MyFishFinder.com Just like iceshanty but warmer
Ya they all died. Don't know if it is because the cage is too small and they just didn't move or what. Any advice would be great
Pulling them up from the depths quickly takes it's toll as well. I used to have very little problems with smelt caught from 20 feet or less, but ones from 60 feet would have expanded air bladders and usually float up and eventually die. These would be my dinner smelt.
Smelt are awfully hard to keep alive after they have been hooked.I remember at a local bait shop years ago ,he used to go to Champlain and catch them,bring them back and put them in his bait bins and he would loose 70% of them in 5 or 6 days.We used to catch them on Bomo and put them in our bait box but still would loose them.A old buck told me that if you had a round trap you wouldn't loose them cause the way they swim ,in a square trap they hit the sides and die.
I have noticed that smelt stay alive when kept under the ice in a dark area where they cannot see out of. I have tried a regular minnow trap and only had a few survive out of about 60 smeltbut when kept in a dark container with a few air holes I rarely have any die
Do any of you guys remember how Ed bait shop on Rt 22A use to put the Smelt in the bag and then blow pure oxygen in the bag and seal it up.. those smelt would live a very long time as long you did not break open the bag..