Hooked on the holidays

I’m going to discuss some possible Christmas gift ideas over the next couple of weeks, but I have two things I want to mention first.

The reason we even have a Christmas season is because of the birth of Jesus Christ. It has become politically incorrect to openly observe Christian holidays in this country. Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist celebrations are fine, just not Christian. You may choose to say “happy holidays,” and that’s your call. This Christian holiday season is the celebration of Christ’s birth and I’m going to be politically incorrect and wish you merry Christmas!

Point 2: Ice fishing lures specifically designed for that “hard water” fishing some of us enjoy would make great stocking stuffers. Most of the lures are just fine; however, there are two specific lures — the Rapala jigging rap and the Airplane — that create some problems. These two lure types are designed to hang horizontally from your fishing line.

Both come with hooks embedded in the lure body. The Rapala has a single hook out the nose, one out the tail and a treble hook hanging from an eyelet on the belly of the minnow-shaped lure. The airplane looks like a toy airplane and has a hook out the rear of the lure and a small ring off the tail end where a drop hook can be attached. The Rapala can have a drop hook attached after removing the small treble hook.

Both lures are effective ice fishing lures, especially when tipped with bait. Here’s the hitch — quoting from the ADF&G sport fishing regulations for Southcentral Alaska, page 4: “Ice fishing gear: Sport fishing through the ice is permitted using two closely attended lines, provided only one hook or artificial lure is used on each line.”

I wasn’t sure if “artificial lure” trumped “one hook,” so I called the Alaska Wildlife Troopers and asked. Here’s what I was told: if the regulations say “one hook” per line, then only one hook may be attached. If the lure has more than one hook, the extra hooks must be removed to make the lure legal to use. I was planning to use the Rapala with a drop hook, so I had to cut off the nose and tail hooks and replaced the treble hook with a small drop hook setup. Since I prefer to use the airplane lure with a drop hook, I had to cut off the tail hook from the lure body.

This is a heads up that you may only have one hook per line when ice fishing for species other than northern pike. If you’re checked while fishing and your lure has more than one hook, you could be cited. Also, be aware that some lakes are single-hook only, meaning that treble hooks are illegal. Other lakes specifying one hook means a treble hook can be used as your one hook per line.

Maybe another good Christmas gift would be your own personal attorney who is well versed in fish and game regulations to take with you whenever you go hunting or fishing.

If your gift recipient likes to ice fish, there’s a myriad of mostly inexpensive gear available. Besides the obvious rods, reels, lines, tip-ups, lures, skimmers, manual augers and tall buckets, I would suggest a good set of creepers for walking on slippery lake ice and a set of ice picks that are specifically designed to allow a person to pull him or herself back onto the ice in case of a fall through. All this stuff is available in local sporting goods stores in the Valley.

While we’re talking fishing, there’s all the stuff a salmon fisherman or a lake angler could ever hope to want locally available as well. Don’t forget the possibility of giving a gift certificate for taking a custom fishing rod building class or to learn how to tie fishing flies. A new pair of wading shoes without felt soles will keep your angler ticket-free after Jan. 1. For those who combine boating with their fishing, boating items can be found at some of the local marinas and launch facilities around the Valley. A gift certificate for a fall boat winterization or a spring de-winterization would be a thought.

One thing I’m giving my wife and myself this year is a prepaid halibut fishing charter down on the Kenai Peninsula. It may only be a piece of paper under the Christmas tree, but we’ll both enjoy it come next summer.

I have always enjoyed a good hunting or fishing book, whether it’s a historical piece, like Teddy Roosevelt’s works, a how-to such as local writer/publisher Tony Russ, or just a plain old compilation of hunting and fishing stories, like the book I’m working on (a shameless plug, but it might inspire me to finish the book). There are many good books available and some are by local authors. That may just be the perfect stocking stuffer you’re looking for.

The great thing about Christmas shopping in the Valley is that we have a number of specialty stores available for a wide variety of outdoor interests. There are snowmachine and ATV stores with all the major manufacturers represented along with a comprehensive selection of clothing and gear oriented toward those activities. There are fishing specialty stores, archery stores, gun stores, RV and motorhome dealers, a trapping supply store and some sporting goods stores or sections of stores where several different outdoor activities are represented. If you don’t know specifically what to get your outdoor enthusiast, a gift certificate to their favorite store will always be appreciated.

We’ll talk more about guns and hunting gifts next time.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.