Conference wahoo::fishing

	I could probably get you information on Smelt fishing in Maine
    if you are willing to travel that far. Most of the fishing that I know 
    of is either on the Kennebec or Eastern rivers or the Merrymeeting Bay 
    area (not far from the Augusta area). If you have any interest contact
    me. 
	I'm looking forward to putting my shack on the Kennebec this
    coming weekend. I have heard reports that the Smelt action has already 
    started. I would have put it on earlier but I was busy up north
    catching Salmon. 
    	Too many places to fish and so little time ... what a dilemma  :^)
    

    Hellooo Mr. Bill, 

    I probably can't tell ya much more than you have already read in here.
    (btw if you haven't read 543.* check those out too)  I'm by no means an 
    expert on smelt, I believe RayJ is the resident Pro Smelt Angler - having 
    won the prestigous Dead Tommy Cod of the Year award awhile back.   

    I've only been out smelt fishing a hand full of times during the past 
    two winters, out on the Lamprey.  There may be some spots that rent shacks
    but not where I've been.  

    I'm definitely planning on heading out a few times this winter and I know
    a few others are also.  I'm hoping RayJ will let us know when it's time
    to go and then we can setup a time.  You, and anyone else out there, are
    more than welcome to join us anytime you'd like.

    How `bout it RayJ?  Is it time yet?   

    Don Mac 

    re: .1
    I appreciate the info on Maine Smeltin', but I am limited to fishing
    NH, and MA (not licensed in Maine).  Is a license even required
    for Smelt?  My father owns a house in Bremen (Next to Damariscotta),
    maybe I could get the wife up there one weekend.  Thanks.
    
    re: .2
    Don,
    I think I will be joining you and Ray on an upcoming smelt hunt.
    Was "talking" to Ray earlier over the tube.  Thanks.
    
    Bill Dance

    
    A guy stopped by my office earlier this week and told me they were
    catching smelt by the pailful on New Years weekend from Littleville
    out here in WMass.  I'm gonna join him on the 16th (MLK day is an
    SPO holiday) and see for myself.  I personally know nothing about
    it and am not fond of fish that are eaten whole.  I hope I can catch
    a holdover Brown by mistake.
    
    -SSS-

    Re .3>
    	No license required since smelt fishing is done on tidal water.

    
    The SMELT be runnin in lake Quinsigamund.....
    You better have a licence
    
    TBDW
    

    	re -1>
    	
    	I believe that the type of Smelt fishing referred to in the
    base note is the sea run type. The fishing done for that type is
    done on tidal water. The fresh water type obviously requires a 
    license. 
    	Although you can catch fresh water smelt with hook and line, 
    here in Maine its usually done either commercially with nets or
    by dipping for them in the Spring. Dipping sounds like a fun time
    but I never could justify the long travel in the wee hours of the
    morning to go splashing around in cold water in the dark. However 
    there are some die hard Smelters who would rather do that than almost
    anything.

Back when I lived in Michigan, we used to dip for smelt in around the March
time frame.  As someone mentioned, using a net is alot of fun.  We fished the
Huron River on the Michigan side using 16' + poles and dip along the side of 
the shore.  The river was 15'-20' deep just one foot from shore in the places
where we fished.  Sometimes it's a three-man operation, one dips the net in the
water and drags it along the bottom against the current, when he brings it
up, another man checks it for smelt with a flashlight (best time for smelt was
after dark), if there's fish, a third guy would help empty them in clean garbage
pail.  Smelt run in runs, which means if you come up with a netfull of fish, get
your net back in the water as quickly as possible, because sometimes the runs
don't last too long.  Alot of time you may come up with just one or two, and
probably more often, an empty net.  Not knowing what's going to come up in the 
net is exciting, because you can't tell if you got fish until the net breaks 
the water.
Across the river, on the Canadian side, they use wader and walk out to get their
smelt.  Although, I've never fished the Canadian side, they say it's much 
better.  One guy told me he had two nets butted end to end and bolted, and he 
would walk out in the water on the Canadain side, turn around and come back 
after so many feet, and both nets would be filled.  It was not unusual to come
back with two or three garbage pails full.  You may think this is waste of fish,
but it's not.  Relatives and friends are more than happy to have some.
I could usually eat at least a dozen or two when I was a teenager.

Mike_L

    In Up State NY, we get smelt from mid March to mid May in all the
    streams that feed Ontario or any one of the Finger Lakes. The ONLY
    time to fish is at night with a bright (gas) lantern and a long
    handled wire "Smelt Net". Once you see a school, its dip-dip-dip.
    On a reasonable night, one can expect to fill a 55 qt cooler in
    an hour or so. Then its off to the frying pan and the beer keg!
    Its the best eatin I ever had!!
    
    Don

Hey.....RAYJ....

what's the scoop with smelt at Newmarket?  Are they in?  How's the ice?
When are we going?

Hey, DonMac...you up for it?

    yea, I'm up for it, how about tomorow night...? 
    
    donmac - busy catching up on a weeks worth of notes...

    What is involved in this smelting procedure and where are you going? 
    This is something I have never done and I might be interested in 
    trying it.
    
    Tim
    

    Tim, try a dir/key=smelt to find the info you need.  Ray reports
    that the ice isn't too great right now, so I'm going to hold off
    for awhile... don mac

    		Sorry for the slow response but it's been real busy
    around here. I wound up going out last Friday on a last minute decision
    when I heard what the weather was supposed to do over the weekend.
    
    	I talked to Don and as he mentioned the ice isn't the greatest
    and we're due for more warm weather. When I went there was 4-5" of
    soft ice and when the tide came in, it came in over the ice. I was
    in a shack and when we left we stepped out into ankle deep water.
    All in all, not great ice conditions. The fishing wasn't to bad
    as a friend and I wound up with 132 from fishing from 9 pm till
    about 2:30 am. At $5 a dozen (mentioned in winni derby note) we
    got $55 dollars worth :-)
    
    	I got to run but would like to mention a couple things. Smelt
    fishing in the Great Bay area requires a fishing licence. 
    
    	Last time I was at P.K. Zyla'a they had smelt rods for $1.50
    each.
    
    	RAYJ
    
  P.S. Sorry I didn't get back to you Bill but as I said it was a last
  minute decision.
    

    Well, Saturday stunk. It was my first time smelt fishing. We left
    MASS at 4AM to be in Topsham/Bowdoinham Maine by 7. Wind was blowing
    the van around a bit. We get there and it was COLD to say the least.
    Get the bait and down to the shanties with the stove going to drop
    the lines.
    
    We hit the incoming tide and guess what? No fish to speak of. Out
    of the 5 people, 2 got skunked, luckily not I. Since nobody else
    wanted to clean 6 smelt and a small walleye, I took them all for
    supper last night. Barely a meal with a big salad.
    
    Oh well, there maybe a next time but it will be at night. In case
    you are wondering where the place is, it was River Bend Smelt Camps
    (or something like that) on Rt 24. $10 per person for one tide.
    
    jim e
    

Well, I can say we did a little better!

DonMac, Chris Flether and I decided to try some smelting over in Newmarket 
last night.  We got there about 4 P.M. and quickly became a little 
dissappointed as the ice was real thin, bob houses had fallen through and 
some had even drifted down river!

Just for ha-ha's, we stopped in to the local bait store (Sawyer's) to ask 
them if there was some place else that might be safe.  Mr Sawyer suggested 
we try Oyster River, about 4-5 miles away.  So we bought some worms and 
headed out.

Sure enough, there were some folks out on the ice pulling smelt up even as 
we drove up.  Within the first hour we had pulled up at least 100+ smelt.  
They were hitting fast 'n furious.  Action slowed down a little and almost 
came to a complete stop, but then we moved down river a hundred feet or so 
and picked up 20-30 more before we left.  I caught 95, DonMac had at least 
that many and probably a more, and Chris (his first time out) caught 30-40.
Total catch was probably 250+!  Not bad for 4-5 hours.

Hey, RayJ...  give me a call and I'll tell you how to get there.

-HSJ-     

    Yeap, a good time.  I picked up around a hundred.  
    
    Don Mac - having smelt for supper... and lunch... and breakfast...
    

My son and I hit Oyster River in Durham this past Saturday nite and 
managed to pick up 165 smelt in about 3.5 hours.  Tide was outgoing and
almost dead low.  Action wasn't fast 'n furious but just steady. They 
stopped hitting about 8 P.M. just as DonMac and a friend showed up to 
try their luck.  We left at 8:15, DonMac & friend stayed till about
midnight or so and only picked up 25 or so.  I guess they never came 
back in with the tide.

Oh well....se la vie!

-HSJ- (is the stiff water gone yet???)

    anyone hear of conditions lately?  I'm considering heading up tomorrow
    late afternoon...
    
    donmac

    Rayj, myself and my neighbor tried a new location in Newmarket on
    Friday night.  There was still about 7 inched of ice at this spot.
    We got about 250 between the 3 of us (with me catching the least).
                                            
    Got a couple nice white perch too.  Rayj, I agree that yellow perch
    are tastier - and those whites do make fine eating.

    donmac