2020 Smelt

Any Smelt guys in here who cannot wait for the spring runs!!!

I go every year. A gallon or two is enough for me and my family.i still have a couple packs in the freezer I should have a smelt fry this weekend!

I use to do this for many years when I was a Kid ( Many Many years ago ) I can still remember all the cooler’s full we would bring home and all the time it took to clean all of them – I’m not the biggest fan of eating them. For many years the run was almost nothing – How well have they recovered? – Is it back to the glory days when you could fill cooler after cooler full in under a Hr. or like the days people would struggle to fill a gallon bucket?

Yes and Yes
It really depends. Here near Duluth, using a seine along park or wisconsin point can fill a 80 quart cooler pretty quickly if they are on the beach.
Or you can struggle to fill a gallon zippie.
Timing is really the big thing. And if the ice blows in it can really mess things up some years.

Chequamegon Bay had a more stable run, and it seems to last a bit longer than the run off the Point.

I vaguely remember back when I was a kid in the early 60’s my folks (they were farmers) and the neighbors would run up for smelt. Seems back then everybody could fill whatever they brought. Way back then I think they filled milk cans?

Better then I even imagined, frozen in water with head and guts. They were fantastic.

Super One here in Cloquet already has packages of fresh cleaned smelt in the store. Asked the butcher where’s it was coming from and all he knew was Canada. Said this is the earliest they have ever gotten fresh smelt. $7/pound

looks like no smelting this year boys!!!

I got a couple last weekend tullibee fishing, I guess that’ll have to do 😂

CC wrote:

looks like no smelting this year boys!!!

City of Ashland has closed for smelting this year til May 5 I believe. There may beaches you could smelt along the South shore of WI or the North shore of MN. I’m just not sure where, someplace out of the way where social distancing is an easy task.

Mark

The duluth paper said it’s only open to local residents and it will be patroled for people who look like there from out of town. Not sure what that means.

Simply means residents or non-residents stay the hell home. Will it take a family members death for this to sink in for some people?

Dutchboy wrote:

Simply means residents or non-residents stay the hell home. Will it take a family members death for this to sink in for some people?

God willing No! (I hope)

There are still ice chunks floating out of harbor, but we are close to 2020 smelting. I like to wait for a nice “warm” South or SW breeze then head down to park point with my sons and our smelt seine (about $120 from Christianson Nets in Duluth). With the right breeze the water on Park Point is nice and flat and a lot funnier than fighting waves and getting wet. For the past 15 years we have caught as many as we want, at times seining over 2 gallons in a single pull. Park Point is plenty big enough to social distance… and continue this local color.