Haliburton Muskoka Smelts, They ran hard

[mykola]

Bot out for some local dip net action Friday night. Planned a route of 4-5 spots to check. Started slow checking a few spots, 9pm saw one or two lone smelt, saw walleye spawning under my feet while standing on top of the culvert, saw suckers, saw a bass, saw a bullhead, but no smelt schools yet. I was waiting for my friend to show up, as he was arriving a got a call from the “smelt network”. “They’re here! Come now!” Packed up and off we go, it was one of the last spots we were aiming for, a friend called and said there are 10 cars here already! We arrive at 10pm at the spot, the run is sparse and people are leaving to look elsewhere, we stick it out scooping singles until 11pm. Then the square nets started vibrating every 30 seconds…. The run was on hard! Every scoop turned into 50-80 smelts. My friend had the wrong size net wig 1 inch holes and therefore we would lose half smelt as they size was smaller this year. So he would wait til it’s full the. Fling em up into the air onto the hill and we would scramble for them before they went back into the water. Raining smelts!
Within the hour my cooler was half full and decided that’s enough.

The run was thickest Thursday night you could walk across them, Friday was less, and now? Probably done.

What an adventure.
I estimate I cleaned 1200-1500 smelts by myself, took about 6 hours straight.
Yum.

[mykola]

Dip dip

[mykola]

Spoon tips for lakers

[Hunterman]

Now that’s some great action. I haven’t had that kind of action in 15 years I bet.

[petersaban]

Oh man...what I would do for a feed of smelt

[Limacharley]

-7 this morning when i woke up.
I'm guessing a week away or so for Trout Lake as we have not had warm weather. Friday was an exception.

Good for you Mykola

[crappeeeman]

WOW! Six hours straight.

[Itsaboutime]

Wow! Been awhile since I had a feed of them all beer battered up! mmmm good!

[Hubbabubba]

I always found my eyes were bigger than my belly when we used to smelt. I'd always tell myself 10 pounds is enough, then you go home with 25 and you're up all night with the scissors. They are a rich, oily fish and I find they degrade quickly in the freezer after about two to three months. Even worse than oily lakers. I tried vaccume seal, freezing in water blocks, etc. and it didn't help. I always gave mine to friends to make sure they were eaten when they were fresh. I do love maybe 3-4 "feeds" but that's about it for me. I guess I have a delicate gut. I find them too rich if I pig too many at once. I never did try smoking them. That is something I'd like to try.

[Limacharley]

I freeze all my fish in water and they never deteriorate, including smelts.

They stay fresh as the day they are caught.

[sabmgb]

that amazing congrats. Haven't had a good catch of smelt in over 50 years. I really miss those nights.

[Flukes]

Nicely done. They do seem to run short and hard up here. When the frogs start to sing is what I was told and I noticed they started singing on Thursday night here (and told my wife, the smelt are probaly running). But this year, I decided not to go to the creek I fished in the last couple of years.... too much to do before the work season gets under way for me soon. Great story and wow, you've got a great haul of smelt....I wouldn't have been happy having to clean for 6 hours though. I am usually more than happy enough with about 50-60 smelts each spring....just love being out there to see what's going on with the lake, etc.

[Fishnhunt]

Sounds like a fun night!! Glad you got abunch