Smelt fishing

[Cessna172]

Is there anywhere that the smelt still run

[Fozzy47]

Very small runs from what I hear.

In the mid to late 50's off Gov't or town piers, using lights, the water would turn black as swarms of smelt came in. On occasion we threw small stones into the water to scare some smelt away so we could haul up our little 6-8 ft smelt nets in.

Brings back memories.
The last time I went was in April 1972. I brought back two 1/3 full garbage bags & 2 pair of scissors to my girlfriends apt. Took us till 2:oo a.m., but we got the job done. We were knee deep in fish guts, eggs everywhere. She passed the test with flying colours.
Next month....we'll be married 50 yrs....lol.



Cheers,

[mykola]

Guys get them in my area in the small-medium sized lakes. Some small lakes have staggering numbers of smelts. Finding a spot to dip them is the thing. Guys dip them from boat in the narrows and sand flats around islands. Creek mouths too. The runs are heavy 1-3 days in each spot. Heavy runs starts south and moves to the more Northern lakes over the course of two weeks. I’ve never hit them on the head up here but have buddies that fill garbage bags full every year. Some places can get a little unruly during the runs.

Picture from a small laker lake I fish… loaded with smelts.

[Nuclear]

Its all timing something should happen end of next week fun to catch and eat.

[RHYBAK]

Might all happen tonight with the rainfall predicted