Cold fish

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New Canadians who come from a country where rivers never freeze are usually bewildered by anglers poking holes in the ice.

Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River claims to be the world capital of ice fishing. When the season begins on December 26, more than 1,000 colourful huts, each accommodating up to 20 people, are set up on the ice at the mouth of the Ste-Anne River. They outnumber the homes in the town—a village unto themselves, complete with roads and electricity.

The attraction is the poulamon Atlantique, or tommy cod. In the fall, instinct moves millions of these small fish from the salt water of the lower St. Lawrence and the gulf into the fresh river waters past Québec, where the sandy river bottom and aerated water favour spawning. By season's end on February 15, some 5 million poissons de Noël, lured by shrimp and pork liver, never make it to the spawning ground.