best place to rent for smelting.

[jacksmelt71]

hey folks. my brother wants to go sea smelting and wants me to ask you guys who has decent cabins to rent.? he went with one years ago and got skunked plus the cabins were crapty. can PM me if you want. t.y.

[woodchip]

Camps are going on rivers late because of extreme rain let your brother look at this video.  ( https://www.pressherald.com/2019/01/14/alien-looking-disk-of-ice-on-presumpscot-river-has-westbrook-buzzing/)

[icehole84]

Pretty sure bakers and james eddy are open now...Ive never been to James Eddy but went to Bakers last yr....camp was decent but house lines were junk...make sure he brings a jig stick with sabiki rig and some small jigs....I didnt catch a thing on the house lines but caught probably 100 with a couple jig sticks...

[jacksmelt71]

thanks!

[9huskies]

The house lines are junk in every rental smelt shack.

[Trout Hound]

Leightons in Bowdoinham is pretty decent and he has a few shacks out now. Jim’s and Riverbend are also not bad and now open.

[Linedogg104]

So I've never smelt fished before. my old neighbor gave me a bunch of smelt rods and sruff. Don't know if I'll give it a try it if they will just collect dust in my cellar

[Snofighter82]

James eddy has the best fishing in a snow storm but hard to keep camp heated with kerosene heaters Worthings is good if you fish the early morning tide

[shoeman]

James eddy has the best fishing in a snow storm but hard to keep camp heated with kerosene heaters Worthings is good if you fish the early morning tide

anyone been to worthings this week? Going tomorrow from noon till 7 or so.

[Fish2kill]

The house lines are junk in every rental smelt shack.

If we all know this why do we pay 100 bucks a trip. 100 bucks gets you a decent
Hotel room probably with a pool nd free breaksfast. But we pay 100 bucks to either freeze our nuts off or burn em off in a cramped shack that may or may not
Produce a decent catch because were dumb and like to smelt.

& to be constructive, ive done ok at leightons but i do not know if theyre up nd runnin yet.

[Squidy]

I like Jim's camps, he has wood stoves vs Kerosene heaters. The Kerosene fumes gives me a headache. I've done well at James Eddy, Bakers, Sonny's and Jim's camps. I also bring jigging rods, sabki rigs and Hali jigs, I use a mix of the house lines and my jigging rods. Best catch ever was two years ago 123 Smelt in just under two tides, we had to pull in the house lines to slow down the catching at one point just to be able to have a sandwich and a couple of beers.

[Snofighter82]

Fishing at Worthings might be alright they just put camps on in the last week haven’t been yet though

[shoeman]

Fishing at Worthings might be alright they just put camps on in the last week haven’t been yet though

thanks snofighter82. Will update tomorrow night!

[Fishhead680]

I believe all the camps are now on and active and taking reservations. They all have their quirks and I definitely prefer wood heat to kerosene but there should not be a bad smell unless someone dumped it on the floor!
I agree that the house lines are pretty much always junk but I don't blame the camps due to all the drunks that would break and wreck anything less than crane cable... I always set up my own jigs and usually put a house line or two down as well.
I know several people that have done well this year at James Eddy's and River Bend so far but all that means is there are smelt around so they should be catchable at the right tide in all the camps.
Good luck!

[Snofighter82]

Showman if your going to Worthings and don’t have your own jigs I’m strongly encouraging spending the extra money and use there jigboards much better than there houselines

[9huskies]

It's been a few years since I did much smelting so this might not still be accurate. Worthing's was more of a party atmosphere than the others. Shacks are close together with a lot of drinking and noise. Shacks were so close that it was not unusual to get lines tangled with the shack next door. Leighton's was the exact opposite. We were told up front that he doesn't put up with a lot of noise and drunken behavior. I have been there when people were told to leave because of noise. Some of Leighton's shacks had wood heat and others had sunflower propane heaters. The propane put a lot of moisture in the air making a lot of condensation on the walls and roof. I never fished James Eddy or Riverbend on a busy weekend tide. Midweek, both places were quiet. Both seemed like they attract people who would rather catch fish than party. I can't comment on Jim's or Baker's. It has been too long since I fished at either of them.

[shoeman]

thanks snofighter82. Will update tomorrow night!

fished 11.45-6.45 tide today at worthings . 3 of us caught 250-300. Lots of small ones. Sabakis killed it today!

[Snofighter82]

That’s a lot better than catching few to none good haul congrats

[shoeman]

That’s a lot better than catching few to none good haul congrats

thank u. Right place, right time.😊

[StevenB]

 I haven't gone smelting in years, but thanks to shoeman's post, today four of us fished Worthings on the 2:30/9 pm tide. We had to buy more bait......probably 800-850, mostly on sabiki'  set ups. Thanks for the heads up about the smelts running good.  Glad they had wood heat also
Steve

[shoeman]

I haven't gone smelting in years, but thanks to shoeman's post, today four of us fished Worthings on the 2:30/9 pm tide. We had to buy more bait......probably 800-850, mostly on sabiki'  set ups. Thanks for the heads up about the smelts running good.  Glad they had wood heat also
Steve

glad u got them also StevenB. Lot of fun when running! Took an hour an 25 mins to clean 279 of them!👍

[woodchip]

I thought there was a limit on smelts in tidal water

[rdhammah]

I thought there was a limit on smelts in tidal water

only if the game warden/EPO shows up(?)

[Fishhead680]

From Maine DMR website:

Zone 1: From the New Hampshire border to Owl’s Head Light in Rockland.
It shall be unlawful to fish for, take or possess smelts, except by hook and line between October 1 –
December 31, or by hook and line through the ice, while ice is present.
It shall be unlawful to fish for, take, or possess more than 4 quarts of smelts per day.

[woodchip]

12 to 13 smelts in a pound

[Squidy]

From Maine DMR website:


It shall be unlawful to fish for, take, or possess more than 4 quarts of smelts per day.

Is that dressed or whole?

[woodchip]

Its illegible  to clean or remove fish head until immediate cooking

[Squidy]

Its illegible  to clean or remove fish head until immediate cooking

If I have a frying pan on the wood stove I'm exempt :-) Kinda like having a bag of Marsh Mellows at a camp fire makes it a cooking fire no need for a fire permit