Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! > Smelt

Most effective method for smelting

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MBrown4:
Wondering what is the most effective method to catch smelt through the ice jigging. I normally use small tungstens and a little piece of meat or maggot but I've heard a lot about cheese cloth and cotton once.i had tied some small maggot looking flies out of cotton and cut the points off.i was never able to try them though.i figure multiple hooks with just cheese cloth or something for them to snag their teeth in above a bell sinker should produce multiple fish each drop. thats if  I find a material they get hung up in well.any input?

Kierran:
In CT, we fish for landlocked rainbow smelt (smaller than their anadromous cousins) with Hali jigs and small dropper chains tipped with smelt meat. Usually tip the jig with a mousie or a spike to get the first smelt then sacrafice it to get his buddies to bite.

tench:
Hali jig or any small vertical jig with a hook either on a light chain or dropper line. Glow,silver, gold, and white seem to work the best in my experience. Put either a single spike or gulp maggot on the hook. Where legal tie another small hook a few inches to a foot above the jig and tip it the same way. When you catch one cut a small sliver of meat off and hook it through the skin. Use this for bait and you're good to go.

Another trick- If you catch a bigger smelt hook it through the back onto a big swedish pimple or anything flashy and hang it just a couple feet below the ice in a second hole next to the one you're jigging. This really helps the school stay in the area and in many cases helps to draw them up off the bottom. Again only do it where legal. A dark shanty and a big smelt hung just below the ice can get smelt right up in your hole sometimes.  :tipup:

MBrown4:
Ah I forgot about the hali. thats what I start with but i get aggrevated at missed bites.a lot of times I'm fishing 40 to 70 ft with smelt right on bottom.never had them below the ice. would the hooked smelt trick work that deep?

Dispy:
PK Predators will work well. 1/16 ounce :) Pink Pearl, Red Dot Glow and Gold
  http://www.pklures.com/

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