Preparing for the Fishing Season

Preparing the material for building an eel weir

Outside, Georges-Henri Lizotte removes the branches from thin tree trunks using a table saw. He piles them next to a trailer.

[Narrator] Storm winds and debris damage the material used to build eel weirs.

Every year, Georges-Henri Lizotte prepares 300 perches de rets, or net poles, from maple or ironwood. These are in addition to the 200 poles that he manages to recover from one year to the next.

Using a chain saw, Mr. Lizotte shapes a point out of one end of a tree trunk whose branches have already been removed and that it is lying on a sawbuck outside.

Mr. Lizotte makes just as many stakes from black spruce. Each one is shaped into a point at one end so that it can be driven at least one metre into the ground.

He cuts off all bumps and uneven surfaces on the tree trunk.

The net poles will be attached to every second stake.

He cuts the end of the stake that is opposite to the point very straight.

Mr. Lizotte removes all bumps and uneven surfaces, including those caused by branches.

Kneeling on the foreshore, Mr. Lizotte uses one hand to remove rocks that have fallen into the holes where the stakes will be planted. He stands up and, using a pipe connected to an air compressor, he clears away all of the mud accumulated at the bottom of the hole. There’s a lot of splattering.

The stakes will be planted in the holes used in previous years. Mr. Lizotte removes debris from the holes with an air compressor.