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25 years ago, I was very interested in learning how to jig freshwater smelts to use for fishing. A friend and I were on Swan Lake in Swanville one morning. When we drilled our first hole, out come several smelts onto the ice. We thought, boy, this is going to be easy to catch them. Well, we started gigging in that same hole and never got a smelt. After awhile of not catching any smelts, an older gentleman walked over and proceded to catch smelt, one after the other, out of the same hole we were being skunked out of. Naturally, we asked him how he was catching all those smelts so easily. He was nice enough to explain how to catch them. I would like to return the favor by playing it forward. First you need to use the tiniest tear drop jigs you can find. It doesn't matter what jig colors you choose, because you will want to scrape off any paint on the jigs until just the lead color underneath is showing. Fresh water smelts love the lead colored jigs. You then top off your jig with a tiny maggot placed on the hook.Now you're ready to jig some smelts. Start jigging 1 foot off the lake bottom. Once you catch the 1st smelt, continue to raise your jig 1 foot higher in the water column until you catch another one. Continue raising your jig 1 foot until you have all the smelts swimming in your ice hole. That's when the fun begins. When the smelts are circling in or near your ice hole, you can catch them one after the other in pretty short order. Once you stop getting any more near the ice surface, then drop your jig to 1 foot off bottom again and repeat the process to get them to the top of your hole again. Here's a few other things that I have learned about fresh water smelts:Lakes that have a huge population of smelts are the best lakes to jig them during the day.If you don't get any near shore, 2 to 12 feet of water, move to deeper water, because most likely the smelts are being driven to deeper water because there's too many fish preying on them.If you can't find smelts in the shallow water, then those lakes usually will smelt better at night.Good luck. I sure appreciated having someone showing me the ropes.
uncoated lead jigs are illegal to use in Maine waters I believe.
25 years ago, I was very interested in learning how to jig freshwater smelts to use for fishing. A friend and I were on Swan Lake in Swanville one morning. When we drilled our first hole, out come several smelts onto the ice. We thought, boy, this is going to be easy to catch them. Well, we started gigging in that same hole and never got a smelt. After awhile of not catching any smelts, an older gentleman walked over and proceded to catch smelt, one after the other, out of the same hole we were being skunked out of. Naturally, we asked him how he was catching all those smelts so easily. He was nice enough to explain how to catch them. I would like to return the favor by paying it forward. First you need to use the tiniest tear drop jigs you can find. It doesn't matter what jig colors you choose, because you will want to scrape off any paint on the jigs until just the lead color underneath is showing. Fresh water smelts love the lead colored jigs. You then top off your jig with a tiny maggot placed on the hook.Now you're ready to jig some smelts. Start jigging 1 foot off the lake bottom. Once you catch the 1st smelt, continue to raise your jig 1 foot higher in the water column until you catch another one. Continue raising your jig 1 foot until you have all the smelts swimming in your ice hole. That's when the fun begins. When the smelts are circling in or near your ice hole, you can catch them one after the other in pretty short order. Once you stop getting any more near the ice surface, then drop your jig to 1 foot off bottom again and repeat the process to get them to the top of your hole again. Here's a few other things that I have learned about fresh water smelts:Lakes that have a huge population of smelts are the best lakes to jig them during the day.If you don't get any near shore, 2 to 12 feet of water, move to deeper water, because most likely the smelts are being driven to deeper water because there's too many fish preying on them.If you can't find smelts in the shallow water, then those lakes usually will smelt better at night.Good luck. I sure appreciated having someone showing me the ropes.
I'm really interested in this too, I see on some of the lake survey maps the state puts out they talk about an active winter smelt fishery. I have heard of people doing this but never any specifics. Where do I start? Shallow? Deep? Hook size? Bait? Any input would be greatly appreciated.Thanks!
... and just because you aren't getting any bites, doesn't mean there aren't any fish around! Even the pesky perch can sit and watch a jig for hours without a bite should they be in such a mood! I've seen a school come in on my flasher and stare at the jig/bait ect for an hour with maybe one little peck and then back to staring. Back to smelts, have seen them in 40 ft of water on my flasher, and landed a few... but that's a slow tricky process to catch a 3 inches fish in 40fow!
https://postimg.cc/image/dvcmce30t/This is an Allagash system lake.
It doesn't matter what jig colors you choose, because you will want to scrape off any paint on the jigs until just the lead color underneath is showing. Fresh water smelts love the lead colored jigs. You then top off your jig with a tiny maggot placed on the hook.
Very good info, Dennis, although I might suggest that folks could wrap the jig head with a small piece of bright silver aluminum foil to give the jig a lot of flash without breaking the law on bare lead jigs.Biggest freshwater smelt I ever saw and measured was 141/2 inches at a Hancock County lake.
Very good info, Dennis, although I might suggest that folks could wrap the jig head with a small piece of bright silver aluminum foil to give the jig a lot of flash without breaking the law on bare lead jigs.
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Topic: Freshwater Smelt Fishing (Read 7173 times)
