Smelt Fishing, Smelt Catching, Smelt Eating!

[frank_zappa]

well, i have been attempting to catch some smelts for the past 2 weekends and they just had not yet started their annual fall run, so i was left cheeseburgers, when what i really wanted was smelt. i love them and i only get them for about 6 weeks or so each year. every year, around the 3rd week of august i start thinking about them, salivating over them. i catch as many as i can while they are running, eat them practically every day, and freeze all the rest. they are nice when i vacuum pack them, but when i bought them frozen in the store one time, they were terrible. these on the other hand, are deeeelicious. 2 day total, 110 smelts.

[Adrian]

OMG, I am SOOOOOOO Jealous! I use to eat smelt all the time, enjoyed them to the utmost, then I moved to florida....no more smelt for me.

I miss freshwater fish like you would not believe. So....in my foolishness to catch a taste of freshwater fish again, I spent $60.00 for 2 lbs of perch.

I get smelt out of the stores here, but it is nothing like fresh caught. Use to get them by the 5 gallon pail fulls, clean them and freeze em so I have them until the following year.

Have any left overs, send em my way.....

drooling in florida,

Adrian

[frank_zappa]

these smelts are actually caught from saltwater. the same type are also found in freshwater, but in the salt, they winter up in tidal rivers and bays. in maine, you can ice fish for them, but of course it needs to be very cold to freeze up the salt water...

[Crispy]

Our smelt population here has been dwindling over the past 15 years, but they said this was a record year for the smelt and they are bouncing back. Thanks for sharing the pics!