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I have only done smelting in a shanty, down in NH on small streams. Without ice, a dock with a shanty on it would get you over the same fish... Would something like that work on your rivers up there? Anchored floating huts? Just a thought...
used to be able to stand on the docks here in Maine and cast treble hooks with a weight on the end and snag them as you reeled in, state law doesn't allow that anymore.