Mike Bryant
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 13/99) - What would you do if you happened to find yourself lost in the woods one day -- stranded, hungry and without any ready means of obtaining some dinner?

For Robert Richardson and Ora Williamson of Yellowknife, a dilemma like this one would not be too much of a problem.

The two cousins are camping out at Post Island on Great Slave Lake with some of their relatives and they have discovered some very interesting techniques in wilderness survival.

"I'm fishing with an oil bottle and string," said Richardson. "Our uncle taught us how to make it."

The two youths were in charge of finding some dinner for the feast that night. Plying the shoreline and bushes on the island, they found the plastic oil carton, some cotton string and bent nails for hooks.

The discovery of a green fishing spoon had made the job a little easier, but casting into the weedy bays off shore for pike was not without at least some difficulty.

"We caught two fish already, big ones!" exclaimed Williamson. "We just need a couple more."

Richardson pulled on the line attached to the oil carton as quickly as he could to avoid fouling the hook in the weeds.

Occasionally, a dark, crimson shape emerged from out of the thickets to give chase. More often, the threat to strike was only a gesture -- the pike were not overly hungry that night. Only instinct and curiosity made them follow the lure to the water's edge.

For those watching the boy and his devise, the scene was an amusing one. Yet, with all their state-of-the- art angling gear -- the graphite rods, spinning reels, expensive lures -- getting the fish to take the bait was not any easier. The only advantage for the spin-cast anglers was the distance in which their lures could travel and the spring of the drag that kept the fish in check when one was hooked.

"My uncle also teaches me to make teepees and stuff," Richardson said, as he took another cast. "We come here every summer for about three weeks to camp and fish."

"Grandma showed me how to cook fish and dress them," Williamson said.

"We just make a little fireplace and cook them on the rocks."

"I like eating the eyeballs and brain and stuff," Richardson added.

"I think they taste really good."

It took a few hours, but eventually the boy and girl had caught enough fish for everyone to eat.

Their survival was not at stake here. For Richardson and Williamson, finding the materials to catch the pike was all just part of the fun.

Could you do any better?