# Singing Bridge Smelt Run?



## boddah4

When do the smelt start running at the Singing Bridge? I am anxious to go net me some.


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## Burksee

boddah4 said:


> When do the smelt start running at the Singing Bridge? I am anxious to go net me some.


Sorry but your about 10+ years to late. There's hasnt been any real "runs" around in years. Not saying there are absolutely none but the numbers are very, very, very small and the ones they do get are here today, gone tommorow. :sad:


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## boddah4

Burksee said:


> Sorry but your about 10+ years to late. There's hasnt been any real "runs" around in years. Not saying there are absolutely none but the numbers are very, very, very small. :sad:


 That stinks, do you know of anywhere where they do run?


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## Burksee

boddah4 said:


> That stinks, do you know of anywhere where they do run?


Yeah, they "run" about $3.99 a pound for the commercialy caught ones at the two fish stores on US23 and M65! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Hopefully there are a few "local" members that will send you a PM on this. I was kinda hoping with the water being up a bit in Lake Huron this year that we might get a few somewhere along the coast this year.


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## ausable_steelhead

I doubt there's really anywhere that gets a significant run on the East side anymore. If there is anywhere decent, no one will tell, guaranteed. To be honest, with smelt numbers so low, they should put a ban on any smelt dipping/fishing to let the few around get some recruitment for a few years. When they're so low, why keep taking them?


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## boddah4

ausable_steelhead said:


> I doubt there's really anywhere that gets a significant run on the East side anymore. If there is anywhere decent, no one will tell, guaranteed. To be honest, with smelt numbers so low, they should put a ban on any smelt dipping/fishing to let the few around get some recruitment for a few years. When they're so low, why keep taking them?


 I didn't realize that the numbers were low, just love the taste of them.


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## jrv

boddah4 said:


> when do the smelt start running at the singing bridge? I am anxious to go net me some.


1989


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## vw4lifemi

You could always head to Higgins Lake.


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## rattletot

That sure was fun back 30-35 years ago


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## jrv

vw4lifemi said:


> You could always head to Higgins Lake.


Just remember Higgins Lk is hook&line only, w/ a 2 gallon limit.


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## rwenglish1

rattletot said:


> That sure was fun back 30-35 years ago


I can remember back in the mid to late 70's, you could feel the smelt just banging into your waders and the net would get so full you had to drag it over to the bucket.Then you did not even care while dumping it out if half fell back in to the water. 

Years before that my dad would come home and dump them into the bathtub, and us 5 kids would go to town with scissors cleaning them. That night was fried smelt french fries with lots of ketchup. 

I feel sorry for a the young punks out there getting in trouble today. There use to be lots of outdoor stuff to keep me out of trouble.


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## boddah4

jrv said:


> 1989


Just looking for advice, not smart*** comments, thanks.


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## Fishndude

> Originally Posted by jrv
> 1989





boddah4 said:


> Just looking for advice, not smart*** comments, thanks.


He was just speaking the truth. The UP still gets some halfway decent smelt runs in a few places. Check out the Outings forum - I think someone was trying to organize something for Smelt on there.

I grew up in Bay City in the 70's, and if someone had told us that the Smelt runs were going to die out, we would have bet serious money that they were wrong. And we would have lost. Heck, we usually just went out to the bay at night, and dipped them on the sandbars. If you hit it right, you could get more than any 10 families could use. Right around Easter was usually a great time. I realize that the date for Easter can vary quite a bit. Warm nights were the ticket. If you had a warm night, following a warm rain, and a full moon, it was amazing.


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## jrv

boddah4 said:


> Just looking for advice, not smart*** comments, thanks.


Sorry you're so sensitive. I did give you another post about higgins smelt. Good luck fishing.


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## rattletot

I remember clearly sitting on the back porch with my Dad scissors in hand and a big wash tub full of smelt God they tasted sooo good
remember we would put a inner tube around the wash tub and tie a rope around your waist and to the wash tub and just start scooping and filling the tub:lol: and a Steelhead or Brown now and then would find the net but always ah ah released


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## spudman

i've got a place 1/2 mile north of the singing bridge. last good run there was in 1997 or 1998. they ran so thick that we were getting them day and night....those were the days. the mariners market on US 23 about a mile or so south of 65 sells them. nice folks there.


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## fishmark

Back in the seventy's any ditch or creek from Parish rd north was good. Tube and tub with a 6 pac of Strohs. Some nights full in 20 min other nights took awhile maybe an hour. Four guys and then a fish cleaning party. I remember falling in the ditch and having smelt in my waders.:lol::lol::lol:


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## Mike L

Ah ! Yes the annual smelt run.....those were great days back then. I will never forget a girl standing about 10ft from me she said to her dad, hey I've got something in my net, she reached in and I will never forget her scream....wow she grabbed a hold of a lamprey. Makes the hair on my neck stand up just thinking of it.....lol Wow did she let a scream out.......


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## Mr B

got a 2 gallon limit on them now state wide.:yikes:


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## walleyeman2006

the numbers are lower then in the mid 90s but the fish are there in the dnr trols yet...what ive been told is that the low water has encouraged the fish to spawn off shore on sand bars and reefs...

if the biologists are correct on that with the water coming back up we should again see fish on the shoreline....not gonna hold my breath but time will tell


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