smelt?

[bgreen82]

how do you prepare them for the tipup and where do you guys get them?

[waterbound]

You can get gutted ones at a lot of grocery stores in the seafood department. Bait shops should carry whole frozen smelt. I usually use a rig with two hooks that will hold it about horizontal under a tip-up and I vary depths until I find the spot where the fish want it. Sometimes I add live bait such as crappie minnows or small shiners to add some action.

[bgreen82]

whole ones are preferred i would assume?

[Dooley87]

Im assuming you are going for pike, I usually buy mine at cash wise grocery store in st cloud, they aren't gutted, Then i use a quick strike rig with two hooks and I place one towards the front and one towards the rear, they will be frozen at the store so they don't sink too well, just take a nail or something and shove it into the belly of the smelt, I actually used a key once to something I didn't own anymore to get the smelt to sink, then I just put er right on the bottom, pike will sift through the bottom in the winter looking for dead minnows, hibernating frogs etc... plus the smelt will thaw out in the water and when it does its a stinky fish attracting magnet and the bigger the smelt the bigger the pike

[waterbound]

Whole smelt work best, although the gutted ones aren't terrible. They are pretty stinky, which is why they're called "smelt"-as in, "That bait sure smelt!"

[bmc]

They're all I use!!! I use a quick strike rig and put a decent sized split shot on the wire leader to sink the rig/smelt combo.

When fishing open water with not much or any weed cover, I'll put them 3' off the bottom. If' I'm panfishing, I throw a tip up out with the smelt at whatever level I'm seeing panfish on my Vexilar.

I think if you are fishing in thick weeds you are better off with live sucker minnows. I think the pike have a hard time finding the dead smelt in the "forest" and the movement of a live sucker minnow is easier for them to key in on.

Brian

[KTapper]

I have called all around my local grocery stores and only can find one that has them and there small without heads. Where can I find these things? I'm sure the bait shops charge to much for them.

[waterbound]

The bait shop I go to usually charges $5-7 a dozen for frozen smelt, but they don't have any in.

[LOTWSvirgin]

I have called all around my local grocery stores and only can find one that has them and there small without heads. Where can I find these things? I'm sure the bait shops charge to much for them.

If you drive a bit south of you to Mt lake about 40 miles they have them in the grocery store whole guts and head. I think they are like 4-5 buck for a 2pound bag

[JimBuck]

Byerly's is where I got mine. Undressed for 5.99/lb.

[Beast26]

When pike fishing in the winter I only use smelt. We usually go up to Superior in the spring and net them ourselves and freeze 24-36 dozen for the winter. I personally prefer them to be 6-9 inches long.

We have been using quick strike rigs for the last 10 or so years. Before that we used smelt hooks made by Mustad. Both quick strike and smelt hooks worked well but you loose less fish with quick strike rigs because of the treble hook.

I have found that I catch bigger fish and have less drops when using smelt over live bait. With the quick strike rig you set the hook as soon as you get to the flag. DO NOT WAIT FOR THE FISH like you would with live bait. They will swallow it and you will gut hook them.

[Steve Foss]

If you can't find smelt, but can find cisco or herring, they work every bit as well as smelt for pike.

[hydro]

The Coborns in Buffalo has them. If you live around here please buy them there so they will keep carrying them. They had them last year and did not sell too many so they were not going to stock them again. I asked them to bring some in for us fishermen.

[JimBuck]

I picked mine up at Byerly's. I've been using them with some success on quick strike rigs. I haven't got much for snakes on em', but the bigger gator's seem to smoke em' pretty good.

[Redlantern]

I'm with Steve on the cisco's. Hard to find south but anytime you're in the Cloquet area or further north you should stop and pick some up. I found that ciscoes will outfish smelt ten to one when going for lakers or northerns.

[ironman]

dead bait is the only way to go for winter pike. I've found Vado's bait in Spring Lake Park has proven to be a consistant place to find smelt.

[Will]

Can you tell me where in cloquet i can get ciscos?

Thanks--------Will

[Zelmsdawg]

Do most you guys fish dead bait even early in the season? I always thought it was more of a late season thing. And do you ever use suckers that have died waiting their turn because I might have one or 2 of those and it'd be nice if I could use them. Thanks

Zelmsdawg

[waterbound]

I was spearing the other day and my decoy must have decided he was tired because he sat still for at least 10 minutes without moving...I actually thought he might have died. It turned out he was still good because he started kicking after a pike came in to give him a look. I would say if a sucker that looks dead can bring a fish in and sucker that is dead can too.

[Gordie]

Marv's in zimmerman have smelt just gotta ask for them.

thread them on a kahle hook and your good to go.

Flags Up

[Steve Foss]

Do most you guys fish dead bait even early in the season?

Yes, always. I never even bother with live bait for pike tip-ups. Haven't for several years, and I'm usually only fishing pike on first/early ice.

I think the late-season deadbait myth got started because it's sensible to think pike are keying on winter-killed baitfish late in the ice season. And that does make sense, but it doesn't mean early season deadbait isn't as effective as it is late.

[BEEFEATER]

Cub Shakopee has some nice omlstead and other

[grate8]

would u guys say they're better than suckers???

[ljbreyer]

The Coborns in Buffalo has them. If you live around here please buy them there so they will keep carrying them. They had them last year and did not sell too many so they were not going to stock them again. I asked them to bring some in for us fishermen.

How big are these grocery store smelt you guys are getting?

[JimBuck]

Mine ranged from 6-10". Most within that 8" area.