Our Weather Fish

 On a beautiful, cold day, we got on our gear and ice-skated on the smooth ice of Blackfish Pond where we caught a blackfish and kept it as a weather fish and a school pet.   

We made two awesome cone-shaped traps out of pointy fence wire during our free time.  When we were finished making the traps, we chipped holes in the ice of two different ponds with a heavy ice-pick and set the traps in the holes.  The first two boring times we checked the traps they were empty.  On the day we went ice-skating, the hole was covered with a cloudy, thin layer of ice.  Aiden happily chipped the ice away and Kaleb carefully took the ice chunks out.  Standing around the hole, we saw a big blackfish swimming around in our trap.  He was about six inches long.  Aiden lay on the ice, rolled up his sleeve and stuck his arm in the freezing water to reach the trap. (He said it wasn’t cold.)  We had to chip some more ice away before we finally got the trap out.   

As we gasped with excitement, Mr. Gooden put it in a tote of swampy pond water and we brought it to the school as a class pet.  The blackfish has leopard-like skin that is black and greenish, like it’s wearing an army uniform.  The adults and Elders told us that blackfish can predict the weather.  If the blackfish swims at the top of the tank, the weather will be calm and clear.  If the blackfish goes to the bottom of the tank and hides under the mud, it will be stormy weather.  We are observing our blackfish to see if it can predict weather.  When it’s time, we will eat the blackfish or let it go. 

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