids so the water flowed in the open
side and through the floor poles. It was big! Some measured 3.5 metres across.
The trap rested against a large rock in the rapids to prevent it from slipping
downstream with the force of the river, and was secured to shore with hide rope.
Leaving it overnight, it acted like a sieve catching many whitefish. In the morning
you could climb inside and throw the fish onshore to be stored in a fish cache.
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A fish trap (illustration by Terry Pamplin)
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