Rigging smelt for Trout and Salmon

[Leafmountain10]

Just thinking about the upcoming season and wondering what others have tried and proven successful in regards to fishing with smelt.  Wondering about what others have tried when it comes to hook size, brand, rigging method, depths...etc

Best of luck this coming weekend!

[fishandbeer]

I like to fish them in the top 10 feet of the water column if fishing for salmon and browns. I like it down deep for the lakers, either right on bottom or close to it. I fish a #10 treble with the smallest split shot that will do the job. I also use 6-8 lb mono leaders that are about 30 feet long. Seems like each lake is a little different though. When I fish on champlain I fish the top for the big lakers and have had great luck doing  that. Good luck....

[Hood]

I run a similar setup....

Use a #8 or 10 treble and about 5 feet of 15 lb floro leader. Trick I found with the dead smelt is poppin the air out. I take a knife and insert it just above the rear pec fins. Then squeeze the air out. i hook them just a hair behind halfway in the back and it makes them have a "falling" appearance with their nose slightly down. I fish them all over the water column. The salmon seem to almost always be up high, the lakers, anywhere. One thing with the lakers it that i have noticed if one is on the bottom then thats where to be for the day...have also had them up under the ice all day as well. We definately adjust to the action we are having.

Another thing. Get to your tipups quick, sometimes the lakers will burn the spool down in seconds.

[TRT]

Good advice Hood, I second your suggestions. I prefer small
single hooks typically size 4 or 6. My thought is small hooks
keep bait fresh. I also vary my depths. I like floro an also
use leaders in similar lengths. My brother prefers longer
leaders like fishandbeer's suggestion. 

[fishandbeer]

One thing that I have found important if fishing dead smelt is I don't use any sinker. Just pop the air out of them like Hood said and they freefall. The first couple of times I fished with dead smelt was on lower Champlain. There are weedbeds down there and the sinkers get hung up it the dead weeds. There would be this big birds nest of weeds followed by a nice laker. When we got done fishing the ice looked like we were pulling weeds not fishing. When fishing salmon on the Cowbanks on Champlain I have found the closer you can keep you bait to the ice the better the fish seemed to bite. If you drop them too low you start getting perch. As was mentioned before,each lake we fish has little tricks that improve your success. The only way to figure it out is to get out there and experiment if things aren't going well. If your not hitting them and someone else is, stop by and pick their brain. Fishermen love to help each other out. A lot of what I have learned is from being "not to proud to ask for advice". 

[hizzy19]

My setup is very similar to Hood. #8 treble(I have been using red hooks the past few years and I like them, but can't tell you if they increase my numbers) and 3' of 6-8lb fluorocarbon leader(I prefer Seaguar Carbonpro). For salmon/browns I set up just under the ice.. For lakers I will vary my depths in the morning, generally with more just under the ice, but usually by the end of the day I am fishing a few feet off bottom. I seem to get more lakers just under the ice in the first few hours of daylight than any other time of day.

As far as where I hook the smelt... If I am fishing live smelt I will hook them through the lips, but if they are dead I hook them just as Hood stated.

Any of you ever fish rosy reds for trout/salmon? Not being able to buy smelt has me looking for an alternative, if only to get lines in the water first thing in the morning before I can switch them out with live smelt...

[fishandbeer]

Hizzy, guys down in the Champlain Vally use the rosy's for salmon fishing and say they have good luck. I have never tried them, as we always had emeralds or hunts to fish with. From my visit to the local bait shop it looks like the golden shiners are what I will be starting out the morning with. When you mentioned depth of water I do a similar thing. I like to start out shallow in the early am with staggered depths, then as the day wears on I move out deep and close to the bottom if not on it. We used to fish Caspain opening day and would get there in the dark about 3am to get our spot. We would place out sets in 10-30 feet of water and catch a bunch of fish before it got light. Then they would stop hitting in shallow so we would move out deep, unless we were fishing for rainbows.