Theres going to be a 6AM to noon opener on the Cowlitz this Saturday and next Saterday.
I got the net out tonight.

I hope the run is in like last year.

I have not had sent in years. Good luck my friend.

Groovy... Take pics. I love to see that kind of stuff.
I forget how y'all eat then little fishes. Dredge them in eggs then cornmeal? Do you gut'em or just eat'em guts in?

mini wahoo

That's awesome, Jamie. I hope you have a great time!

Both. Also smoked. Plenty of beer.

Other than "fish", what's a smelt taste like?

We won't see the smelt run for a couple of more months here.

its mild Pat

I recall eating em deep fried in WI years ago, don't recall if gutted or whatever... do recall, at least wtih beer, they seemed really good and mild is a good description.

Kinda like mild chicken.. LOL

Smoke them whole, head, guts and all.
Some folks fry them that way too but I behead and gut them if their going in the frying pan.

Love smelt! The last fresh caught smelt I ate was many, many years ago caught via gill nets out of Lake Michigan. I do buy frozen smelt already gutted and beheaded at Walmart from time to time when they have them in stock. We use the same seasoned cornmeal breading as we do for catfish and fried in lard is the way we cooked them.

Look like they would be very good!

This is how my Grandma used to make them

Takes me back to the late 50's when we lived in Detroit. Still remember my Dad dipping them up and then Mamma deep frying them. What a taste! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

Thats the best way.We used to dip lake Michigan and fill up 10 gallon pails with them,

Dang! Sure miss the smelt run on the South Shore of Lake Superior back in the 60's and 70's! Washtubs full.

Pan fried with light flour dredge, sometimes even for breakfast, deep fried with beer batter, smoked and some extras frozen whole for Northern Pike ice fishing tip up bait. Good Times!

Beer batter... wish I had a good recipe for that.... They did in WI, but I never was smart enough to ask for it....

and now I"m wondering.. is it smelt or alewife?

Wow those look great!

Never had smelt, seeen it used as bait though?

2 different fish

That is how may Grandmother used to make them. They are delicious. She served them with homemade crusty bread and assorted homemade pickles, we could never seem to get enough of them.

I learned a lot from my grandma as far as cooking goes but wished I'd paid more attention because many things she made are lost forever now

Wish I could join you! The big smelt runs in Michigan are history, but dipping, cleaning, and eating a mess o' smelt were an annual mid-April tradition for generations. Sure miss it.

I've never seen any of them. They look small. Do you eat them bones and all like a sardine or pick the meat off?

Why are they history?
Did they get fished,or dip-netted out?
I'm curious because this is the first place I've heard about them(a few years back).

Might have to finally try and scoop some up this spring, should start showing up in a bit over three months. I've had them smoked whole, pretty tasty.

No scales to worry about..?

Eat scales, bones, and fins/tail. I only cut off the head and scrape out the guts.

I remember when I was a kid, the neighbor came home with a pickup bed FULL of smelt.

lake superior was about 100 miles away.

bet his truck bed still smells like Tijuana

I cooked with my Grandmother from the time I was old enough to kneel on a chair and touch the top of the table, till she passed away in 1993. I listened to it all, watched it all, and kept as many "family" recipes as I could. They are still the "family" recipes today, my girls cook them in the same way, and my granddaughter will too

Man,nothin like a good batch of fresh smelt.
Don't seem to hear of many runs like there used to be.
keep us posted how you do,jealous you know.

on Lake Champlain the ice fish for them, hook and line, in 100 feet of water and deeper.

There used to be a big run on the Umpqua, but it is no longer. I used to dip with my Grandfather. They smoked and canned them.

Because Salmon and Trout have to eat something.Before Salmon & Rainbows were introduced there were billions of smelt.We used to use a 10'X10' dip net on a boom hoisted with a hand crank hoist.Sit out on the government pier in Milwaukee at night.Have fires ,drink beer, lie about hunting.We also visited relatives in the UP and hand dip them in The Cedar River at night.Them days are gone.God I miss them!!!

The big nets and pick-up loads of smelt thrown on gardens or in the trash had plenty to do with overfishing, too.

We had them seasonally when I was a kid. Step-Dad snipped off the heads, tails, gutted then fried then in corn meal. I never really took to them, although smoked sounds good (even though I'm coming off some GI bug).

I bet that would make awesome Flathead bait!

That was fun, too fast but fun. I didn't get any pictures at the river this morning. I started dipping at 6 AM and figured I'd wait for the sun to come up to take some pictures but the run was so thick that 2 dips and I had our 2 limits and was back in the truck and driving by 6:15.
Heres a few pictures after I got home.


A few cleaned, for dinner tonight.

Layer of Brown sugar/rock salt between layers of smelt( brineing for the smoker)

A few left to freeze

That's about all the smelt my family will use in a year so I'm done.

Nice. Thanks for the pictures.

Pretty cool, thanks for posting...

Cool deal!

Would love to try a smelt fry someday...

They make great Catfish bait but what works the best around here is Shrimp, I have never been skunked on shrimp, all other baits I have been skunked on but never on shrimp.

He who smelt it, dealt (with) it!

Great thread and pics. I love drunk fishing. I mean smelt fishing.

SMELT ?? In the first week of February????? I can only dream of it this early in the year. Only way to fish right now is go cut a hole in the ice. Nice thread, though; brings back lots of good memories.

Park truck, walk up over the river bank, set bucket on ground, walk up to the rivers edge. Take a dip, fill bucket to limit release the rest. Take a couple catch and release dips (lol) get back in truck. I kind of prefer the days of beer, build a fire and work your arss off for a limit!

Today was easy. To Easy. Good eating! Neat tradition!

We used to use alewife as bait (called them sawbellies) when fishing for big browns.

Yup and called mooneyes also

I am waiting with baited breath for pics from Jamie's fishing expedition the weekend.

Mooneyes where I grew up were skipjack

won't be hard to find! and no real wait!

/\ /\ /\ /\ up./

The ones we target locally are anadromous, and can take them in coastal environs via hook and line only. Mostly what folks do is go to a smelt 'camp', where ice shanties with stoves inside are rented and holes are already in place. No dipnetting at these places, as far as I know.

However, for the freshwater smelt there are places in ME and NH where dipnetting is legal.

KG did you dip net the one in your avitar?lol

looks like a nice feed of smelt

Love deep fried smelt...drenched in lemon juice.

From the Michigan DNR

From U of Wisconsin

Nothing like fried smelt rolled in corn meal, diped in a beer or egg batter! used to go over to Point Peele Can. get em by the steel garbage cans full! about 3-4 hrs cleaning them Mom and my grandmother work start frying them up! seems like 1/2 the folks we new would show up! god to be able to go back just one more time, most all are gone now. Thanks for the thread!

Finally.

The first frying pan load, I ate them before the next pan full was done.

MEANER! wish I could partake as they look delicious!

Looks good. I haven't dipped in years. My favorite is to clip the heads and gut then deep fry.

Yes, actually. Need to work out a new technique though. The dipnet's a bit unwieldy...

Great thread!

Thanks for a fun read, Jamie!

Looks fantastic. Congrats and thanks for the thread and sharing. We need more of this kind of good stuff.

rost, thank you! That's how I've been feeling about a lot of recipes from my yute! Wishin I'd paid better attention!

Dan, those look great!

TFF!

A few hour in this




and you have this

Man oh man those look good! Better hide that smoker though as there is a member on here looking for replacement parts.

I only use that little chief for smoking fish.
I put a cardboard box over it to hold some heat in and it works great.
I use a bradly for other meats, I don't want fish flavored sausage.

An old friend of mine built a cedar cover for his to help keep the heat in when h was smoking ducks and geese here in WY. Envious of the resources you all have out there on the coast for seafood!