Smelt question

[Ottawa_fish]

Need your help on smelt fishing. I can see it on my sonar,
I can hook a few occasionally, but nothing consistent.
I fish a medium size inland lake which is pretty deep (over
200'). The smelt here goes in pretty big schools between 20
and 60'. I've gone down to 1# test line , I tried a lot of
different  jigs - still nothing consistent. People here mostly
use tiny live shiners. Well, it seems to help in terms of the size,
but not the numbers of the fish they catch. What would you
suggest for  bait/techniques/locations?    

[Bear_Lake_Bob]

 Ottawa:

Here in Buffalo, New York area along Lake Erie, and the back bays, and creeks, we use small Lake Minnows, similar to those found in your Lake Simcoe area.

To hook those tasty morsels, you need small hooks and small baits. Sometimes cutting or breaking a minnow in two will help considerably. Did you know that Smelt will follow your line upwards towards the open hole if you go slow!. In this case you would hold a school right under your hole, and no need to drop down to heavy depths. We do catch Smelt in Lake Erie in water over 60ft, usually while Perch fishing. Our Smelt like to hold on, and usually their bite is so lite, unless you are watching the pole, you won';t see the tiny taps they make. A slow steady line retrive in deep  water will help you to land them when hooked.

Here in Lake Erie, our smelt are even found anywhere even in 4ft or less water around boat docks in harbors. Maybe you can try different depths to locate them.

It is not unusual to smelt fish here with two small hooks, size 10 long shank(best ) and get two at a time each time you drop in. In the harbors, in shallow water you sight fish them.A slight jigging action, then a rest usually tricks them into biting. Our smelt here tend to bite from side to side, vrs up and down.

Wish I could help more!

Bear_Lake_Bob

Fredonia, New York

[olgeezer]

I ain't smart enough to catch smelt! Although I did hook one Saterday. I was jigging for perch and hooked a smelt through the tail!! One guy says to use a hacksaw blade nailed to the wall of your shanty and drape the line over the end of it so you will see the slightest of movement. Sounded like a good idea to me but I haven't tried it yet. Maybe Thursday when I can go again.

[Cook078]

Hello Ottawa_fish...I have been learning how to catch smelt myself.  Today, I started with the basic chart. color teardrop, hung just below an orange/white color teardrop, all tipped with spikes (maggots).  This worked well at times.  The fish seemed to get turned-off at some point though, so I headed over to one of the old-timers shanty to see what they used.  Almost the same set-up, but with a spoon tied at the end of the line, 2 teardrops tied above it.  So I went back and tied on a small Swedish Pimple, and WALAA they were biting again.  Another thing people do is take the hook off a spoon, and tie a dropper line with the teardrops.  I'm not sure if it matters which way you do it, but it seems that if a smelt sees what they think is another smelt, (the spoon) going for the teardrop, they tend to strike ALOT more.  Almost like survval of the fittest!!  I caught alot more after I added the spoon.  And it does'nt have to be a Pimple either, the old-timer had a real skinny orange spoon on the end of his...Oh yeah, if you are using an ultra-lite your OK, if not you almost HAVE to use a spring bobber to see the nibbles.  Hope this helps...
Mike

[Jigmaster]

Look over this site as I have posted some tips several times.

[fishboy899]

I caught alot with a Hali jig yesterday.  I found that they liked the bait sitting still and wouldnt hit it if it was moving.

[Ottawa_fish]

Thanks a lot for all your tips! They make a lot of sence.
I can not wait till the saturday to try them.
I did notice that I could easily  lift a big part of the school
by 20-25' just moving my jig up. The problem seems to be in
triggering them to  strike. I think that I'm overjigging. I recall
now that I was getting more strikes when I had my rod sitting
on holder. Even when I hold it still in my hand there is a bit
of vibration and movement.