The ALGOMA NEWS Review /L ,fl1 7

SMELT FISHING: TI

WAWA’S SPRING RITUAL

By D. E. Pugh V"Here comes the black cloud" shouted a stocky man, almost d

buried in gigantic hip waders.With a quick swish of his large net Aand splash of water, up came ten to twenty, six to eight inch fish, sflopping and flashing their silvery bellies, as they’re dropped intoa half filled galvanizedpail. Wearing jeans, gum boots, and heavy swinter coats for warmth against Superior’s chilly breezes,Wawa’scitizens annually gather for early May’s smelt run. While rays of Fthe setting sun dance diamonds across Superior’s placid waters,the glare of flashlights and subduedyellowish flickerings of campfires reveal the procedure: scoop, dump, and methodically scoopagain. Comradeshipabounds. "Here they come again". "They’vestartedagain". "Over there, there’s lots running!" "I’ve never seen C

so many or so big’. Blowing handsto warm numbed fingers, warming chilled bodies against the campfires, the experienceis enjoyedby all.

BetweenMay 1 and May 15, the sceneis repeatedwherever asmall creek empties into Lake Superior. At Old Woman Rixer, the Aeast end of Driftwood Beach, the Mission, and the Harbour, traffic ais snarledeach eveningduring the short smelt run. Once an oceanfish, thesetiny creaturesnever exceed14 inchesbut havepenetrated sinto the Great Lakes during the last thirty years. During the spring cmonths,when water temperatureshave risen to forty degrees,theirspawning run upstreamgets underway to reach suitable sand orgravel beds. These runs reach maximum strength shortly after thesetting sun when thousandsof the tiny fish fight their way 700 to1,000 yards up creeks in such numbers that a single net sweepprovides a full meal.

Commercialfishermensell the fish for a few cents a pound forcat food processors.Smelts sell for $1.00 a pound in Toronto foodmarkets. Local hunters use them for bear baits. Gardenerslikethe fish for fertilizers. Biologists dislike the fish as voracious predators of young game fish. Local residentsfreeze or smoke the fishfor winter food. For most, a snip *of scissorscleans the fish, fordeep frying under the moon on Superior’s sandy beaches.

After a lengthy cold winter, such romantic evenings mark thebeginning of picnicing and camping. Yearly, the ritual is re-enacted;the processby which Michipicoten’s citizenscelebratethe long await

iiI nrjng and the emergenceof the forthcoming warmth of summer.