# Smelt



## Jimbo 09 (Jan 28, 2013)

Surprised to. Ot see anything about smelt dipping yet. Any reports from huron or superior yet? Should be on soon I would think


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## fishrod (Oct 3, 2008)

Jimbo 09 said:


> Surprised to. Ot see anything about smelt dipping yet. Any reports from huron or superior yet? Should be on soon I would think


Should be a lot less pressure since us downstaters probably wont be able to come dip either. Get dipping.


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## tbbassdaddy (Apr 21, 2006)

Yup!!! Best time of the year. For sure the pressure will be off creeks and rivers. I'd still like to hear if there is any action... Just to re-live the moment!!! 
tb


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## Jimbo 09 (Jan 28, 2013)

fishrod said:


> Should be a lot less pressure since us downstaters probably wont be able to come dip either. Get dipping.


I’m downstate aswell. Would love to make the drive up but who knows if that will happen.


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## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

They were near shore two weeks ago when we had nice weather. I can see the bridge from my lot.


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## dirtyfisheyes187 (Jul 12, 2017)

Is the bridge closed? Are they still not taking cash?


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## tbbassdaddy (Apr 21, 2006)

dirtyfisheyes187 said:


> Is the bridge closed? Are they still not taking cash?



Looks like it is open for travel according to the Mac Bridge Authority... No Cash.

*Current Bridge Conditions*
*Status:*
*All Clear, Have a Pleasant Trip!*
Sunday, Apr 19 - 10:32 AM

Currently there are no significant weather conditions to report to motorists planning to cross the Mackinac Bridge. When you are traveling in the Straits area, please tune to AM radio 530 or 1610 for condition updates and for information about things to see and do.
We hope that your trip is enjoyable and that you'll visit the Straits of Mackinac often. Have a safe and pleasant trip!

No cash payments at this time. Visa, Master, Discover or American Express card. Debit or credit only please.


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

As to the original title SMELT-- wish I could get a couple gallons nice and fresh.


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## localdj84 (Feb 17, 2009)

A few weeks ago on superior


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## tbbassdaddy (Apr 21, 2006)

Daaaang!!! Way to go!!! Couple weeks ago... I hear of a run on the big warm up few weeks back. Nice!
tb

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Jaspo (Dec 9, 2011)

Worked hard for these this past weekend.


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## wildatheart (Apr 2, 2009)

I heard there was some success on the Lake Huron side earlier this week.


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## tbbassdaddy (Apr 21, 2006)

Any news east of Naubinway?


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

At Brevort just stop at Gustavsons and get a couple smoked whitefish.


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## ImaRedneck (Jan 7, 2003)

Going to try Superior this Saturday. If we don't succeed I have a bag of frozen ones from last time. Hopefully my brother doesn't go swimming again. I told him that's no way to net Smelt. Lol


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## Outdoorsman1997 (Jan 5, 2014)

ImaRedneck said:


> Going to try Superior this Saturday. If we don't succeed I have a bag of frozen ones from last time. Hopefully my brother doesn't go swimming again. I told him that's no way to net Smelt. Lol


Will be out Saturday as well, keep us posted and good luck


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## tbbassdaddy (Apr 21, 2006)

@ImaRedneck and @Outdoorsman1997 

You's hitting EUP creeks?? I'm hearing Marq to Keeweenau Bay is hitting... Good luck fellas and remember, this thread means nothing without more pics!!!
tb


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## ImaRedneck (Jan 7, 2003)

Well, it was a perfect night with 100 of my newest friends, Lol. I was happy to announce "_Got_ _One_" to instill hope to the rest that the run was on. 

The only one netted between my brother and I for the entire night, We left around 11.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Looks like I’ll stop by to chat with Curly Lewis tonight. On a materials run to the UP, have a little time to kill tonight and tomorrow. I figure if the smelt already did their thing, the silverfish will still be hanging around anyway.

But any positive encouragement appreciated.


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

Mr. Lewis both Sunday and yesterday, but since you only wished for positive encouragement I won't say anything more. FM


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Well usually its “shoulda been here yesterday” so maybe that is encouraging. Jay’s couldn’t spool up my ultralight, so will have to fish the 7’ St. Croix anyway; a little much for the pine Brookies so Mr. Lewis it is.


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## tbbassdaddy (Apr 21, 2006)

B.Jarvinen said:


> so Mr. Lewis it is.


I'm rather interested in what Mr Lewis give up for you. We contemplated coming up last weekend but did not. We did get out camping on the Muskegon down south! Had great time just the same. Keep in touch!
tb


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

B.Jarvinen said:


> Well usually its “shoulda been here yesterday” so maybe that is encouraging. Jay’s couldn’t spool up my ultralight, so will have to fish the 7’ St. Croix anyway; a little much for the pine Brookies so Mr. Lewis it is.


At risk of drawing further attention, i do believe you mentioned an unmentionable.


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## JohnP123 (Jul 15, 2015)

B.Jarvinen said:


> Well usually its “shoulda been here yesterday” so maybe that is encouraging. Jay’s couldn’t spool up my ultralight, so will have to fish the 7’ St. Croix anyway; a little much for the pine Brookies so Mr. Lewis it is.


Mr Lewis has mentioned to me a couple of times to throw mid sized silver spoons during this time of year and hope for a school of cohos chasing smelt to come by to play a little with that 7' St Croix.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

You can’t catch a little fish without getting a rope wet, or something like that. The signs were all bad but I enjoyed a night on the shoreline anyway. The creek was already back to low after last weeks rain. No one else was out - no lights anywhere else on the shoreline. 

But the important details were all supplied by a CO that stopped by well before sunset. He said the run has been on & off for about a month already. He had seen a few limits but also a lot of “just a dozen” or nights with nothing. Also reported that in the east end, it is thought that a lot of Smelt spawn on reefs offshore; apparently the commercial catch has been very good this year. So off to the Fish House I will go later on today. Might try in Alger Co. tonight if I still have to wait to pick up materials. 

He also had some other news - fishing pressure is very high this Spring, which makes sense. It is my busy time of year so this was the first time I was able to put my new license in my pocket. But my idea of Lake fish being in close is something more realistic closer to ice out times.

I hope to get a line wet today but it looks like day #6 of clear blue skies - what happened to the Great Lakes Cloud Machine lately?

The worst sign it is probably mostly over - I did catch something while out trying to dip a little last night - a tick.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

B.Jarvinen said:


> Jay’s couldn’t spool up my ultralight, so will have to fish the 7’ St. Croix anyway;


I can strip the old line from a reel, and re-spool in under 10 minutes. I have never paid someone else to put line on one of my reels for me. And I always carry at least a couple extra spools of line, because.......you never know when a big fish might spool you; and it sucks to get spooled and not have more line to put on.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

All true. But I already have too many half-spools of line at home and didn’t want to buy another one. Anywhere I might fish could hold Steelhead so it is still a little early for the Ultralight for the most part anyway. And all moot when today’s forecast is extra explicit: “abundant sunshine”

Forgot one bit of news from the CO: there was a day run at one point a week and a half ago. Have always wanted to see one of those. But always too busy this time of year, with scheduling often far beyond my control. Will be working in the cold rain and snow again on Friday, instead of fishing. 

I did chuck a little hardware last night but I don’t think that is a great option on the east end shoreline, which is very gradually shallow for a long ways out. I like the central U.P. shorelines better for that.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Of course not.

Finally met a real Yooper fishing yesterday. Hang on a sec while I check the days of the week, those get kinda blurry on the 25/8 schedule for me this time of year...

OK, so on Tuesday night he saw a gallon of fresh central-U.P. Lake Superior run Smelt in a bucket. But he said everyone he knows has several thoughts on the run this year -

L'Anse and points west have been doing better

A lot of people have been staggering home with catches of 10 or so. As in, 10 Smelt - in 10 hours per evening.

It seems the big rain last week did 'bring the Smelt in' - but only, as in - closer to shore - and are thought to still be schooling offshore for the most part.

The Lake fish are in with them, but have become quite hard to catch; when anyone does, they are all already full of Smelt, naturally.

Overall, "nothing like the run 3 years ago"

What did I find? I went up to one of my favorite Coho spots last night. The "river" had a nice, deep-enough-to-be-dark lagoon with an outlet running 5' wide last fall. Spring water levels are higher of course - it now featured some 15-20 yards of width of 3" shallow, half-sand, half-water flowing to a messy union with Gitchee Gumee. Could probably be dipped for Smelt, but would need a crew of people with some waders, lanterns on a pole, and a lot of patience. A big fire on-shore and a solid supply of beer and Schnapps wouldn't hurt, neither, but beach fires are verboten far too many places these days. I didn't even bother dragging my net down to the beach. Couldn't really chuck hardware into the mess in the lake very well either with the alignment of the 'plume' and the shoreline, totally unlike last fall, without a long trek in from the other side of the plume which would eventually entail some Balsam Fir thickets, and darkness, so that was an ixnay. Lesson learned.

Yesterday was about the worst possible day for Trout fishing. A crystal clear blue sky, no leaves on the trees & shrubs, and a totally clear night the evening before with an almost Full Moon for the Trout to sit in the buffet line and never leave. As my random Yooper correspondent reminded me of sage advice I never need to recall as I am always working tons this time of year - "I never fish Brookies till the leaves are on the trees."

But I had to kill time before it kills me, as I couldn't load my trailer with job materials till this morning. So I fished all day anyway. Hit a Type 1 in the east end with beautiful cobble/gravel - no fish to be seen (finally remembered my polarized on a sunny day for a change) and not even a nibble from a tiny Brookie under a logjam. 100% zip zero zilch nada. Stream was already at about summer water levels, melt all gone from surface in woods and big rain already flushed out to Superior too (someone was asking about fish-ability right now in the Fox thread - the shorter the stream, the more it is 'ready' - but if it is charged by wetlands - those are over brim full still, and so are the streams draining them). I am starting to get a little concerned about that stream as I fished it at the Closer last September, and also could detect zero Trout (but one Coho).

So I tried a waterfall. Fish like to eat at a waterfall, totally unbeknownst to all the gapers staring at the white water. Again not even a nibble - but even a medium good supply of meltwater was not really creating deep pools on that one either. Those are more downstream and I was too pessimistic in all that cursed Sunshine for quite an athletic adventure to get through that gorge and down to those pools.

So I tried another waterfall. A lake outlet, holds Browns. Too much water to fish really; quit after first lost hook snag trying the scarce pockets of only medium-fast water. The helpful Yooper was skunked there too.

Before I hit that Superior beach I figured I would see how my favorite Coho pool was doing. Plus I figured if those Gollum-like Trout had been looking at the Sunlight all day (we hates it, we hates it), well by near dark they should be starting to get hungry, and their friends the tall old growth Conifer should finally be dimming the lights in the dining hall.

First, one of the fish told me he was sick of Social Distancing, too. He had that restless hungry feeling that does nobody no good, as Johnny Cash liked to sing, and he decided to swirl some water in that one bend in that one pool where I know the sand and gravel make purdy redds. Was there an episode of Survivor:True Romance going on under that Spring-deep black water? I didn't know; I only watch Trout TV.

I held my urge to just instantly flip a spinner in to the bend behind me (had already tried it, actually) and continued working casts up stream from me 5-ish degrees at a time. It didn't take long for the Buck to step out from between those fall rubs and scrapes and snort at me. Bam! right on my favorite Pink-Glow Panther Martin Steelhead Kryptonite spinner no one in Michigan is smart enough to stock in their store (mail-order only) - almost right at my boots though. I kinda hate that, actually, as you first have an instant heart attack and then you just can't set a hook there 3' in front of you very well. 

It was intriguing; the CO the day before told me "they are starting to look dark-colored and a little beat-up now, harder to find a silver one any more", but he was talking about the longer rivers that flow south to Lake Hurigan-Michon. The North Slope is different - I thought I saw the classic pink (but not red), and green (like, Big Lake green), and, maybe, Silver? But it was all over in a 2nd heartbeat.

I decided to let the pool and the big Buck's harem settle down for a while, and went up to fish the runny riffle (riffling run? I'll leave it for the fly guy theory writers to define those for you as you virtually Internet fish; I just know Trout water when I see it, not what the technical term for it is) in front of the waist-high drop that makes all the fish take a pause for the cause right there, like you should always do in Elko, or Winnemucca. And I switched to worms to save my beloved P-M from those nasty rocks there.

Tap-tap-tap. Hmmm, yes, here Steelie Steelie. Cast again - tap-tap-tap-tap - man it has been a long damn time since last September 30th and the worst Closer I have ever fished, which yielded exactly only one of the tap-tap-tap-tappers so unlike a Rainbow that takes the bait and tries to go somewhere with it. Out of the stream came a pretty little dark blue 5" Brookie that instantly wriggled off the hook and plopped back into the water. That was very encouraging to see my favorite fish again. But clearly I had a hard case of the Big Lake fish fever, so back downstream to the Big Pool I went with my trusty 36 Panfish Worms (Product of the Netherlands? WTF?) that I had carefully fed and watered and plumped up ever since Opening Day was ruined by that four letter word that starts with W and ends with K.

It didn't take long for those Dutch (? seriously?) worms to work their magic. On my second drift my line started being pulled upstream and away from me and a few tenths of a second later the drag started to sing. Big Buck alert! They don't really stand a chance against the medium action St. Croix I bought specifically to muscle their distant Oncorhynchus cousins out of woodsy pools like that one. Though I did get a classic acrobatic display in the middle of the short, sharp, shock. 

And the shock was: Silver! Like, minty fresh October silver! I instantly gained a tremendous new respect for the month of May in Lake Superior country! Now if I could just get rid of that dam four letter W word...and me without my 'phone' camera as I quickly took the #10 X-Point out of the Buck's jaw which needed no gentle re-hab as it rocketed upstream and away from this crazy lookin' backwoods creature with quarantine hair poking out of it in all directions.

So no pics and thus none of that ever happened. Bummer. The Fever quickly grew into the Blues. I had to catch another one to put on the brag board. But first I went down to the beach and stuck to the original smelty mission.

Where I realized - Rainbow Trout love a Full Moon, too. I would simply wait till the Moon lit up the woods; always so nice to watch the light creep down the trees in the reverse of the sunset creeping up the trees, and as it got easier and easier to fish in the dark, I would surely find that Buck's Harem and light em up with the Flash set to ON and the Screen Lock set to OFF for instant fish-in-net access.

But such are the ways of our desires. The more you try and manifest such a cool combo of decision matrix outcomes, the more things work against you. The Big Pool had those awesome tall old Conifers on their permanent serene guard duty - including and especially all in the SE quadrant of the topography, right in line with the rise of La Luna. 

And of all the 360 degrees of Sky, the only one with a cursed cloud that I had been trying to manifest up all day - was right in that same SE line with the Moon. At night, we hates the clouds, we hates them. Sometimes. Whenever things would get bright enough to see the worm on a quick bait check, the cloud would flick the switch back to OFF. And it would be a good 'nother hour before the Moon could clear all those big ole big un Balsams, Spruce, Hemlock, and White Pines and actually light up the water directly. 

So I never did find enough another hint of another fish in that Pool. Though I am pretty sure I will have another hot date with it next October...


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

Great recounting B.J.!
And great that you got a brief fix/sampling of the environs again.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Today I rounded out the sad Smelt news. I figured it would be simple enough to get a few pounds of fresh cold ones and haul them back to my Troll-like lair on some Red Pine job somewhere in the northern Lower. 

But alas, it was not to be. I could not sync up with a Fish House actually open for business on the North Slope this morning, and couldn't wait till afternoon. Along the US 2 shoreline, most Fish Houses (and Sugar Shacks, too) were all closed. The visitor vibe in the U.P. is not good right now. Anyone who wants to go directly to their favorite corner of the backwoods and do their sportsmen thing is probably welcome, but you had best come prepared. Some businesses that _could_ legally be open, aren't. Because there is no business. So you can't even necessarily support your favorite Yoopers by buying some of their take-out. I was OK on my accidental work related delay, as I am from the good-Lord-willing-and-the-Creek-don't-rise-country. If the bridge washes out while I am "back in there", I am probably good to go for about a week at any given point; just how I roll (and have to roll, really, working 20 minutes from pavement sometimes). But I did have to bush out my "Essential Business" ace card to get a hotel room to clean up after too much woods living, the other night. "I make toilet paper."

Eventually today I started working the phones, though most Fish businesses just didn't answer them. I could buy some Smelt - frozen. The fresh stuff the CO told me about on Tuesday was perhaps only in the Superior ports, and I didn't have time for a run to Brimley. The Lake Michigan/Huron ports all saw the Smelt come in early this year, as I suspected one day in April when I worked in short sleeves for a few hours and started a thread in the Big Lake Pier/Beach forum (I was only a mile from a prime potential outlet - but all heavily posted No Parking / No Trespsassing. I should have just bootlegged it, but I weren't Local there). I don't know anyone on the Lake MI shoreline who got any, but then few people have the hardcore dedication to sit out all night watching for a fish that is almost mythical on LP shores at this point; particularly not when their internal historical calendars told them it was still too early. 

And finally today the big Fish House in Mackinaw confirmed it all for me. "By the 2nd week of April they weren't in the nets any more, they had all gone up the river."

Purism is a bitch sometimes. I passed on eating frozen Smelt again; maybe next year I will find some of the real deal fresh, never-salted, caught-in-USA Osmeridae. I hope.


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