Smelt

[Kevin J Legg]

Fished an Indian River Lake this afternoon and caught 30 smelt. Wish I could salt and freeze some for bait but they wouldn't be certifiied. Guess they will make a good meal.

[yette66]

At what depth did you get them at

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[Kevin J Legg]

72 fow from 60" to bottom,

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Edited January 29, 2015 by Kevin J Legg

[Sk8man]

Good to know there are still some around Kevin as for whatever reason they are very scarce in many of the Finger Lakes these days. I can remember catching them even on bare tiny gold hooks

[justtracytrolling]

Nice work Kevin!

I can still remember waiting with my grandpa for my grandma to fry smelt up. Its probably eating smelt that got me hooked on fishing. Dip netting smelt at the salt mine on cayuga was my first fishing trip, and I remember thinking how awesome it was that we could go get them for ourselves. Of course looking back we should have been using them for bait to catch the trout that had to be right behind us feeding on the smelt! Those runs in the 70's were thick with smelt.

[BSmaster]

Two things.  I thought if they were salted they were ok to be uncertified and secondly I would use tartar sauce instead of salt after they were cleaned and fully deep fried. 

[Frogger]

I think the salt rule was for commercially packaged bait having specific info on the packaging like from a business but sure.

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[GAMBLER]

They do have to be perserved in other means other than freezing, from a commercial business and labelled. 

[Sk8man]

Yes Gambler is right on the mark. 

[allaboutfishing13]

There's smelt everywhere up here in all the lakes. They are plentiful and big sized.

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[RD9]

Another smelting hotspot as far as fishing for them is on the cattaragus creek. You can really get some nice ones and when there in you can get a lot. Right at the Hanover launch.

[chasdc1]

Back in the day, when i was a kid in Michigan, the smelt run off Lake Huron was incredible.

Just south of E.Tawas, where the Au Gres River runs into the big lake, the Singing Bridge was a magnet for hundreds of cars parking on both sides of US23.

During the run, cars would be lined up for what seemed to be miles and the river banks turned into an incredible mash of fishermen, fires, nets, beer cans, huge cast iron frying pans, lanterns, etc.

When a run was on, the moving roar of the crowd would parallel the run of the fish and lanterns would blink on like fireflies as the netters took to the water.

What an exciting time and experience to have.

Been in Rochester for 35 yrs and don't know what it's like there now but I'm pretty sure it's not that way anymore.

[Kevin J Legg]

When I was a kid they use to fill wash tubs with them out of Lake Ontario. In college we would dip them in Seneca tributaries and get 5 gallon pail full. Now I'm happy to jig up enough for a meal from local lakes.

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[Sk8man]

Exactly my experience Kevin. I still remember all the lanterns and dip nets and people going wild and kids yelling and the occasional rainbow trout in the mix scrambling for his life

[JJBat150]

And the suckers... can't forget them.

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[plecos4sale]

Yes I would stand on the shore of Ontario with a lantern buy Maxwell with my back to the lake. Turn around and dip pails full. When the eels came in they would scare the hell out of me. That was in late 60's

[panfisher]

This is exciting and disconcerting at the same time. The slowdown with smelt in many areas. Besides the usual demons that  have affected that fishery, I want to find of any real specifics on if this is being addressed on a regional (U.S./Can.) basis to any successful outcomes....especially in NYS.