Anyone who has ever watched the Discovery Channel has probably seen an episode of Deadliest Catch where crass manly men brave the freezing waters of the Bering Sea to catch crab and hopefully make tens of thousands of dollars in the process. In Riga during the winter season you’ll probably see equally colourful characters using language in desperate need of censorship. Plenty of men dressed in arctic gear and furry hats risk their lives on the hardly frozen River Daugava each year in search of a few fish, some camaraderie and a hard alcohol buzz – to stave off the chill. Ice fishermen from near and far pack up their supplies (drills, parkas and plenty of vodka) and walk out onto Latvia’s frozen lakes and rivers in the hope of catching something big. Known as bļitkotāji, a word that leaves even locals tongue-tied, these fearless, perhaps senseless, sportsmen brave even the thinnest ice for a chance to extract nature’s bounty from its frozen depths. So if you see strange men camped out in the middle of the river, they’re not suicidal, they’ve just gone fishing.