Smeltin

With the turkeys not cooperating with me I had to stay home for the first smelt trip of the year. But my brother-in-laws took off North to Chequamegon Bay without me. The Run Friday night was decent, They filled a 5 gallon pail in about 3 hours. Saturday night some ice blew into the beach and shut everything down. We will be heading back to Ashland thursday night with the best of the run yet to come. Happy to say that Tom turkey got the ol’ winchester facial this mornin!! So tonite for supper is smelt and deep fried turkey So if your lookin for a smelt run nows the time, with the weather report lookin good for the coming weekend things will be rollin!!! Happy Huntin

I started the annual smelt fry circuit Friday at the Vets Club in Onamia. Wednesday it’s Jack & Jim’s in Duelm. Next Saturday at Garrison. That should be a good start.

A couple budies and I headed out smelting on wisconsin point in Superior friday night but ice blew in and froze the shore solid , the night wasn’t totally wasted thoguh because a couple beers got . Hoping for some warmer weather and cooperating winds to let us enjoy a good ole smelting party!

Thanks for the heads up Tanders!!! You just motivated me to call the troops and fire up a road trip back to the homeland… Any suggestions on what we need for gear? I remember my dad smelting when I was a little guy. Waders, buckets, and what type of net? Headlamps of course. What time of night do the smelt usually run? Any technique involved? This should be a fun adventure to say the least…

Ted

Dang I wish I had a way into the smelt world here. Grew up doing it in Michigan. Duluth and Ashland same distance from my cabin but I dont have a clue where to go and from what I see on the internet many spots are more for seining and not dip netting. Looks like this weekend may be a winner acording to some web reports I found. I have this whole weekend off. Sure would be nice to chase smelt..

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Thanks for the heads up Tanders!!! You just motivated me to call the troops and fire up a road trip back to the homeland… Any suggestions on what we need for gear? I remember my dad smelting when I was a little guy. Waders, buckets, and what type of net? Headlamps of course. What time of night do the smelt usually run? Any technique involved? This should be a fun adventure to say the least…

Ted

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What we use is a 40 foot seine net. You will want a net big enough to create a nice pocket behind you. If your net is too short the fish will skirt around and get out of the net. We have a 15 foot net that the wives pull, that only produces when the run is heavy. There are a few places that sell nets, Pamida is one, and the other that I know is Outdoor Allure bait shop in Washburn. You will need 2 poles to attatch to the end of the net, i use wooden closet rods from menards that work great. Other than that I bring LOTS of beer, some firewood, waders, coolers, lanterns all the basics. The smelt will run anytime during the night, my favorite time is between midnight and 3 or 4. There are some years when our coolers are full before midnight it all depends on the run. Good luck to ya, youll have a blast TA

I will be heading up to ashland tonight to give it the ol first try of the year ill let you know how we fair we will be pulling a 20 footer so i hope the runs is going half way decent if we can get a gallon a pull we will be happy campers.

Ajs

Hell the pulling is fun, the beer is fun, but please I only need a 3 or 4 dozen!!! I wouldn’t even want to clean a five gal pail again!!! But it is still a great deal of fun!!!

Mark

where is ashland. i hear about it all the time when the smelting topic comes up. is it near duluth or something? is it a stream that runs into the superior or is it a lake?

Ashland is a town in Wisconsin that is close to Lake Superior. On a map follow Highway 2 east from Highway 53 and you should find it. Highway 2 hits Highway 53 just south of Duluth/Superior.