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IceShanty Main => General Ice Fishing Chit Chat => Topic started by: Gunflint on May 09, 2020, 07:44 AM

Title: Smelting Success!! (in Minnesota)
Post by: Gunflint on May 09, 2020, 07:44 AM

Finally got a few gallons of the tasty morsels...



(https://i.postimg.cc/jCs8vC5y/IMG-5241.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/jCs8vC5y)



(https://i.postimg.cc/JG0pVgjn/IMG-5243.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/JG0pVgjn)
Title: Re: Smelting Success!! (in Minnesota)
Post by: tomturkey on May 09, 2020, 08:43 AM
You are making my mouth water. I have not had fresh smelt in years. They are few and far between in Michigan any more.
Title: Re: Smelting Success!! (in Minnesota)
Post by: Gunflint on May 09, 2020, 01:37 PM
You are making my mouth water. I have not had fresh smelt in years. They are few and far between in Michigan any more.

Not many in Minnesota either compared to when I was a kid smelting on Lake Superior. Back then it was by the washtub or trash can full. A few gallons now brings me back to that time.
Title: Re: Smelting Success!! (in Minnesota)
Post by: Reinhard on May 09, 2020, 03:52 PM
I haven't gone after smelt in years.  When I lived in Duluth as a kid we went to the rivers and got a lot.  After they got the lampreys under control the predators like rainbows, lakers, and salmon have grown in population and now we have lesser runs but people still get their fill.  A lot get netted on park point also.  I actually fish for them through the ice and get enough for meals.  I fish Grindstone Lake for them.  They are suspended over deep water usually around 25 feet down.  good luck.
Title: Re: Smelting Success!! (in Minnesota)
Post by: Fry Flier on May 09, 2020, 08:50 PM
When I was a young lad back in the 60's we had a cottage on the Canadian side of Lake Erie in the Port Dover area. People came from many miles around and fished our beach with permission and every day they left us a 5 gallon pale of smelt along with sausages and cheese. The one regular group would leave a steel bucket full of smelt already stripped out with about an inch or two of ice on top and put inside our outdoor fridge. If my memory serves me right my father usually ended up with a case of beer to go with the smelt from that group.
Title: Re: Smelting Success!! (in Minnesota)
Post by: OldSailor on May 10, 2020, 08:38 AM
I netted smelt on Lake Superior when success was measured in trash cans!! Made for one heck of a smelt fry at the Legion!!
Title: Re: Smelting Success!! (in Minnesota)
Post by: Gunflint on May 10, 2020, 09:59 AM
I netted smelt on Lake Superior when success was measured in trash cans!! Made for one heck of a smelt fry at the Legion!!

Yup, I remember. Doing inland lakes is not the same, but....

I caught 17 pounds last night in a small creek. 


I only had on short rubber boots and nearly all of them I caught by hand. I would see them in my headlamp and grab them in the very shallow water in and among the rocks. They were pretty thick at times and I even caught 3 at one time in one hand. VERY COLD HANDS.  Almost done cleaning.


(https://i.postimg.cc/SYCRH2w6/IMG-5247.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/SYCRH2w6)

(https://i.postimg.cc/R6jqPQbC/IMG-5248.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/R6jqPQbC)