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To tell you the truth, what I enjoy most out of smelt fishing is the opportunity to get away and relax. I have been doing it for over 20 years. Nothing better than to be sitting on a pier late at night or early morning or even on a nice sunny day. I love it when it snows also. Of course, catching smelts is an added bonus. I have been on numerous trips where I have caught nothing but I always walked away smiling.
I find that the light attracts the smelts. First of all, at night, with my lantern, I see all the little bait fish come up to the surface. Smelts eat the tiny fishes also. It definitely helps.
Remember that smelts like cold water and work off a sense of smell. Unlike herring which will bite a sabiki with no bait, smelts will not bite a hook that does not have shrimp. If it is a warm day, I tend to go deeper. If it is cold, I hover around the middle. This is the reason why I like the sabiki so much. By jigging up an down, I can cover a range of 5-7 feet, then I keep track of which hook the smelt bites on. After a couple of smelts, I adjust all of my rods to that height and then it's a feeding frenzy.
Keep an eye on how deep other fishermen are going. IF they are catching, then adjust your depth. And chum like mad.
Good luck. I will not be able to make it this Friday. Trust me, I would rather be fishing for smelts than going to a Halloween party.
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