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03-05-2009, 09:52 AM
Fishing farmers a vanishing breed - Lake Manitoba losing decades-old tradition
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NEAR EDDYSTONE -- Don't need no permission, when you wanna go fishin'.
Not when you're a farmer living along one of Manitoba's great lakes, like Lyle Finney.
He's one of Manitoba's fishing farmers. He farms in summer, fishes in winter.
Well, not exactly. With livestock -- and most farmers around the lakes have livestock because the land is too poor for cereal crops -- it's more of a year-round job. He ranches on the western shore of Lake Manitoba, just north of the Narrows.
Still, commercial ice fishing is another income stream during the winter and gets guys out of the house, Finney said.
But that's dying, like many rural customs. A generation ago, there were 30 to 40 ranchers who commercial fished on the 80-kilometre stretch of Lake Manitoba where Finney lives. There might be five now, he said. "Most ranchers did always fish around the lake, but not now because ranches have grown in size and people don't have time," he said.
Today there might be 10 to 15 commercial fishermen in total on that 80-km stretch, Finney said. Some are from Ebb and Flow First Nation, others are construction workers with time off in winter, some are retirees. Just over 500 commercial licences were issued for Lake Manitoba last year, versus 800 to 900 on Lake Winnipeg.
Lake Manitoba only has one commercial fishing season, and that's winter. "You end up having so much death loss in summer because the lake is too shallow and water gets too warm and fish die in the net," Finney explained.
Lake Winnipeg, by comparison, has three seasons: spring, fall, and winter.
It takes a two-year apprenticeship to get a commercial fishing licence. Members of the Lyle family probably met that requirement by the age 10 from going out on the ice with their father.
Finney operates a 400-head cattle ranch with brothers Bill and Norman. It's been in the family 100 years as of this year.
Lyle does most of the fishing. He literally bombs around the lake in an ancient Bombardier vehicle, with its skies on the front and caterpillar tracks in back. The Bombardier is a 52-year-old relic and you can hardly steer it anymore.
The fishing doesn't pay enough to be insurance against economic downturns in cattle, Finney said.
He sometimes wonders if the returns from fishing are even worth the trouble. "It's like ranching. You like the life and you can't just sit in the house reading magazines," he said.
Finney comes by it naturally. Despite a name that sounds Irish, he's thoroughly Icelandic.
The story goes that Lyle's great grandfather Fridfinnur Johannesson immigrated to Canada and opened a store in an English neighbourhood in Winnipeg. "They had trouble pronouncing his name and called him Finn and Finney," Lyle said.
So he kept it but as a surname. Lyle's grandfather moved to Lake Manitoba Narrows to work with relatives and his son, Lyle's grandfather, became a farmer.
The name of nearby town Eddystone has a nautical ring, too. It's named after a supply ship that travelled regularly between England and York Factory on Hudson Bay during the fur trade days, according to Ted Stone's The Story Behind Manitoba Names.
Eddystone is about 240 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
Finney sets 50 to 60 nets, each about 100 metres long. He starts in mid-November and usually ends in January, although he fished into February this year. Fish become dormant later in winter.
Finney pulls in 10,000 pounds of pickerel a year, as well as jackfish and mullet. He sells to the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation.
Commercial fishermen on Lake Manitoba don't have individual quota, like on Lake Winnipeg. Instead, there's a total quota of two million pounds for pickerel. The catch hasn't reached that level since the 1950s.
bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
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PUBLICATION: WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
DATE: 2009.03.01
PAGE: A5
BYLINE: Open Road / Bill Redekop
WORD COUNT: 521
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NEAR EDDYSTONE -- Don't need no permission, when you wanna go fishin'.
Not when you're a farmer living along one of Manitoba's great lakes, like Lyle Finney.
He's one of Manitoba's fishing farmers. He farms in summer, fishes in winter.
Well, not exactly. With livestock -- and most farmers around the lakes have livestock because the land is too poor for cereal crops -- it's more of a year-round job. He ranches on the western shore of Lake Manitoba, just north of the Narrows.
Still, commercial ice fishing is another income stream during the winter and gets guys out of the house, Finney said.
But that's dying, like many rural customs. A generation ago, there were 30 to 40 ranchers who commercial fished on the 80-kilometre stretch of Lake Manitoba where Finney lives. There might be five now, he said. "Most ranchers did always fish around the lake, but not now because ranches have grown in size and people don't have time," he said.
Today there might be 10 to 15 commercial fishermen in total on that 80-km stretch, Finney said. Some are from Ebb and Flow First Nation, others are construction workers with time off in winter, some are retirees. Just over 500 commercial licences were issued for Lake Manitoba last year, versus 800 to 900 on Lake Winnipeg.
Lake Manitoba only has one commercial fishing season, and that's winter. "You end up having so much death loss in summer because the lake is too shallow and water gets too warm and fish die in the net," Finney explained.
Lake Winnipeg, by comparison, has three seasons: spring, fall, and winter.
It takes a two-year apprenticeship to get a commercial fishing licence. Members of the Lyle family probably met that requirement by the age 10 from going out on the ice with their father.
Finney operates a 400-head cattle ranch with brothers Bill and Norman. It's been in the family 100 years as of this year.
Lyle does most of the fishing. He literally bombs around the lake in an ancient Bombardier vehicle, with its skies on the front and caterpillar tracks in back. The Bombardier is a 52-year-old relic and you can hardly steer it anymore.
The fishing doesn't pay enough to be insurance against economic downturns in cattle, Finney said.
He sometimes wonders if the returns from fishing are even worth the trouble. "It's like ranching. You like the life and you can't just sit in the house reading magazines," he said.
Finney comes by it naturally. Despite a name that sounds Irish, he's thoroughly Icelandic.
The story goes that Lyle's great grandfather Fridfinnur Johannesson immigrated to Canada and opened a store in an English neighbourhood in Winnipeg. "They had trouble pronouncing his name and called him Finn and Finney," Lyle said.
So he kept it but as a surname. Lyle's grandfather moved to Lake Manitoba Narrows to work with relatives and his son, Lyle's grandfather, became a farmer.
The name of nearby town Eddystone has a nautical ring, too. It's named after a supply ship that travelled regularly between England and York Factory on Hudson Bay during the fur trade days, according to Ted Stone's The Story Behind Manitoba Names.
Eddystone is about 240 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
Finney sets 50 to 60 nets, each about 100 metres long. He starts in mid-November and usually ends in January, although he fished into February this year. Fish become dormant later in winter.
Finney pulls in 10,000 pounds of pickerel a year, as well as jackfish and mullet. He sells to the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation.
Commercial fishermen on Lake Manitoba don't have individual quota, like on Lake Winnipeg. Instead, there's a total quota of two million pounds for pickerel. The catch hasn't reached that level since the 1950s.
bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
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PUBLICATION: WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
DATE: 2009.03.01
PAGE: A5
BYLINE: Open Road / Bill Redekop
WORD COUNT: 521
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