The sun is beginning to set as a half dozen middle and high school students hop out of vans at Wasilla Lake on a recent Friday afternoon. The students are Knik Tribal members, in the middle of a three-week long after school ice fishing unit from Onward and Upward, a nonprofit that teaches teens about the outdoors.
Before the students can fish, the adults teach them how to be safe while they’re out on the ice. Onward and Upward Lead Field Instructor Kevin Vacca equips every student with whistles and ice picks that go around their neck in case they fall in.
“We have little yak tracks that are going to go on your guys’ feet because we obviously don’t want you guys to slip while we’re on ice,” Vacca said.
After the safety briefing and a quick cocoa break, the instructors help the students punch holes in the ice and make sure everyone’s hook is baited with a small piece of shrimp.
Instructor Ruby Wright launches into a lesson on food sovereignty while the students fish.
“What do you think that means? It’s kind of related to ice fishing, what does food sovereignty, this big word, mean?” Wright asks. “We’re teaching you how to catch your own food, why is that important?”
Food served on dinner tables across Alaska often travels thousands of miles by barge or truck before it arrives here. The Alaska Farmland Trust estimates that more than 95% of food consumed by Alaskans is imported from the Lower 48. In the past, Alaskans have seen empty grocery store shelves when bad weather delayed ships from bringing food to the state.
Indigenous Alaskans have always harvested nearby plants and animals for food. Although subsistence activities may slow down in the winter, wild food sources are still available if you know where to look. Today, 56% of all subsistence harvests are fish.
“I think they’re a big part of our culture here in Alaska,” Vacca said. “Whether you’re Alaska Native or not, everyone fishes out here.”
The students are fishing using a technique called “jigging” where they bounce the line up and down to make the bait appear as if it is moving. After about half an hour of fishing, no one has gotten so much as a bite. Then Kianna Tassie, who goes to Teeland Middle School, notices something happening on the end of her line.
“I’ve got a nibble,” Tassie said.
Field Instructor Jeffrey Caron helps her land the vibrant, 14-inch rainbow trout.
“I was just sitting here with my sister and then I felt like a little boop boop, boop boop on my line,” Tassie said.
Tassie squeals as the fish comes up out of the ice and proudly displays her catch. She’ll bring the fish home with her, and hopes to eat it for dinner.
The light from the sun is mostly gone about an hour after the students got their lines wet. The group packs up and heads home, but they’ll be back to learn more in the coming weeks about how — and why — to go ice fishing.
“We think it’s important for students to realize that they can do this as a person and it’s super easy for them to get into,” Vacca said. “All you need is a little piece of wood and some string, some fishing line and a hook, and you’re able to go out and fish for your own food, and put food on the dinner table for your families.”
For now, at least one student has access to a meal that wasn’t shipped here, and a memory she won’t soon forget.
Tim Rockey is the producer of Alaska News Nightly and covers education for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at trockey@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8487. Read more about Tim here.
