SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Children and adults got up close and personal with fish at an Amazing Family Sunday at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre over the weekend.

Robert Paddock, 9, checks out a lake whitefish. - Katherine Hudson/NNSL photo

Hay River commercial fisherman Shaun Buckley and Department of Fisheries and Oceans biologist Deanna Leonard explained to the group of about 20 people how individuals in the fishing industry catch fish in the winter. The pair explained how to check the depth of the water with a rock attached to a line and slide a jigger underneath the ice to draw out the net. A commercial fishing net could be up to 30 feet deep and about 10 yards long.

Buckley and Leonard demonstrated the process of placing a fish net underneath the ice to catch fish and took the group out on Frame Lake to drill a hole through the thick ice.

Realizing the lake was too shallow to place a net underneath its surface, the group trekked back into the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre to learn about different types of fish such as trout, lake whitefish and inconnu or connie fish.

Leonard also gutted a few fish to show how biologists can tell if samples of fish are healthy by the condition of their stomachs and swim bladders.

The children showed their intense curiosity at the cut-open fish by peering over the examining table with wide eyes.

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