Finally got out locally

Got out on ice this past Thursday and had some fun with perch and smelt

they were not jumbos, but got enough for a good meal on both species and it was just great to be out of the house...gonna do it again if the winds ever dropdown this way

6 inches of blue ice


please make sure to enlarge the pics hahaha

and some perch.....kept two small ones for the eyeballs which in turn got more perch and the smelt were thick every hour and liked those as well

disclaimer....nothing was wasted and all was eaten

Please teach me how to catch smelts if you don't mind. All I ever heard is the using nets which I'm not a fan of

Did about the same in same area, Caught enough for a meal and got outside ,it was great.

they were all caught sight fishing and it took a while to get everything downsized as in #12 hooks with a small perch eye or part of a plastic egg imitation

also 4 pound test line


I'm learning this myself btw

for sure there Falcon

Nice work LS, I really I love smelts but I do think they taste better when you catch them yourself..

I have fished for smelts for years through the winter. It always seemed like a goverment make work project when I could scoop a pail full in the spring.

That said they are fun and can be in thick schools in rivers canals and back bays feeding Lake Erie. Like Longshank I used to sight fish for them, sometimes only a couple feet below the ice..

One trick I learned was to use a very small thin strip of white vecro soaked in some form of bait scent and a small hook. The smelt attacked this readily and quite often its small pointy teeth would get caught in the velcro. Many of the fish I lifted out never had a hook in them!

I don't eat them myself but have plenty of friends and relatives who want them - especially if I clean them first!!

Way to go buddy I think we’ll have to go next week and get some dinner

Fascinating angling for smelt I'll have to try it andJumbos are nice but the little guys are less work to clean. Enjoy the feed!

Well done Werner...

Those smelt look delicious

Nice meal! Glad you got out and enjoyed your outing..

Thanks for the report.

Cheers!

Thanks, awesome information. Much appreciated, enjoy you feed!

I use a small piece of steelhead yarn on 14 hook for smelt, Smelts teeth get stuck on the yarn, lift shake them off repeat......maybe give it a try

I also use a drop shot rig with 2 hooks snelled on the line with a small split shot or 2 just weight the yarn rig down, add a smelt eye if things are slow

Good to hear you got out Shank. Nice little feed.
Agreed about the wind, it’s been nasty lately.

Thanks.....that's exactly what I spent some time on rigging up

3 colors ready to go

it was easy to see that the smaller the presentation was, the more they hit it