Any way to get those little?

I went lake Ontario last Thursday following a very appreciated advises from some people for the first time and got a nice rainbow. Was not able to take a good picture as I was alone and it was quite wavy for my tin tiller.
However when I clean the fish at home, as usual, I open the belly to find out what they are eating and found these two inside. I guess it is sort of alewife. Even though they are quite smaller than rainbow or salmon I have feeling they should be very testy when smoked.
Does anyone have an idea how to catch them in decent numbers? Is it possible?
Thanks
(Hope it's OK to post this kind of image)

Why would you want to eat a minnow?
I don't think anybody eats Alewife????

Alewife technically and practically not minnow at all. Minnow by definition is fish from carp family, while alewife is essentially herring. Herrings are very tasty fish despite being small. We used to buy Mexican Gulf Atlantic thread herring here in Canada, small fish, but when smoked it was one of the best fish I ever ate (and I know what I'm saying).
I'm not sure about Great Lakes alewife, but if it's possible to catch I would try. It is size of small perch and as you don't need to gut it, just clean its scale, so quite eatable for my family habits...

Personal cuisine preference aside, from what I've heard from other multi-species chasing friends of mine, alewife can be caught on hook and line, but it's not easy -and these were people specifically targeting them. You'd have a hard time catching enough for a meal. It is illegal to fish for them using a net, and they are not a legal baitfish species, so if you're ever caught with a bunch, you may have a hard time explaining that you're not using them as bait.

BTW---if you ever find fresh Atlantic herring for sale here in Ont let me know pronto!! I'll start the car right away!!

Fossil Fish,
thanks, I'm aware of that. I wouldn't mind to explain even though in fact I don't have to. CO has to get some proof for any illegal action to charge. As long as having alewife in the possession is not illegal I'm Ok.
The main thing: how to possess them....

Knuguy,
not fresh, frozen.
BTW I don't share the common persuasion that frozen fish taste significantly worse than fresh after cooking. I'm not going to argue about it as everybody has different taste ability and habits, but for me - keep fish cool, clean it ASAP, freeze it ASAP, handle and transport it gently, unfreeze it slowly and... to my taste it will be as good as fresh one.
Again, not going to argue.

Not to argue at all but< IMO, it depends on the fat content of the fish. Oily or fatty fish such as salmon tend to lose their flavor quickly whereas cod, whose oil is totally stored in the liver, tends to keep for a long while.

Do you know of some place to buy frozen Atlantic herring? thx

A bit of a drive for you.. But Seafood Depot has everything..

Its in Woodbridge, follow the Italians... LOL

http://seafooddepot.ca/search.php?q=Herring&button1=

Every 2-3 years there is a spring die off of alewife that lasts for maybe 2-3 days


If I remember, I will let you now when that event happens again, because then you can get them by the thousands if so inclined.

this usually happens in May, but again it is not an annual event to my knowledge

Maybe the Italians here in Wasaga get busloads to go down sometimes???

Harold

The next time you are in Barrie, go to the "Centra" market in the Bayfield Mall.

This is an Oriental market that opened last year and they have a tremendous variety of fresh and frozen fish.

I bought frozen Anchovies there last year to troll in a teaser head behind a flasher.

Ralph

Knuguy,
I was probably emphasized to much on "not going to argue" while it is interesting to discuss.
You might be right, at least at the point that it depends on the fish you have.
At the same time I found (and we discussed it many times in the family) that salmon here (in Ontario waters) is not fatty at all. I think that fatty salmon here would be only Atlantic salmon which I never got chance to catch. All other fish in here are not quite oily or enough fatty for me with exception of whitefish.
I had read on some forums disparaging opinion about "greasy lake trout" comparing to Chinook salmon, but even lake trout (at least from lake Joseph, the only lake when I could get it so far) is not oily enough for me. I would be probably afraid to tell it publicly before, but now seems like I found someone how could share this: for me the most tasty fish is oily and fatty ones.
I respect all fish I got here, and thankfully cook and eat them, but, to say honestly, Ontario waters are lacking good ones. At least among those which are allowed to catch (meaning exceptions like eel and sturgeon). In my humble experience whitefish is the best, ling is following (while its liver cooked and eaten separately in a special salad). All other even differ significantly in taste stay at approx same level for me.
As for you question where to get Atlantic herring... we used to buy it 2-3 years ago in polish store Starsky for a very good price but I didn't see it there since. I guess you can buy now almost any fish in Chinese stores....

Longshank,
Could you give me more info on this? It's not because I really want to get the fish for the table, but it is also interesting from theoretical prospective: why this die would occur?
Thanks!

I believe the die off happens when there is a quick change in water temps, but this may not be true.

all I know for certain is there are miles of dead/dying fish on the surface and the salmon and other predators are having a blast

Eastern beaches and ashbridges used to have fantastic numbers of dead Alewives wash up on the beaches when I was a kid in the 70’s and 80’s. It was something to see!

Longshank, porkpie,
What waters are you talking about?
And you mean salmon eats dead fish from the surface? I would never think about it. Interesting.