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Two Great Years of My Life How I became Ulukhaktok’s fishing derby champion Words and photos by Nadine Klengenberg-Kuneluk
I
t was a calm day with no wind, and there was not a cloud in sight. It was the day the fishing derby began, the most exciting day of my life.
My parents and I were getting our gear set to go camping. They said it would be a long drive, so I played my favourite songs in my head and sometimes sang them while I was sitting in the sled. That made the wait go by faster, and before I knew it, we were at our destination. We were at our second home, where we feel free and forget about our worries like bills and taxes. I was 13, and I always felt weak. I wanted to fish, but my dad told me the fish where we were could grow up to my height - and I was 4’9” at the time. We set up camp and ate our lunch. We were ready to start drilling holes in the ice, or I should say my mom and dad were. (I was always helping them by getting the snow out of the way or just pushing the auger back upwards.) We left the canvas tent to find a spot to put our fishing hole, but when I went to look into the clear spot on the ice, which was next to where my parents wanted to put a hole, I saw the rocks at the bottom and noticed that the area was too shallow. I went to my parents and told them that this area was too shallow, and they both agreed that we should move. We found a nice spot without any wind and began drilling. After all the pushing and pulling my parents and I went through, we all felt relief when the auger cut through the bottom of the ice, which was pretty solid at the time. My mom told me to go and get her aullatiit (fishing jigger) and she put the hook into the water. It was the perfect depth - not too shallow and not too deep. When you hit the bottom, she told me, you rewind the aullatiit twice, so the fish think the hook is dying and would be easier to catch. A few minutes later, my mom
