An ice-fisherman in Canada spotted a shipwreck under the crystal clear ice of Lake Superior, and naturally he decided to throw a line right down on it.
If you aren’t an avid hard water fisherman (I know I’m not) and you are wondering what sight-fishing means, it is an alternative way to ice fish. Normally with ice fishing, you pick a spot, drill a hole, then sit and wait for the fish with assistance from sonar technology.
Of course, you can sight-fish clear lakes when the water isn’t frozen too, but that’s pretty much what it sounds like: see a fish, catch a fish…
The ice, it’s a different story because you generally have no idea what’s below and you can’t drag a lure around to find out. However, this lake just happened to be so clear that the ice fisherman was able to implement the practice of sight fishing.
The scenic, wintery backdrop of the video is enough to keep your attention, but the excitement builds in the video when the fisherman stumbles upon the shipwreck hidden beneath.
He was so surprised that when he sees the remains of the ship below, he stopped and set up his camera, saying this:
“This is incredible…there is a shipwreck here, so I’m gonna fish that, haha. Gotta wonder if some fish use that as habitat.”
It seemed as though it was natural instinct for the fisherman to fish the shipwreck. I mean, is there better cover than a sunken boat?
The footage that he gets with his “underwater camera rig” of the ship is some of the coolest you’ll see, and the fact that a “window” of ice separates the YouTuber from the remains gives the whole video a chef’s kiss.
The fisherman takes advantage of the fishing spot and reels in what appears to be a lake trout. The YouTuber was cautious to remove the fish from the hole in the ice because of the fish’s sharp teeth, but was able to safely remove it after a brief moment lining it up to get it out of the water.
I don’t know about you, but I took away a lot from this one video. To everyone that says YouTube is “a waste of time,” I am walking away from this ice fishing video having learned a couple of things.
1) I didn’t know there were different forms of ice fishing, like there is with “cross country” skiing and “freestyle” skiing. You’ve got “normal” ice fishing and then you have “sight-fishing” ice fishing.
Similar to the differences in types of skiing, it all looks pretty much the same to me, but I know the distinctions are important to the people that do it.
2) Apparently Lake Superior is just riddled with shipwrecks? When I think of a lake, I think of coasting along on a pontoon boat and day drinking. I rarely think of ships battling to stay afloat against the elements.
Maybe we need to change the marketing with this Great Lake and have it called a “Dangerous Lake” instead for the safety of visitors.
Lake Superior’s most famous shipwreck is of course “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
I went ahead and put that in quotes because while talking about the literal event that happened in 1975, I really only bring it up in order to mention the certified banger of a song by Gordon Lightfoot.
I won’t get too much into the song since it’s considered more “folk” than “country music,” but the beautiful piece can still be appreciated by all music fans.
Listen to it below. It’s one of those songs that sounds happier than the lyrics lead it on to be.
