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are there any smelt camps closer to home? anything in the MA or NH areas?
I used to do a lot of smelt fishing with my grandfather up in Vermont. I only assume that some of the smelt were ocean run smelt that came up the St. Lawrence Seaway to Lake Champlain, but much of the stock were strickly fresh water fish that summered in the deeper reaches of Lake Champlain. I did catch an occasional summer smelt while fishing Lake Trout and Salmon off of down riggers.
I do love a fresh "mess" of smelt during the winter. I guess I will have to give a smelt camp a try. Growing up, I just used family and friend owned shanties. But would be willing to give one of these camps a try.
A little tip for bait. At least what worked best in Vermont. After you catch the first one (we usually used shiners) to catch a few. But the best bait is a small fillet of smelt. We would fillet off the last 1 - 1 1/2 inches of the smelt towards the tail. This bait drove the smelt wild, catching 2 to 1 over the shiners. And the bait is rugged and would last for 6 or more smelt, before having to cut another chunk. So if nothing else is working, cutting them up makes 'em canniblistic in a big way.
I was finally able to post a tip about something I know....lol
-IWK
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