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A couple years ago I got a 25 inch brown trout out of misery they are catching walleyes this year
@davef that’s cool, I’ve seen people pull burbot, gobies, “silver perch” and sheeps head out of the channel, so I have wondered if any or all of them might wind up in the bay. I suspect at least some of them head back out in the lake for deeper water, in winter. Burbot look gross though, haha. I’ve often heard people talk about “smelt” or “shad” and the like. I have often wondered if it’s kind of a catch-all term people use for undesirable fish. I think I may have seen those turn up dead in the early spring on the shore some years, but never caught any while fishing. I wouldn’t even know how to target them. I have marked large schools of fish a little higher up in the water column before in misery, that I heard some people refer to as shad.
Smelt and shad are definitly 2 different fish, not a catch all term. I've personally never caught either, but my dad has told me they used to catch piles of smelt back in the day.
Catching a decent amount of walleye this year. I pulled in a 28 inch male a few weeks ago off liberty.
back in the early 80’s a guy caught a turtle next to me in horseshoe pond. Have never seen anything that strange caught in January
A couple weekends ago I caught a 21" steelhead and a 19" walleye and my son caught a 15" White Bass out of chestnut. And some perch but none to brag about.
The smelt I caught would be right under the ice. Even there they were hard to see but they would be in small schools. I had one rod rigged with a small jig with maggots on. I just jigged maybe a foot or so under the ice and would bring it up near the bottom of the ice. They were all probably less than 5 inches but they were great eating. I have caught one that was about 7 or 8 inches out in the lake while perching.
Good to know, thanks crappieman! I haven’t caught either species or seen anyone targeting them. Did your dad used to eat the smelt, or were they incidentally caught while targeting other fish? What did he think of them?
Thanks Captain and Chute. Ever try using smelt as bait to catch a bigger fish? I wonder if you could use em like minnows or chubs. Or is that not allowed?