Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

    Has anyone come across any smelt rods at good prices yet?
    
    (Note, a smelt rod is just a small ice fishing jigging rod, normally 
    about 2' long, wooden handle w/ line wrap, plastic blank)
    
    I have a couple of people who want to try out smelt fishing this year
    and would like to steer them in the right direction.
    
    What about where to get the best price/selection of tiny tear drop
    jigs?
    
    -donmac

    Be careful, Don, when you say 'smelt rod'.  A smelt rod is a two-piece
    telescopic glass rod with no guides and one of those little winder
    dohickies to wind the line around.  The line comes off the winder and
    runs through the blank and out the end.  They tend to be 10-12' when
    fully extended.
    
    In Beverly, a #6 or #8 (I like #8) Aberdeen hook (panfish) is the most
    productive, when baited with a sea worm.  2nd is the sweedish pimple,
    although they tend to attract mackeral & pollock.  In Great Bay, I like
    to also use the tear drop jigs, which I find at K-Mart or just about
    any other similar place.
    
    Can I try it out with you this year???  The smelting in Beverly has
    gone to pot -- too many seals to compete with.  I got my small, plastic
    rods at Zylas for $2.50/each.  Don't know if they've got them yet.
    
    
    When my car got hit, it broke by #6 9' flyrod at the handle.  I taped a
    reel to the end and by golly, it is about the most sensitive smelt rod
    I've ever used.  I know I've picked up hits I would never have
    detected, even with a spring bobber.  Of course, it was an $85 fly rod.
    
    Anyone have a similarly broken rod they'll part with for $5?
    
    Tim
    
    Now for the general topic:
    
    The well-equipt smelt angler has the following:�
    
    A knife, cutting board, two five gallon buckets, one for tackle and one
    with a hole about 2" in diameter cut in the lid.  You sit on this one
    and drop the fish through the hole without getting up.  S/He also has a
    lantern, 200 layers of clothes, whatever rods they have.  From docks,
    LONG rods are better so you can swing the fish up without reeling. 
    From a shack, the little two foot jobs work best.
    
    Terminal tackle:
    
    A variety of small hooks (#8 Aberdeen is #1), sweedish pimples (size 1,
    nickle finish with the SINGLE hook is my preference), tear-drop jigs
    (haven't used them this year), an assortment of split-shots, small
    pliers and a couple of stick floats (unless you're ice fishing).
    
    Other:
    
    If you're ice fishing, add the usual augger/chipper/chainsaw.  If at
    night, bring a lantern WITH EXTRA FUEL!  Mine never runs as long as
    they say (8hours on high, I get about 5).

    Now for the techniques:
    
    Whole small sea worms (3-5") work best.  If they are not lively and 
    wriggling, throw them out and put fresh ones on.  Smelt don't like dead
    bait.  Hook them just behind the head (point going toward the
    tail) and only as much as the width of the hook.  Make sure the point
    is exposed.  Only go as deep as you need too.  This way of hooking the
    worm keeps them the liveliest and alive the longest.  They can swim
    about naturally.
    
    I usually stagger the depths at 1' off the bottom, half way down an 3'
    down.  I move them up and down every few minutes until I find the right
    depth.
    
    If they are not thick, jigging increases the number of bites
    tremendously.  You also accidentally hook those that are just sucking
    on the worm if you jig.  When they get thicker, cut up the biggest
    worms into little tiny pieces and chum, throwing a few bits in every 30
    seconds.  This keeps them in the area.  I intend to try a can of cat
    food the next time there are some fish in the area.
    
    I usually fish a pimple on one rod and hooks on the other two.  The
    natural current makes the pimple move around like a bait fish.
    
    Minnows can be dynamite bait on occasion (3/4" or less only).  Grass
    shrimp which I dip with a coffee cup sometimes save the day, if you can
    get them.  Minnows live forever in a small amount of water without the
    need to aerate them.  Shrimp on the other hand are extremely fragile.
    
    In a pinch, I've caught them jigging plain pimples or pimples tipped
    with a piece of spurling (bait fish) or a strip of mackeral.  I know
    people who use night crawlers.
    
    BRING LOTS OF BAIT!!!!  (ask Robert N)
    
    I will go through 1/2 flat when they are thick and catch 50+.
    
    For some reason, Great Bay smelt will hit smaller, dead pieces of
    worms.  I intend to try the Beverly techniques once the ice comes in.
    
    Hey Don, I've saved just enought for our first meal on our first
    trip...
    
    Tim
    
    p.s. If smelt grew as big as bluefish, people would not want to swim
    when they are around.  Talk about teeth!
    
    
    

    I could be wrong -- but I saw a great selection of rods (tipups too)
    at Northern Bass over the weekend.. I didnt check the prices but was 
    impressed with the selection they had.. I never noticed that many
    before there.

    	I guess the techinque is a little different here in Maine. Maybe 
    its because of the current. Most of the fishing is in the rivers. Jigging
    rods are around but most use lines tied from a 2" x 2" piece of wood
    which is the length of the race hole and suspended horizontally above
    it. The line is wrapped around pegs in the 2 X 2. I like to use old fly 
    line because it doesn't kink. Each shack can have up to 10 or 12 lines
    per race hole and either 1 or 2 holes. I used to have a large shack
    with 24 lines but I rebuilt it smaller and use about 10 lines now in
    one hole.
    	We use fairly heavy sinkers to keep the line down in the current.
    The most popular are shaped like thin cones and must weigh at least 4
    ounces. I use #8 dry fly hooks on about 6 to 8 inch leaders. Usually
    some sort of "nibble indicator" is attached to the line; either a
    matchstick or string tied to the line or a circular piece of styrofoam 
    (cup bottom). Something that will magnify the subtle line movement.
    	I never use whole worms. I cut them into 1/4" to 3/16" pieces. Any 
    bigger than that seems to result in more misses. I buy bait by the package
    which contains 10 to 12 worms. When they're hitting well you can catch
    30 to 40 lbs of smelt with one package of worms.
    	Most shacks use wood heater but I use kerosene. Of course you need 
    an ice chisle and skimmer to keep the hole clear. Another necessity
    is a frying pan for cooking various goodies including hot dogs, bagels
    smelt etc. and plenty of beer to wash them down. You also need a cutting 
    board and a knife. You can take more than one knife if you're squemish 
    about cutting your hot dogs with the same knife that you cut the worms 
    with. I only use one and I haven't died from it yet. The beer will
    probably kill me first.  :^) 
    
    Paul

    	I borrowed a shack one time that had wire the size of coat hanger
    wire, only less stiff, used for the indicators. The shack had the two
    pegs to wrap the line around and piece of wire about a foot long nailed 
    to the board above the pegs.
    
    	The wire had a loop at the end of it to run the line through. The nice 
    thing about this set up was that the wire was at head height when you were
    sitting. This means you're not hunched over the hole and it's a lot
    easier on the back. They were also extremely sensitive.
    
    	RAYJ

    
    	I tried to draw a picture of what I meant in the previous note. The
    following is a side view. The board is part of the shack wall and the
    wire is nailed to the top of it. The pegs could simply be nails (i.e.
    just something to wrap the line around.)
    
    	RAYJ
    
    
    	       wire
    		|   \
    	        v    \
          ___________ |
    	 ____        \v
    	| B  |        \   loop at end of wire
       	| O  |         \ /with line running through it
    	| A  |===-------O       
    	| R  | ^    ^   |
       	| D  | |    |	|	
    	|    |pegs line	|
    	 ----		|
    			|
    			|

    Paul, 
    
    Most of Tim's comments were regarding smelt fishing off docks in open
    water - which is something that I think many of us are unfamiliar
    with. 
    
    Your techniques from Maine are similar to ours in NH as well.  We too
    use small hooks baited with small pieces of cut sea worm - and can 
    often catch a bucket full on half a dozen.  Towards the end of last
    year I was starting to favor small jigs over hooks and would normally
    tie 2 small tear drop jigs baited with cut sea worm on each line.
    
    What depth are you fishing?  We're normally fishing around 10' or so.
    And we haven't required sinkers anywhere near that large.  You may have
    more current and depth to deal with.  We fish off of Great Bay, often
    the Lamprey River.
    
    I've tried a few different "rod/line holder" setups in my portashack
    but to date, my favorite setup is to sit in a folding directors chair
    (camo, so the smelt don't see me 8^) and attach a make shift rod holder
    to each arm rest.  I place a smelt rod in each rod holder.  Each rod
    is tipped with a spring bobber tip (HSJ showed me these last year, they
    work great). This works well for me.  As RayJ mentioned being hunched
    over the hole all night is brutal on the back.
    
    Here's my "top 10" list of what I bring smelt fishing:

	1. couple pkgs of of cleaned smelt from previous trip
	2. shack
	3. stove
	4. frying pan
	5. spatula
	6. butter
	7. batter (flour, garlic, salt & pepper or occasionally cajun mixture)
	8. paper plates and/or paper towels
	9. beverage of choice
	10. tartar sauce and/or ketchup (optional)
    
    Other than that, when we're not cooking or eating smelt, I do bring
    some stuff in order to catch some for next time.
    
    -donmac

    re: .5 (Paul)
    
    Paul (and everyone else):
    
    A #8 dry fly hook is remarkably similar in shank length & gap (that's
    the word I was looking for in my earlier note!) to a #8 Aberdeen.  The
    bend is slightly sharper on the dry fly hook, and it may be offset
    ever-so-slightly.
    
    As to the amount of worm:
    
    In the rivers feeding great bay, the smelt are rather concentrated. 
    By this I mean they run up the center of a relatively narrow river,
    where the current is strongest.  In Beverly, it's a harbor.  If they
    are sort of swimming around at random (no real current, at least not
    like a river, to draw them up), the larger worms work better.  The
    proof is in the pudding.  When I started using big pieces or whole
    worms, my take increased by 300% (I do keep records)
    
    Tim
    

    RE: .8 (Don Mac)
    
    Hey Don, you forgot item #11:
    
    11. Chez Tim
    
    ;-)
    
    Tim
    

>The
>    bend is slightly sharper on the dry fly hook, and it may be offset
>    ever-so-slightly.

 If I'm reading this correctly, you're saying that dry fly hooks are slightly
offset. They aren't (at least, not intentionally.) Few if any fly fishing
hooks are offset, tandems excepted. To offset a fly fishing hook is to invite
spinning, a most unfavorable happenstance.

 The Doctah

    re .10  That's true, if you haven't been out smelting yet this year,
    you have to find someone stup- I mean - ahhhh - hmmm - oh, I got it - 
    You have to find someone who is "open minded" enough to smelt fish off
    docks in open water, so that they can bring the smelt.
    
    Tim is actually one of my frequent smelting partners and chief chef 
    at 'chateau smelt'.  (He was the one who was nice enough to drive me to
    the police station so I could get an ambulance ride to the hospital
    after he almost cut off my finger with his ice auger... 8^)
        
    Looking at Tim's "well equipt" list in a previous reply makes me 
    realize that when RayJ first turned me and HSJ on to smelting a 
    number of years ago all I needed was a few rods, a bucket and a warm
    set of clothes...  
    
    Nowadays my list is somthing like the following:
    3-4 rods, extra line, jigs, hooks, bait, pliers, knife, cut board
    chair, rod holders, 2 5 gal buckets, one for fish one for storage
    5lb propane tank, distribution post, lantern top, hose, stove/heater
    matches, extra mantels, extra sm. propane tanks (left in truck) 
    frying pan, spatula, butter, batter, paper plates, paper towels
    chipper, skimmer, crampons, first aid kit, flashlight
    cleaned smelt, coffee, beer, etc...
    
    my shack (Viking 200) serves as a big sled as well - good thing...
    
    -donmac

As for equipment, I think Don has it nailed down pretty well.  One thing
that we SHOULD bring with us is LIFE JACKETS, especially considering how
thin the ice has been at times!  I don't know why, but I've been out on that
brackish-water mush ice (with a current, no less) when it was only 3-4"
thick when I wouldn't dare to venture out on a lake or pond with ice that
thin!  

Comments...

- The spring bobbers I use are far more sensative than any rod tip I've
seen, to include using little cork or foam floats. 

- Small pimples and various colored little jigs work well with bits of 
worms.  I'm thinking of also trying some Berkely Power Bait this year.

- Most productive depths vary at the Lamprey River, from 3' down to 10'+.  I 
recall one night my son and I fished the Ospry R. (?) when the Lamprey was 
wide open.  Bottom was less than 4' and we picked up 150+ in 4 hours.  Then 
DonMAc showed up (with Tim??) just as we were leaving.  I think they only 
picked up a handful the rest of the night.  We must have caught the tide 
just right.

Don... beverage of choice is SCHNAPPS!  

Happy Holidays to ALL!

-HSJ-