There’s little doubt that Albertans living near Lesser Slave Lake have learned to embrace winter.
On a typical weekend, most of the people in the hamlet of Joussard are out on the nearby ice.
Every year, a temporary ice fishing village pops up near the hamlet about 340 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
Some huts are custom built. Others are converted trailers.
They range from bare-bones to luxury. Most are outfitted with a furnace or heater. Some have big-screen televisions connected to underwater cameras — a cozy spot to spend the day fishing, if you can get there.
On a recent Saturday, the weather proved to be a bit much for most.
An indication of just how windy it can get on Lesser Slave Lake. (David Bajer/CBC)
A tattered Canadian flag whipped about in the blowing snow but that’s about all you could see. Whiteout conditions reduced visibility to near zero and the temperature hovered around –15.
Not everyone was deterred.
Three men who drove 40 kilometres from High Prairie unloaded a pair of snowmobiles in the blinding snow. One of them was High Prairie Mayor Brian Panasiuk.
High Prairie Mayor Brian Panasiuk and his fishing pals unload a couple of snowmobiles. (David Bajer/CBC)
His shack, a converted camper trailer, was put out on the ice a couple of weeks earlier.
“I fish in my T-shirt usually, once you get the fire warmed up,” Panasiuk said. “We have a wood-burning stove so it heats the place up in 15 to 20 minutes and life is good.”
High Prairie Mayor Brian Panasiuk shows off his catch in the comfort of his converted trailer. (Brian Panasiuk)
The journey to the fishing spot does come with some risk.
“Last weekend we happened to run into a big snow drift and we got stuck,” Panasiuk said . “So we went and talked to the fellow in the next shack and he just gave us a tug out.”
It’s that attitude that has led people to call the assortment of randomly placed shacks an ice fishing village.
“Oh, it’s a real community,” Panasiuk said. “You go out and you swap stories and if you get a big fish you go and tease the other fishermen and you’re texting back and forth, ‘What’s the fishing like in your shack?’
“So yeah, it’s a community event.”
Easy access to the ice and good walleye fishing are the big draws, along with the camaraderie.
Brian Panasiuk’s ice shack with a view of the neighbours in the background. (Brian Panasiuk)
Panasiuk, 58, is one of several locals who say there can be as many as 1,000 people on the ice on a good day.
Jacob Matula, 31, lives just east of High Prairie. For years he has captured drone video showing the ice fishing village from an airborne vantage point.
“Once you get onto the lake it’s such a large community out there,” Matula said. “We’ve got amazing people out in Joussard that ensure there’s always access.”
He has used his drone to count as many as 200 shacks on the ice at once, a number that has grown during the more than 10 years he’s been fishing Lesser Slave Lake.
Jakob Matula’s shack is decked out with a fancy paint job which includes Alberta’s flag. (Jakob Matula )
Matula is quick to point out the all-for-one, one-for-all mentality.
“There’s enough traffic that as long as one person can make it out, there’s always another person behind them willing to help them out,” he said.
That feeling of community grows once folks make it to their shacks, especially if the fish aren’t biting.
“That’s the great thing about fishing. [When] things are slow and not really happening, you just grab your drink, go for a walk, go check out the neighbours see how they’re making out,” said Matula. “Everybody always welcomes you with open arms.”
His step-dad and father got him into the sport and he now has his own shack.
Jacob Matula has everything he needs at his ice fishing shack. (Jacob Matula )
“I built it myself, it’s only 10 feet by 15 feet, but it’s big enough to hold a queen-sized bed,” Matula said. “So when me and the wife want to stay out there with our dogs, we’ve got more than enough room.”
His shack is one of those pushing into luxury territory.
“We’ve got TVs and fish-finding cameras and all sorts of cool stuff,” he said.
You don’t know what kind of fish is going to come up. Maybe it’s a perch, whitefish, trout — anything really.– Kruz Marko, 11
With those sort of amenities it’s a wonder why anyone would want to leave. Sometimes they don’t.
“People they live out there sometimes for a week on end or a weekend,” Matula said. “So they’ve got to make it as comfortable as possible.”
Eleven-year-old Kruz Marko can’t boast about any such luxuries but he has laid claim to being the youngest Joussard resident to have his own shack.
Despite the cold and blowing snow, he was out on a quad, checking on the ice conditions in hopes he could soon get his shack out.
He invited the CBC crew to have a tour of his hut, a few steps from the door of his family’s home.
Kruz Marko, 11, proudly shows off his ice fishing shack. (Jennifer Marko)
“I’d been wanting to have a fishing shack for like a couple of years before we actually built this,” Kruz said. “My dad said, ‘Fine, if you’re actually wanting it you’re going to have to help build it,’ and I just said, ‘Yeah, I will help!'”
He salvaged, borrowed and traded for the materials needed for his shack.
11-year-old Kruz Marko marked an important milestone in 2017, his first walleye in his own shack. (Scott Stevenson/CBC)
He was able to get on the ice for the first time a couple of years ago when he was just nine.
A note on the wall in felt pen marks his first catch in the shack, a proud moment for the youngster, even if his dad had to let him know it had happened.
“He told me, ‘Oh, you just caught a fish.’ I was just hanging out and I was so surprised when he said that.”
Kruz has literally been fishing since he was in diapers, and it’s still a thrill.
Kruz Marko ice fishing for the first time, at seven months old. (Jennifer Marko)
“You don’t know what kind of fish is going to come up. Maybe it’s a perch, whitefish, trout — anything really,” he said.
He already has his eye on a certain prize for this season.
“This year I want to catch a huge pike and if I do that’s going to be awesome.”
Marko and the other anglers have until the end of March when the season wraps up, unless Mother Nature decides otherwise. They’ll no doubt be hoping for a short summer and early winter so they can return to the ice in late 2019.