smelting?

[Outdoorsmen]

what is smelting not the kind of like iron and stuff but with little fishys i hear?

[PIKEHUNTER69]

rainbow smelt   is a small baitfish  usually jigged up! 3'' to 6'' long+-  good for bait and eating

[Kevin23]

what is smelting not the kind of like iron and stuff but with little fishys i hear?

The process of catching smelt

[fish_finder]

Tasty fish , small but tasty and very fun to catch, we get them here some over a foot long and catch em on 1" minnows, small guys work great for bait to

[andercee]

Has any one ever fished for bait fish other than smelt while ice fishing?  That would be kind of neat to do especially when minnows are sold out everywhere.   

[matt_aid]

Has any one ever fished for bait fish other than smelt while ice fishing?  That would be kind of neat to do especially when minnows are sold out everywhere.   

There's this one spot I fish that produces nice fat 3-4 inch golden shiners!

[PIKEHUNTER69]

ya we jig for smelt and for goldens here in western mass! usually have pretty good luck with a hali jig and a mousie

[jeffro9023]

my buddies son is 4 and he reached down in the water and caught a 6" chub with his bare hand...the poor kid still isnt allowed back in that bait shop HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[perchnut]

I used to go smelting with my grandfather in the UP of Michigan.  We would go out at night, with big dip nets on the small creeks and rivers...I was quite small, but remember filling those nets sometimes....and loading a couple of washtubs full of 'smelts'...they were sooo tasty fried up later in the spring on trout fishing trips....

[Litchfield Fisher]

Us Mainah's smelt on the tidal rivers up here.  It is a pretty big industry, there are about a dozen places that rent out shacks on some of the eddies in brackish water.  a few hundred personal shacks are also placed out on eddies around the costal areas of the state.  They cut "race holes" holes that are about a foot wide and run the hole length of the shack.  Then from a board near the celling 10-15 lines are attached that are then dropped and baited with blood worm/ sandworm ect. You either watch the lines and wait for them to move or jig.  Turns into a drunk fest 4-5 hours into the tide but a lot of fun

[dabluz]

In the Saguenay river, province of Quebec, a lot of people fish for smelt through the ice.  We are close to 100 miles upriver from the St-Lawrence yet there are 20 foot tides.  The smelt are caught on small hooks (size 12 to 8) and the number of hooks is unlimited.  I use 10 hooks tied about 3 inches apart on 6 lb test mono line.  The smelt are caught in very shallow water.  So shallow that at low tide, there is no water and the ice is sitting on the bottom.  However, as soon as there are a few inches of water, the smelt start biting.  The smelt are about 4 to 9 inches with a few approaching 12 inches in length.  The limit is 120 smelt.  Every once in a while, we catch a brook trout.

[Irrgang131]

I know a lot of people love them eating and catching....but I find them annoying to say the least hate when they wont leave my bait alone.