Also used to get frozen smelt from Byerlys. I also fished with the frozen herring in ND. The Herring definately seemed to hold up better as far as using another day or after a strike. Smelt seemed to get mushy after awhile. No joke, one of the old timers that fished with us fished with hotdogs and outfished me plenty of times vs. my herring! Good luck on those giants!