Fresh smelts
 

I luv fresh smelts
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At my local Market Basket, can’t get em often, and definitely can’t catch em anymore, local

What are they getting for s pound of those guppy?$$
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Xmas eve tradition at our house

$5.99 sandwich , super fresh too

Same here Paul, brings back fond memories at Grandparents house Christmas eve along with a ton of other home made food...

I friggin LOVE smelts

Go get um Dad... 😜

I remember reading about an early winter fishery for them off some Boston area docks? Has anyone tried to target them?

We also caught a few way back when while we were fishing for whiting here in Rhody. Small hooks and sandworm pieces with a float.
December was the month.

Used to get them in Salem harbor when I was working there.

Remember my dad trying sesuit hrb, small gold hook, tiny pcs sea worm.... ? Catch. :-)
December- feb

Gup use those for ice fishing
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Grass shrimp ><>

THREAD BOMB!!!
 

kEEP your smelts....I'll take this,, over that aLL day long...
Fresh too!!

This too

My uncle used to take us Frost fishing with a frog spear and flashlight in the winter at night ... in island park never saw one ... now I think he was just giving us something to do.. anyone else ever do this?

i do enjoy fried smelts

Smelts and Christmas - marriage made in heaven
 

As far back as I can remember, smelts have always been a major part of our XMAS holiday meal. Today, first thing children and their spouses ask for when they come for dinner on Christmas Day are the smelts.
I usually do a light flour mix (with light touch of black pepper) and deep fry in hot oil until golden brown - and salt as soon as they come out is absolute must!
Anyone else have a recipe to share?:humpty:

Sorry! We have always done them the way you do!

we had a great time spearimg them ..quite a few guys also caught them on R&R ><>

Christian still catches them in boston. I go up to the smelt camps in Maine once in awhile still

Close, but I use corn flour on mine. Sometimes I'll do Bread crumbs to get them extra crunchy, serverd with Fries, Cole Slaw, and a cold beer

I miss that fish. Still hanging on to custom smelt sticks, God knows why.
As kids in the 60’s we had lots of spots around Boston to fill buckets with them to sell to the local fishmongers.
Pizza and spukie money !
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Question - how do you eat the smelt? Are the bones removable? Or do you have to pick the meat off them?

On another note - years ago when we fished for whiting in Jamestown we would run into a crew of four guys who would run two man seines along the shallow shoreline at night. They were catching silversides and would dump the seine into barrels they had in the back of a pickup truck. We asked them what they did with them - answer was they brought them to Boston where they were deep fried and sold as "fried whitebait" at the Quincy seafood markets. They mentioned getting real good money. Anyone do this or eat whitebait?

Gut them, cut the heads off, cook them and eat them, bones and all

After cooked I pull back bone out as I eat them.,,,,,,
As a matter of fact, I’m about ready to start cooking a bunch up right now for an early dinner.... busy night coming up...🍺🐟🍺🐟

What time should we get there JC ?

Before and after
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You eat the whitebait bones and all! Whitebait is very popular in the U.K. as well as in continental Europe. I love it!

Smelts and Christmas - marriage made in heaven
 

As far as the bones, I don't worry about 'em. Fry them up to a golden brown, toss a little salt on them and just "inhale" them. Sooooooo good!

Hey Guppy, first batch starts to come out about 4pm.

Hey Bloocrab,
Gotta' say, that looks FANTASTIC and making me very hungry. But for XMAS Eve, if the goal is 7 fishes, I say add smelts to your menu with the beautiful bake.

:cheers::cheers:

Big Y has lots of them at the moment... Kingston store at least.