Chagan Lake is a working lake as well as a seasonal fishing landmark. A report on a 2016 winter operation describes a long net carried beneath the ice through hundreds of holes, coordinating fishers, tools and a horse-powered capstan. The same lake also supports open-water fishing, hatchery production, fish stocking and fisheries enforcement. Its history is tied to the Yinsong canal, which diverts Songhua River water toward the lake and surrounding farmland. Read together, those details show a place shaped by both inherited fishing knowledge and active water and fish management.
Horse-powered winching equipment on the ice, pictured in Travel China’s Chagan Lake winter-fishing feature.
Follow the winter fishery from a net routed beneath the ice to the lake rites, selective mesh and local businesses that carry the catch into the cold season.