Ice fishing for smelt is a New England tradition. Maine has a great smelt fishery. I recently fished one of Maine’s smelt camps.
Sonnys has 4 and 6 person shanties available. Each shanty is heated. You will not be cold! But, I strongly suggest dressing in layers and add or remove layers as necessary. A good pair of boots and creepers will keep your feet dry, warm, and standing vertical on the hard water.
A popular method for winching up smelt is drop lines. You bait all the lines with asmall piece of sea worm and drop them to various depths. This gives you a “wall” of suspended bait throughout the water column. A local Maine smelter told me that as soon as the line shakes, set the hook! And that if the line is moving left or right, the smelt is about the drop the bait.
The drop line method works. But, during my trip, I had more success with mySt. Croix ice fishing rod (model: Premier Ice PIR28M). I landed 20 smelt on my rod to 1 smelt via drop line. The rod is so sensitive that I can feel the smelt sniffing my presentation as I vertical jig it.
Ice fishing for smelt is a great way to get out with friends and harvest some great eating fish. For a smelt recipe, check out Cooking The Catch by Dave “Pops” Masch. From the water to the plate. There is nothing fresher than that. Go smelting! 😉
