DCHP-3

basin hole

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

a hole for fishing nets, made in thick ice by chiselling out a basin-shaped depression until a hole is cut through at the centre.

Quotations

1801
. . . holes are cut [in the ice] at a distance of thirty feet from each other, to the full length of the net; one of them is larger than the rest, being generally about four feet square, and is called the bason [hole]; by means of them, and poles of proportionable length, the nets are placed in and drawn out of the water.
1888
The Indian dogs or huskies haul the portable canvas house to the "basin holes," and there the nets are "set" and "lifted" in comparative comfort.
1956
At the beginning of the season basin holes are relatively easy to open but later, when the ice becomes as much as 6 feet thick, each hole becomes a major chore. To re-open a hole in thick ice calls for less work since a basin hole takes several days to freeze to the original thickness.