smelt

so today I was out on one of my favorite bodies of water and threw some tip-ups out caught a few few nothing short of usual but I noticed something while I was jigging for perch some suspended fish. I tried by hardest to get them to bite but they would touch any diamond jig in any size I threw a gill pill on and caught one it was a smelt I had never caught smelt in this area before or at all for that matter I was wondering if anyone had any tips they seemed really aggressive but once they got to the jig they were hesitant to bite would wax worms work better than minnow heads?

If you’re finding individual smelt then they can be tough to trigger a bite. They like a peice of meat. A minnow head or tail works well. I usually catch them off of small spoons like Daredevels plain or a Forage Minnow spoon tipped. I’ve also caught them off of 1/8 oz size spoons like Little Cleo, Sidewinders, Syclops and Kastmasters.

When you get into a school of them, they’ll bite just about anything sometimes.

I like to run small little jigs 12 or 14, or any of hali jigs, some days I just cut a very small chunk of minnow half the size of the head and drop that down if they are real aggresive I will use bigger chunks, a single spike or larva work well to.

In Northern Michigan smelt fishing is kind of a big deal through the ice. We use hali jigs tipped with a spike. Use the lightest rod you can find and watch for the tip to wiggle. There is no real hookset, just lift and reel as fast as you can. Most people fish smelt after dark because they become more active at night; underwater lights really help to draw numbers of ’em in.