On the evening of the Australia Day festivities Larry suggested it might be time he and I try some ice fishing for walleye. "When would suit you?", asks Larry. "What about last week?", I reply. So Larry says he will ring me one evening soon when the conditions are good. Conditions good?? This is winter with minus 10 and lower temps and everything is covered with snow and ice!! Good?

One evening Larry rings, "If it suits you I will swing past and pick you up at about 3.30", says Larry. "I will be ready", I replied. So at about 3.15 I am pacing the floor waiting, will I be warm enough?, what should I take? etc etc.

I am no expert but I have learnt that with all outdoor activities in Canada in the winter it is all about the right clothing and layers. You need to be warm but not sweating. Sweating can be bad as moisture will freeze. So it is warm socks and waterproof boots rated to -32degrees C (or better) on the feet; thermals, either tracksuit pants or jeans and ski pants on the legs (cotton is not ideal but it was all I had) and thermals, polartech T-shirt, polotech hoody and windproof/waterproof coat topped off with a warm beany (toque) for the head and warm gloves for the fingers. I'm ready!

So it was off to the Ottawa River we went. Believe it or not the conditions were not that bad at all. About -6C with occasional light snow flurries but no wind. It is the wind chill that can make ice fishing very uncomfortable therefore the need for shelter and the ice fishing hut. Larry is a keen fisherman and accordingly has a good set of gear. First spot we went was a bit of an exploration as the ice fishing huts have just started to be towed out to this spot at Petrie Island so, as Larry explains, there must be some activity that is drawing the fishermen here. Yes, you read right they tow their huts out onto the ice with quad bikes or SUV's. Could be a bit hairy for the inexperienced and even the experienced get caught sometimes. There was a floral reef nailed to a tree as tribute to a fisherman who lost his life there last year in thin ice. You need to be careful and know what you are doing, this is no joke. We fished the spot until about 4.30 with little succes but Larry did manage to catch a small sauger. A common freshwater fish in the Ottawa River system and good eating but a bit to small to keep.

We were fishing in about 30 feet of water and about 100m, I guess, off the bank. But without a boat. Hard to get your head around. You are sitting on ice about 400mm thick and fishing in 10m of water directly below where you are sitting. And this is considered shallow water. There is very little current and that is why the ice is so thick, more current less ice. It will be an impressive sight to see after it has all thawed out. It will make the mighty Murray River look like a small creek!

Basic gear you need is an auger to drill a hole in the ice, ice fishing rod (very short rod, no need for long casting rods here), portable depth sounder/fish finder, bait, chair and patience.

We move up steam about a couple of kms to another spot on the Ottawa River and re-establish ourselves. Here the water is only about 10 feet deep but we are a long way further out on the ice. We can see further out water running where the main river channel is and the water has not frozen over.

We set up again, two holes each with a rod in one and a tip over in the other. A tip over is a balanced stick with line attached one end. You balance the stick with the bait set at the required depth and when it tips down (or over) in theory you have a fish on. I think mine must have been frozen in place as it never tipped over at all! Evidently, because of the cold temperature of the water the fishes' metabolism is slowed right down so bites are just little soft taps so the tip over needs to be finely balanced and the ice fishing rod has a very fine soft tip to detect the bites.

There is another couple of guys there fishing and one tells us that he caught a good walleye at 5.00pm the day before. Almost right on cue Larry catches a nice size walleye, the targetted species. Wow, that was great I actually saw the fish tapping his rod and even with the very fine end it was almost un-noticable. Boy you have to be on your game for these fish.

Bang, a few minutes later Larry lands a nice size sauger, a bit similar to walleye in looks and evidently just as good to eat. Come on fish have a go at my offering!

But Larry wasn't finished yet. A few minutes later he has bagged a small perch. What we would call a redfin or English perch. A bit small to take but we all know how good they are to eat.

The guy who told us about the 5.00 feeding festival was also into the action with a walleye bigger than the one one Larry caught and was also frustrated by losing an even better one right at the surface. Any minute now I will catch my first Canadian fish!

Guess what, I am still waiting!!

Larry was the perfect guide and insisted I take the fish home to eat. Even though I protested strongly, he didn't really have to twist my arm. I can vouch for the table qualities of both sauger and walleye. Just need to learn how to catch one.