Hooked

Evening. We’re aboard Gimme Shelter, a 23-foot fishing skiff, and headed for a couple of white flags flapping in the wind on Lake Winnipeg. They mark Arni Matheson’s nets. After a lifetime of living among the fishermen of Gimli, Manitoba, I still have no idea how these old codgers decipher one man’s flag from another’s, but the fishermen seem to know.

I’m parked on the rail, facing into the wind as we speed along, and there’s a steady stream coming from my watering eyes. A nearby distillery is pumping out the sweet mash aroma of that iconic Canadian whisky, Crown Royal, which runs neck and neck with the pickerel we’re after today for the title of Gimli’s favourite export. It’s vast and impossibly peaceful out here, like some guidebook’s idea of Canada.

Matheson slows the outboard and we wheel around to his first net. When he cuts the motor, the silence of this lake pours into the boat like an invisible fog. "Time to get to work," he announces. But not before he flicks on the stereo. Today, it’s vintage Hank Williams Sr.-"Hey, Good Lookin’."

Matheson, 45, high-school hellraiser and masterful crooner, makes his life on the lake. In the fall season, he pulls his nets daily, sometimes collecting 800 pounds of prized pickerel, taking each fish out of the mesh by hand. In summer, he’ll do it two or three times a day to prevent the fish from going bad. And in winter, when Lake Winnipeg boasts four feet of ice, he’ll do it with the help of an ancient contraption made by Bombardier that resembles a rounded-off school bus on skis, a massive auger and a bucket of warm water to thaw his icy hands. It’s a helluva way to make a living, but the thought of Matheson’s six-foot, two-inch frame and his swinging ponytail behind a desk is absurd. His thousand-mile stare over the lake lets you know he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Most of the pickerel harvested from Lake Winnipeg makes its way overseas, but a handful of fishermen prefer to do business closer to home. A lot closer to home. They sell their catch at farmers’ markets and to restaurants in Winnipeg. If you opt for a pickerel dinner at an eatery in Gimli, chances are pretty good you’ll be eating fish recently plucked from the lake that day.

At the Table
In Gimli, pickerel is the preferred fish and it’s on the menu at family joints like Kris’ Fish & Chips and Beach Boy, where they plate it up with Greek salad and roasted potatoes. But at one establishment, this humble fish gets the kind of treatment often reserved for black truffles, Kobe beef or beluga caviar. At Mask Restaurant, pickerel is culinary gold.

Get chef Stephane Thierry talking about food and he’s not likely to stop until an order comes in to his tiny kitchen. His French-Italian blood runs hot with tales of crafting his first paté at the age of eight (his uncle was a butcher) and making the rounds at Italian food markets. "I would go in the morning, stop in and see my friend the butcher, tell him what I wanted, then go to the bakery, have a coffee, read the paper, then pick up what I needed for the day. Oh, how I miss that."

After a short stint at a Manitoba resort he gathered a few partners and opened Mask in 2009, intent on transporting the European sensibilities to the shores of Lake Winnipeg. He started by looking to his own backyard. Down the road you can see the lake, source of the pickerel that appears on so many of his plates.

You can have pickerel for breakfast if you order the Fisherman-fresh pan-seared fillets, lightly breaded, served with bacon, eggs and potatoes and topped with homemade Hollandaise sauce. At lunchtime, opt for pickerel on rye. Thierry wasn’t willing to settle for just any rye, so he worked with the agreeable owners of the Arborg Bakery (60 kilometres away) to get it just right. The result is a large loaf with a whimsical dark-and-light swirl that holds buttery pickerel, sautéed onions, lettuce, tomato and the ingredient that brings it all together-a hefty slice of grilled mozzarella that’s crispy on one side and soft on the other.

It’s the fresh basil that will first waft up from pickerel al cartoccio at dinnertime. Your parchment packet starts with a grilled wedge of potato layered high with fresh tomato, garlic, asparagus, red onion, olive oil and a perfectly baked pickerel fillet. A generous sprig of basil, added after cooking, crowns the tower.

If you go
Gimli is about 90 kilometres north of Winnipeg on Highway 8. It will take you less than an hour to get to town. Plan to arrive before lunch, stroll the dock and watch fisherman haul in the catch of the day. Flop down on the beach for the afternoon with a good book. No one will notice if you catch 40 winks. If you just can’t bear to leave, book a room at Lakeview Resort (877-355-3500, lakeviewhotels.com) and wake up to the sound of waves crashing on Gimli Beach. wl