Smelt Fishing - What's with the name?

Rick, Doug, and I went smelt fishing in Maine on Saturday.

I have no idea what Smelt taste like. The name “Smelt” doesn’t seem very appealing. Who picked that name anyway? Rick said “You fry them up.... fabulous!” I guess I will find out!!

We are going to the River Bend Smelt Camp in Bowdoinham, ME. It’s about 2 1/2 hours north of us. The camp supplies a fishing hut, wood/stove in the hut, and bait. We will fish the incoming tide. Saturday low tide is 8 o'clock AM. Our thought was to be up at 4:30AM and on the road by 5:30AM. Doesn’t everyone do that on a Saturday?

Rick called the camp to find out more. They said we don’t need to get on the ice until 11:00AM. It takes that long for the tide to come inland to where we will be fishing. Rick brought venison stew. I brought the coffee pot.

We were in Hut 7 which was a 3 person hut. It was set up well with the stove on one wall and the ice channel on the other. There were 14 lines with a double hook set-up above the channel. We changed many of the hooks, put a piece of worm on each hook and lowered the lines. We started to heat up the venison stew and put the coffee on. The wood stove kept us very warm.

What depth do we drop the lines? How do we know when a fish is on? Do you set the hook or just keep pressure on the line when pulling the fish up? We had no idea. It seemed like we had more luck when the bait was closer to the bottom. When a fish gets hooked the line starts moving in a circle. We lost several fish pulling them up as they shook loose.

Smelt are schooling fish so you would think when one is hooked you would catch a whole bunch. They say that does happen but we were only catching one at a time. The guys in the hut not far away caught 100 fish. They were using jig poles with different set ups.

We fried the smelt we caught right on the wood stove with flour, salt, and pepper in a hot skillet with some oil. So here goes! The name “Smelt” does not sound very appetizing but to my surprise they were excellent (similar to haddock or cod).

It would be a lot of fun with families and kids. Next time we will set up jig poles as well.

What to do if you fall through the ice - This video could save your life ...

Cold weather brings frozen lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams.  This video talks about hypothermia and gives some good survival tips if you go through the ice.  

This video could save your life ... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz3gy5XyaBo

Good Article also.

https://www.outsideonline.com/1821211/meet-prof-popsicle

Also, check out my post with Information on Frostbite and Hypothermia from the National Weather Service.

https://actionshotsnh.blogspot.com/2022/12/information-on-frostbite-and.html

Some of my former profile shots ...

I change my profile pictures occasionally to mix it up.

NH Ice Fishing Derby - Lake Winnipesaukee 2013

We had our NH Ice Fishing tournament on Lake Winnipesaukee this weekend.  Mike, Rick, Steven, Kevin and I were heading to David’s on the lake.

We were all going to head to the lake on Friday.  Rick and Steve were going to fish Saturday and Sunday.  Mike was going to stay Saturday and head home.  Kevin and I were going to fish until Saturday afternoon. 

Why weren’t we staying until Sunday you ask?  I had a date with my wife to go “Dancing With Your Star”.  YES … I was throwing my man card down so I could learn how to “Ball Room Dance” by Professional Instructors.  My plan was to let my close friends know but not make it public when on the ice for fear of a cold swim by yours truly. 

In any case we had “The Blizzard of 2013”.  It started on Friday and by Saturday morning we had 26 inches of snow.  High winds caused large drifts also.  Rick and Steve had almost 28 inches in their town.  Mike had 8 inches in Vermont. 

This moved our timeline back.  The snow stopped by mid morning.  It took several hours to clear the snow.  Mike headed for the lake Saturday morning.  MA had a driving ban so Rick and Steven heading out late afternoon.  “Dancing With Your Star” was cancelled by the instructors because of the weather.  I picked up my man card and started packing.  Kevin didn’t feel well so I headed up by myself mid afternoon.  Mike arrived first … I followed … Rick and Steven showed up around 6:30PM. 

I noticed on the drive in there weren’t many on the ice so the snow messed things up.

Steven had the food so we had a late dinner (Chicken Pot pies, venison steaks, mashed potatoes, etc.)  Fire in the fire place … had a fun night relaxing, playing cards, and laughing.

We got up Saturday morning … the temp was 1 below zero … Rick, Steven and Mike headed for the ice while I headed to Dunkin Donuts for the coffees.  Doug was on his way up so I met him at DD.  He followed me to our fishing spot on Moultonborough Neck. 

When Doug and I arrived the guys were working on the ice auger.  They finally got it started and put some holes in the ice.

Steve started cooking and Rick got the tip-ups in the holes.  In keeping with tradition Steve made the “Heart Attack” sandwiches. (2 eggs, cheese, sweet sausage, bulky roll)  Mighty Fine … We had Rick’s venison stew for lunch. I think it was from one of Ryan’s deer this year.  (Was it the “Taco Bell Buck?”) 

Mike headed out early afternoon.  All day the guys wanted me to drive my truck on the ice.  The ice (black ice) in our area was 10 inches thick with 18 inches of fresh snow on top.  Before Doug and I headed out mid afternoon I did just that.  No problems with the ice and snow.  With new tires I had some good rooster tails going.  I loaded up my gear and headed back to shore with Doug.  Rick and Steve remained to keep fishing until dark.

When I got off the ice a guy in a Ford F150 had a dead battery and needed jumper cables.  He was off the road and I couldn’t get my truck in close enough to give him a jump.  With no power he couldn’t get his truck out of park.  I figured he was in the snow so he would slide so I hooked him up with my tow strap and dragged him 15 feet to get him to an accessible spot to give him a jump.  I showed those RAM, Toyota, and Ford boys that a Chevy is really the way to go.  hehe …

I stopped in Meredith to check out the ice shanties and see the action on the board.  The storm kept people away on Saturday but looked like things really picked up on Sunday.  There were lots of people and some nice fish on the board. Nothing like a good ice shanty either! 

We didn’t have a lot of action from the fish but always have a great time.  Someday we may catch something big enough to make the board and win a prize …

Search Blog Archive: February 2012, February 2011, January 2010 & February 2009 - for more Winnipesaukee Ice Fishing.

Winnipesaukee Collage ...