Chagan Lake, the First Winter Fishing Tourist Destination (Part 1)

Chagan Lake, the First Winter Fishing Tourist Destination (Part 1) In the north, some lakes are unforgettable for their charming summer scenery, but in winter, they rest on the frozen lake surface. However, some lakes are unremarkable in summer but shine in winter. Chagan Lake, located in Qianguoerluosi, Songyuan, Jilin Province, is one of the latter. What makes Chagan Lake shine in winter is winter fishing, which is ice fishing. As late as the Liao Dynasty, it became a fishing place for Khitan nobles and the birthplace of winter fishing and hunting culture. Winter fishing, with a history of thousands of years, is one of the few ancient fishing and hunting methods that have been preserved to this day. Chagan Lake is located on the Qianguoerluosi Grassland on the banks of the Songhua River, also known as Chagan Naoer, which means "white lake" in Mongolian. It is located in the water network area where the Nenjiang River and the Huolin River meet and is a barrier lake at the end of the Huolin River. This largest lake in Jilin Province covers an area of 420 square kilometers, ranking among the top ten freshwater lakes in China. In recent years, winter fishing has become a unique and interesting cultural activity and cultural landscape of Chagan Lake. Especially since the broadcast of "A Bite of China," more and more tourists come here to watch winter fishing during the Ice and Snow Fishing and Hunting Culture Tourism Festival every year, indirectly reviving this ancient fishing and hunting culture. The process of winter fishing in Chagan Lake is simply divided into netting and netting, and the first netting will have steps such as lake worship and net awakening. A large fishing net is inserted under the ice surface, which is tens of centimeters thick, and an experienced fish head needs to select a specific location. Ice drilling and netting are not only physical work but also require skilled skills and teamwork. Netting usually starts at dawn and often takes at least seven or eight hours. The netting is mostly in the afternoon, and the netting port and the netting port are not in the same place, generally about three miles apart. The fishing net needs to be dragged from this end to the other end through several ice eyes in the middle, which is also a physical work that needs to be completed by four horses pulling the winch.