Bow Narrows Camp Blog on Red Lake Ontario

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Saturday, February 20, 2010

The joys and trials of fishing with a dog

"The guy in the boat with the big dog in the front," is probably how a lot of people who I don't know would describe me.

That's because for the last 16 years at camp I've almost never travelled in one of the fishing boats without my dog.

I've had two dogs in that period, both Labrador retrievers. The first was Bud, a 120-pound black Lab and now Sam, an 80-pound chocolate Lab.

I always take the staff boat which has a piece of plywood fastened from the bow seat back to the second seat. This is to make it easier to lift out the fish gut buckets when we dump them on a rocky island for the birds: eagles, gulls, ravens, crows and vultures. But it also doubles as a great platform for a dog to stand upon.

I enjoy fishing with a dog for many reasons. Perhaps the main reason is the dog doesn't talk.

I'm not anti-social, really, it's just that when I'm out on the lake or in the bush, I want to hear the sounds of nature. The funny thing is I've lost a great deal of my hearing and another reason why I like having a canine fishing partner is he lets me know when I'm missing some sound. I'll look at him and see that his ears are perked up and he's staring intently at a moose or a bear or some other creature.

There are plenty of problems with taking a dog fishing too. Sam has grabbed a lure dangling from a line and had to get a hook pulled from his mouth.

If you are sitting still the dog can get bored and go looking for something to do. One time I was fishing with my nephew, Mike, and one of us pulled in a piece of chukuni (beaver stick). Sam seized it and proceeded to gnaw on it all the while banging the stick against the bottom of the boat.

We hadn't caught anything when another boat pulled up and started to fish too.

Mike called out, "You probably don't stand a chance without a fishing dog in your boat."

Although I like fishing with the dog, I would advise against it for most of our guests. The reason has to do with the comfort of the dog.

Biting flies can sometimes make the dog absolutely miserable. These are flies that leave people alone but will pester a dog mercilessly. Many of our guests who have brought their dogs end up leaving the dog in the cabin the whole week. That's no fun for the dog. He would have had a better time either at home or in a kennel.

For some reason flies don't seem to bother Sam much. They did sometimes get to Bud, and our first dog, Lady, also a black Lab, was a continuous whirling dervish when she was in the boat, biting at the flies that were biting her. We owned Lady before Brenda and I came back to the camp business.

Our dogs have been trained from pups not to harm the wild pets like woodchucks that we have at camp. Guests' dogs, or course, don't have this opportunity and therefore must be kept on leash at camp.

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Our Canadian winter is far warmer than normal

Check out this photo taken about 3 p.m. today, Feb. 17, at our house in Nolalu, Ont. (near Thunder Bay).

Normal daytime high at this time of year would probably be approximately -10 C and is frequently -15 or colder.

Nightime lows are currently about -5 C where the normal would be about -20 to -30 C.

What is that in Fahrenheit? Just look at the thermometer above.

As unusually cold that it has been in the Southern U.S. is as unusually warm it has been in Northern Ontario and elsewhere in Canada -- just witness the lack of snow in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics. I heard a weather person today say it is the warmest February on record for British Columbia.

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Before long we'll be heading out fishing again

As the warm summer wind blows through our hair and we feel the boat clipping across the tops of the waves, all of us, I'm sure, have thought, "This is the life!"

It is soul-lifting moments like these that make a fishing trip to Canada so special.

Here Bow Narrows angler Paul Heneise pilots the boat while others in the group -- lifetime-friends and relatives -- follow in the distance.

Just being outside in this spectacular wilderness is an exhilaration. Sharing it with people close to you is a gift.

I wonder how many of us look at this scene and yearn for the ice and snow to pass away for another year so we can pull away from the dock and head to our favorite fishing spots?

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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Red squirrel baffles wildlife scientists

The red squirrel like the one above is probably the most noticeable creature in the north woods.

It is virtually impossible to go anywhere without seeing this noisy acrobat of the trees.

In summer it eats a wide variety of vegetation and seeds. In Northern Ontario the only nut is the hazelnut and these are especially treasured by Old Reddy. In fact, it is possible for a human to live his or her entire life in Northern Ontario and never see a mature hazelnut. The squirrels always get every one.

Squirrels also eat mushrooms which they first dry by laying them on tree limbs. I've heard that some of these mushrooms are poisonous, even to squirrels, but that the act of drying makes them safe for the squirrel to eat.

Squirrels also eat a lot of animal matter, especially insects, but small birds and mammals as well.

Their main food and probably their only meals in the winter, come from eating the tiny seeds on each scale of spruce, pine and balsam cones. They leave heaps of these shucked scales all over the place.

Some years the conifers produce far more cones than other years. It makes sense then that the red squirrel population is higher during those years since there is more food available.

Incredibly, however, the squirrels know in advance which years will produce the most cones and give birth to more young than usual just before the cones are created.

There is no cycle to the high-cone-producing years. It's not that every fourth year, say, is a heavy cone producer.

Foresters and biologists can't see how the squirrels know to have bigger litters before the cones have even started to form on the trees. Or for that matter, how they can increase their litter size at all.

Humans can't tell that one year will be a heavy cone producing one until the cones have formed.

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E-mail is up and running again!

Our e-mail problem is now fixed.
You can reach us again at our regular e-mail address: fish@bownarrows.com
You can also contact us by filling out the request for information form on our website.
Meanwhile, if you sent us an e-mail in the past three days, you will need to send it again.
Likewise if you replied to an e-mail we sent you in the last three days, you will need to send it again.
Thanks.

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Friday, February 12, 2010

Time of day key to great outdoor scenery shots

These beautiful photos from Troy and Jane Bechtel illustrate the great scenes that are available to people who are out and about at the beginning and end of the day.

In addition to awesome shots of sunrises and sunsets, the filtered quality to the light at these times make virtually every shot better than when the sun is directly overhead.

It's also the times you most often see big game animals like moose and black bear.

The key is to always have your camera on you so you can capture those moments when they appear.

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Sunday, February 7, 2010

Which is better, braided or monofilament line?

I am an advocate for using small sizes of fishing line, within reason, as readers of this blog are probably aware. See Lighten Up for Northern Pike as an example.

In fact the 8# mono in this photo is the exact line I use for northern pike fishing and for walleye.

My family from the States that comes to camp each July are all expert pike fishermen and they also use 8# mono. Each of them catches multiple pike in the 35-45 inch range and you know what? No one loses any fish because their line breaks!

We just keep our drags set so the fish can pull out line, with resistance, so the breaking point of the line is never reached.

Because the line is so light we are able to cast the small lures that end up catching us all the pike.

If we were to use stronger line then we would not catch so many fish.

This is where braided line comes into the picture. Braided line is smaller by diameter than mono; so, for the same diameter you can have a much stronger line. However, the line is also much more visible than monofilament. Therefore the fish can see it better and this can make some fish shy away from your lure.

It's normally not much of a problem with northern pike but it definitely is a factor when fishing with bait for walleye. I heard an outdoor writer one time point out that none of the anglers on the professional walleye tournament circuits uses braided line.

Where braided line really outperforms mono is not its strength (because mono's strength is just not an issue) but its sensitivity. Braided line does not stretch while mono stretches a great deal.

If you like to troll and have a lot of line in the water behind the boat, braided line lets you feel your lure or sinker bump the bottom as well as the slightest bite. It also lets you set the hook better under these conditions.

If you have a lot of mono trailing behind the boat you can set the hook and the line just stretches and the hook is not jerked into the mouth of the fish. Eventually the fish can just open its mouth and the lure falls out. But even here frequently the fish sets the hook itself when it strikes the lure.

So my advice is that braided line is better for trolling while mono is better for casting and jigging.

You can, of course, add a short mono leader to the end of your braided line if you are worried about the braided line's visibility adversely affecting the fish.

However, anglers who are trolling lures seldom do this. Usually they tie their line right to the lure. Pike have a difficult time cutting the braided line and walleyes don't seem to mind the visibility when you are using lures, just when using live bait.

I also don't like braided for casting because it abrades very easily when the line strikes obstructions like limbs and rocks. So does mono but it just seems more resistant to such abuse.

What I find with most fishermen who use the braided line is that they use the diameter of braided that is the same as the mono they used to fish with. So if they formerly fished with 12# mono they get the braided that is the diameter of 12# mono but is the strength of 30#. The problem with this practice is the 12# braided is very much more visible than the mono. This can mean they catch fewer fish.

Here's an example. A couple of years ago I was out fishing and located a bunch of big northern pike in a bay near camp. I caught and released a 38-incher, caught several small fish and saw many more.

All of this was done on 8# mono.

I told a couple of our guests about the spot and they subsequently fished it for days without catching much of anything although eventually they did get one big pike from there. I was scratching my head wondering why they weren't having the success that my boat did when, at the end of the week, I heard one of the anglers say that the reason they were able to land the one big fish they did hook was because he was using braided line that was 50# test!

They had been fishing with rope!

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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

What is the best size northern pike to eat?

Northern pike on Red Lake, Ontario, are delicious and thanks to Bow Narrows Camp staff fish cleaners are also boneless.

When your pike comes out of our fish cleaning house you get two boneless fillets that are every bit as good tasting as walleye.

Just like walleyes, however, there is a best eating size for northern pike. We suggest keeping pike that are 22-26 inches.

Pike smaller than that are difficult to clean, especially to remove the Y-bones, and also have very little meat.

A pike of 22 inches will feed one person. A 26-incher will probably feed three people.

The pike in the photo above is probably near 26 inches, is nice and chunky and would therefore be considered the perfect northern pike for eating.

There is a no-keep slot size for northern pike in our region of Ontario. You cannot keep any pike that are 27.5 to 35.4 inches and can only keep one larger than 35.4 inches.

We do not recommend keeping any pike larger than 26 inches except to mount.

See We clean all your fish and also How to release big northern pike.

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Sunday, January 31, 2010

Don't forget to fish the weedbeds for walleye

Weedbeds and weedy shorelines are a great place to fish for walleye on Red Lake, Ontario, and are frequently overlooked by many anglers. They seem to think weeds are for northern pike only, but that's just not true.

If you only catch pike out of the weeds here it's probably because you are only using lures designed to catch pike. On the other hand if you go looking for walleye in these areas, you'll probably connect.

Try fishing just off the weed line in 8-15 feet of water with Little Joe spinners tipped with worms or leeches or with a 1/8 or 1/4-ounce jig with the same live baits.

If you can find a rock pile or sandbar with weeds near or around it, all the better.

You can also try casting crankbaits like the Rattlin' Rap in these spots. But you better be using an ultra-thin steel leader on these because weeds really are good for razor-mouthed pike too.

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Proof there are small fish too in Red Lake

Anybody can catch a big fish in Red Lake but it takes finesse and incredible skill to lure the tiniest fish onto your hook!

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Best way to land and hold a northern pike

What is the best way to land and hold a northern pike?

Conservationists, biologists and outdoor writers are nearly unanimous in frowning on the use of lipgrip tools. These devices which latch onto the lower jaw of a fish end up harming the fish when it is lifted out of the water by the jaw, they say.

The most humane method of landing a big northern pike, they advocate, is with a fish cradle. These are two slender boards with a mesh between. The fish is pulled over the cradle in the water, then lifted aboard the boat or, even better, held securely in the water while the hooks are extracted and the fish is released.

The second best way to land a pike, the experts say, is with a landing net. The best of these are the rubber nets because the fish cannot get tangled in the mesh but the rubber supports the fish's body. Very small mesh nets are also excellent. The worst are the conventional mesh nets because the fish wraps up in the net making it difficult to remove the hooks. Also the mesh can cut the fish and break its fins.

Incidentally the conservation experts also do not like to see anglers use jaw spreaders. These are springs that hold the mouth open while the hooks are removed. The big problem with these is that when used on smaller fish the spring is so strong it can break or dislocate the fish's jaw.

As a fishing camp operator I agree with everything the experts have said but I'm also faced with some practical realities. Most people have no idea how to use a fish cradle. If we were to supply them in our boats I would expect the fine mesh on them would be ripped to shreds by fish hooks in very short order.

Rubber nets large enough to land a very large northern pike, 40-50 inches, must be so wide that they also are very heavy. Since most people net almost every fish they catch, it would be tiresome to use this very large, heavy net all day.

The fine-mesh conservation nets, which come with a flat bottom that better supports the weight of the fish, are probably the way to go. These just came out recently and are very expensive. One of the frustrating things for me as a camp operator is to see how most people abuse the landing nets we supply. They use their knives to cut lures out of the net, etc. Some people offer to pay for the damage which, to replace with a good quality mesh can be $10-$15. If we were to use the small mesh conservation nets the bill would be more like $80. So, we don't use the conservation types, but there's nothing stopping you from bringing your own. Ditto for the large rubber nets.

We do have the medium-size rubber nets. Everyone loves them for landing walleye and northern pike up to about 35 inches. But they feel like a serving spoon when you try to land a real whopper of a pike, 20-30 pounds and with a head the size of a minnow pail.

The experts also agree that the best way to hold a northern pike is the way my niece, Alice, demonstrates in these three fish she caught and released at camp last summer.

The top two photos show the best way to hold the pike for photos. By having the hands beneath the body the fish's weight is supported. By contrast when holding a big fish by the jaw, all of the weight is hanging on the jaw which could then be damaged.

The bottom photo shows the best way to grasp a pike, by gently squeezing in on the gill plates. This is also the best way to pick up a pike by hand out of the water. Whenever doing so, however, beware of the hooks from your lure. As talked about in a couple of blogs back, fish caught on lures with a single set of treble hooks such as spoons and spinners are quite safe to grasp by hand. Lures with three sets of trebles, which almost all the large stick baits have, are so dangerous you have to be extremely cautious. From my point of view, these lures are so dangerous, to you in handling the fish and to the fish while you try to extract all the hooks, that you should think twice about using them.

When it comes to jaw spreaders I think it is good advice to carry them but just not to use them on little fish.

While all the advice from the experts is good, I can also say that even though we seemed to do everything wrong for years we didn't seem to harm many fish.

I personally don't have any problem with holding a fish upright to get its photo taken.

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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Hey look, it's a chionophile!

While coming across the lake from ice fishing the other day my friend John spied this little fly on the surface of the snow. John has a keen eye for detail and has been seeing these "snow flies" all over the place for the past month.

I snapped this photo which I hoped would help me later identify the species but alas, no luck.

My best guess is it is a member of the Trichoceridae family or winter crane fly but I wouldn't swear to it. Its wings appear too long for a crane fly and its legs a bit too bent at the joints.

At any rate most people would find it astonishing to know there are insects out in the winter, perhaps not when it's -40 C but at warmer temperatures that are still below freezing. Earlier in the blog we documented finding snow fleas or springtails. I also see small moths flitting about sometimes.

There is also at least one species of spider that can frequently be seen scurrying across the snow surface.

An animal that thrives in the winter is called a chionophile.

Besides the few bugs I've just mentioned more well known chionophiles are snowshoe hares, red foxes, timber wolves, great grey and snowy owls and ravens. We could probably add every member of the weasel family to the list, from the least weasel to the wolverine.

Herbivores like moose and whitetail deer are definitely not chionophiles. They lose weight from the time the leaves fall in autumn until the new growth reappears in spring. If spring doesn't come on time many of them starve to death.

Black bears have figured out how to avoid the whole subject by sleeping through the winter season. Woodchucks hibernate. Chipmunks do the same but wake up every week or so to have a bite of food which they have stored in their burrow. Lots of insects also hibernate. Many species of butterflies do this for example.

It boggles the mind that some insects such as the tiny fly above are able to function in the winter. Apparently they are made with a natural antifreeze.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Two good reasons to go fishing on a rainy day

Here's why we advise bringing excellent quality rain gear on your fishing trip.

Some of the best fishing can occur in the rain as these photos from last July prove.

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Case of the missing pike tails is solved

Around the first week of July last summer anglers at camp caught a number of big pike that had part of their tail fins missing.

If I remember right we caught six pike, all of them slot size or larger, with either the top half or the bottom half of their fins absent as if they had been surgically removed. In some cases the wounds were so fresh that the fish bled profusely from the tail. In one case the wound had occurred some other year and that part of the tail was healed over entirely although the actual fin was gone. One fish had parts of both the top and bottom halves of its tail gone.

Pike frequently have gashes and cuts on their bodies from fighting with other pike or from spawning activities and they also often have split fins.

But in the fish caught in 2009 the fin was removed neatly right where the fin would join the body. It just didn't look accidental.

We could think of no other explanation but that someone was catching big pike, cutting off part of their tails and releasing them.

Incensed that anybody would do such a thing, we reported the catches to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Neither MNR conservation officers nor biologists there could think of another explanation either.

Except for that one week, however, we never saw the phenomenon again.

It wasn't until the MNR was at camp this fall gathering lake trout eggs to be raised in a hatchery that we got the answer.

Jason (sorry, I have forgotten his last name) from the MNR Dorion Fish Hatchery knew all about it. It is called tail/fin rot and it's caused by a fungus that is only present when the water is unusually cold.

Sure enough, the lake last summer was at flood stage and was much colder than normal from all the rain. Also, all the fish came from the same general area, a spot where the water tends to be colder anyway.

So there isn't a maniac out there after all. Thank goodness!

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Friday, January 15, 2010

How to release big northern pike unharmed

Most fishermen today realize that it is best practice to release big northern pike back to the lake where they can pass on their genes for large size and fast growth to future generations of fish.

It's obviously very important that these released fish survive.

There are two major factors in this: 1. Time out of the water and 2. Damage done to the fish.

Once a big fish is brought aboard the boat the stopwatch starts ticking. You need to get the hooks out of this baby, grab a photo and/or measurement and get the fish back in the water in a couple of minutes.

See How to Net Giant Northern Pike

How difficult this process will be depends on what type of lure you are using. The worst are stick baits with three sets of treble hooks. Expect one set of these to be hooked in the gills, one set inside the mouth and the final set hooked to the outside of the head and now wrapped tight in the net by the twisting motion of the pike.

It works best if both fishermen in the boat spring into action once the fish is aboard. One person restrains the fish from moving while the other gets the net mesh pulled off the head. Be careful that the outside treble doesn't hook you as well.

If you are really prepared you will have brought a set of side cutters and you simply cut the split ring or eye off the treble hook, leaving the treble twisted in the net to be removed later. Now that the fish is free from the net, put the net where the fish cannot flop back into it.

If you brought jaw spreaders, (See Best Fish Unhooking Tools) put them in the fish's mouth so that you can get to work on the inside. If you don't have jaw spreaders the person holding the fish can grasp the fish over the top just behind the gill covers and with the other hand pull open the jaw by slipping his hand along the inside of the gill plate being careful to always stay outside of the gills. Do this on the opposite side from where the treble hook is located.

As soon as the mouth is open the other angler takes his Baker Hookout or needle nose pliers and extracts the second and third set of trebles. Keep in mind that sometimes the best way to get hooks out of the gill area is to unsnap the leader and pull the lure out backwards through the gills, not forward through the mouth. It just depends where the hook is embedded.

Grab a quick pix and measurement and get the fish back in the water.

Make sure there is not a blood clot in the gills. If there is, flare the gill cover from beneath and gently flush away the clot with your hands. Anything caught in the gills could cause the fish to die.

Hold the fish in front of its tail and let it take some breaths. Although many of us have successfully revived fish by moving them back and forth gently at this point the latest advice from top anglers is not to do this. Instead, just support the fish by the tail until it starts breathing. If there is any current, turn the fish so it faces upstream.

After a couple of minutes the fish may struggle to get free. If it does, let go of it. If it doesn't, periodically let go to see if it will remain upright on its own. It should eventually swim off.

Lures with one set of trebles, like spinners and spoons, are far simpler and quicker to remove. Lures with single hooks like the Johnson Silver Minnow, spinner baits and jigs are a snap.

If fishing with dead or live bait, use a 5/0 circle hook or a quick-strike rig and not a treble hook.

The circle hook (See Use Circle Hook for Spring Pike) will always be caught in the very corner of the mouth. Just remember not to "set the hook" when using circle hooks. Instead just reel steadily and it is this slow tightening of the line that pulls the hook into the fish's mouth. Setting the hook can jerk the hook right out of the fish's mouth before the point of the hook has penetrated flesh.

The very best bait-fishing option is to use quick strike rigs. With these you set the hook the instant the fish takes the bait. You do not let it "take it" for awhile or it will have swallowed the treble hook.

Contrary to popular opinion, fish that swallow treble hooks almost always die later even if the line is cut from the hook. The hook does not dissolve in the fish's stomach.

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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Floors in boats, more electric-start Hondas in 2010

We've been using four-stroke Honda 20 h.p. outboards for a long time now and they're a hit with just about everybody.

They idle like a dream, are so quiet you can hardly tell they're running and don't produce smoke like the old two-stroke outboards.

At the same time they squirt our 16-foot Lund fishing boats around at 20+mph which lets you get to the farthest places we ever fish in about 20 minutes.

The Hondas are also very easy to start (See Our 20 hp four-stroke Hondas, March, 2009).

Still, as many of us get up in years we find just the motion of pulling the starting cord to aggravate bad shoulders, bad backs, etc.

So, as we update our motor fleet the last couple of years we have been switching our new motors to electric-start models. It's the same motor as before but instead of pulling the cord you push a button.

This year 13 of our 19 motors will be electric-starts.

The motor in the photo above is one of the recoil models. The electric-start looks identical except it has a cable that runs to a 12-volt battery in the bottom of the boat.

I'd like to repeat right here that it's no hardship if you get the recoil model when you come this season as they are so easy to start anyway.

We will try to ensure our older guests or people with injuries get the electric starts this season.

By 2011 we should have all electric-starts.

Another innovation that we started incorporating last summer and had completed by fall is that our Lund boats now all have floors in their bows. This makes a flat surface for the person sitting up there to fish from.

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Friday, January 8, 2010

Why are walleye near Bow Narrows Camp so big?

It's an interesting question.

It would seem to some of our fishermen that there just aren't any walleye in Red Lake near Bow Narrows Camp that are smaller than 20 inches. The average fish caught last year was probably 22 inches with many fish in the 26-inch range and some 28-inchers caught every day. A 20-inch walleye seemed to be the "little one."

The Red Lake-Gullrock Lake water system has earned the reputation for producing great quantities of walleye as well as really big walleye.

The biggest of these would seem to consistently be at the west end of Red Lake near camp.

Why is that?

Well first of all, there really are small walleye in the lake. They just don't usually show up at our end until the water warms, about July 1 in a normal summer. From that point on we still catch the big walleye but small ones as well.

Just about everything there is to know about fish behavior comes down to this fact: food. I would suspect that the reason we seem to have only big walleye early in the season is because we have more food fish available to them. Our end of the lake is deeper and probably contains more ciscoes (and up until recently, smelt) than the rest of the lake.

Ciscoes, called tulibee in Northwestern Ontario, are a high-calorie food for all of Red Lake's gamefish. Fish like them because for just a little bit of effort they get a lot of nutrition as compared to chasing down minnows such as dace and shiners. Ciscoes are also bigger than minnows and this would appeal more to a large fish than a small one.

Why then do the smaller walleye show up later in the season?

Probably minnow populations become more abundant at the west end of the lake about that time. There certainly are hatches of minnows entering the system about then.

Sometimes, however, there are all sizes of walleyes caught right from the start of the season and I've reason to believe next year will be one such year. The reason comes from lake trout studies done by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources near camp last fall.

The MNR researchers were searching for small lake trout that had been stocked from Red Lake eggs over the past six or so years. They didn't find any (it was kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack) but they did find hordes of small walleye. These fish should be prime eating size this summer and for the next few years.

As for the lake trout, we are catching small trout, especially in the spring. These all have been naturally-spawned fish. The stocked fish can be identified by a clipped fin. A different fin has been clipped each year. If you catch any next year, please let us know. All lake trout must be live-released in Red Lake.

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Thursday, January 7, 2010

Moose-hide moccasins best for snowshoeing

For about 20 years I have worn the exact same pair of moose-hide moccasins when I go snowshoeing. Talk about your durable footwear! I snowshoe almost every day in the winter.

I grew up in Red Lake wearing moccasins in the winter. There just wasn't the footwear back then that is available today such as felt pacs.

We wore moccasins with three pair of socks and our feet were perfectly comfortable, even in temperatures of -40 C which is also 40 below F.

There is no moisture at these temperatures. Walking in loose snow is like walking in feathers or in packed snow like a sand beach. All you need is something to keep the snow out of your socks.

Moccasins do this perfectly and because they are soft and not binding, are much, much warmer than stiff footwear like rubber or leather boots.

Mind you, today's felt pacs are excellent and have the advantage of preventing your feet from getting wet in slush or wet snow. But they are also heavy, cumbersome and difficult to snowshoe in.

You can put felt liners in moccasins too but I find I prefer to just have a felt insole on the bottom. It cushions your foot where it strikes the bar on the snowshoes.

These moccasins came from the Treasure House in Red Lake which is located across the street from the Government Dock.

They have lots of moose-hide slippers with intricate beadwork and fur trim as well as the winter moccasins like mine and moose-hide mitts and gauntlets.

All of these are made by native women from north of Red Lake.

My moccasins were smoke-tanned but I believe all of the moose-wear they sell today are commercial tanned and so don't smell smoky.

It takes incredible skill to make this footwear. The beadwork style is unique to the maker's family.

Check it out the next time you come to Red Lake. It's the Treasure House.

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