Splake and Eyes

[acrawfor]

Last spring I caught a bunch of smelt dipping. The big ones I kept for pike bait and thought I'd try the smaller ones for splake or walleye. Has anyone tried this or had any luck with it?

[BiG ARN]

I've got a bunch of whole smelt that I rolled in borax and froze. They worked allright on meat rigs this summer.  Im hoping I can have some success this winter with them for pike..lakers. maybe some burbot.  I just can't replace live bait with dead smelt for walleye.  Ya never know though. Ill have to experiment a little

[acrawfor]

I figured I'd throw a couple on tip ups and see what happens. For eyes figured if nothing else I could pinch the head off and see what happens

[natorious]

I've caught many splake using smelt, usually jigging, not so much on tip-ups though.

[yooperdave]

you can use the smelt for jigging, never had much luck using them on tipups for splake / lake trout

[fishtrap21]

I caught several splake and burbot in Munising Bay last year using frozen smelt so what the hell, give it a shot!

[Ryderr]

I tried this last year without a whole lot of success. Honestly it was more a mess than anything else. But yeah like you said trying it wont hurt. I found that live baid is a lot better on tip ups, but at least it will save you some $ for not having to buy minnows. Good luck! 

[smokepants]

The only thing I have caught on smelt is pike, both summer and winter.

Neil.