dead smelt??

[bgreen82]

i am in the southeast metro area. where do you guys buy your dead/frozen smelt? i'd really like to give it a shot this year.

[rumeye]

The rush point store by rush lake. He usally has the big ones. I have not been there lately though.

[Loogie]

Mikes Bait on 8 in Forest Lake had them last year, so I'm just assuming that he has them this year.

[Ferny]

I was at Fleet Farm the other day and they had the Ladredge Reel Weeds video going. They have excellent footage of a pike sucking up a dead smelt off the bottom!!! It just huffed it in mud and all! It looked like it was real shallow and the smelt was in the middle of the weeds.

AWESOME footage!

Ferny.

[Jex]

I have found them in the frozen seafood section at Byerley's Grocery store.

[lunker651]

Dang, I never really thought about using smelts for bait. That's a good idea. I still have four 1 gallon ziplock bags full of smelts. I got them from smelting in the spring. Thanks for mentioning it on here.

[dakotakid31]

growing up using smelt on lake Oahe.waubay,blue dog and at the cabin i always thought everyone used smelt because it works so great. i was surprised to find out how many people never tried it. vados has nice big smelt. i always try to pick up a few bags when i go back to SD. dont care for the headless cleaned ones that a few of the stores sell. even caught wallys on it.

[looneyducer]

Dead smelt are awesome pike bait. Thread a Norwegian hook through the belly and into the top of the head and let them hang on some thick cord and a leader below a bobber almost as big as a baseball. Fish shallow along the weeds and walk up and down the string, skimming ice. Man, that's the story of my childhood. We caught A LOT of pike that way.

[vermilionwally]

Do the headless cleaned ones work? Ive never fished with smelt but i know the baitshop i get my bait from has them, not sure if they are cleaned or not. Have just seen the price labels on the freezer door while buying other bait.

[MinnesotaMongo]

Smelt are excellent for quick strike rigs - just superb.

Try a little yellow or red food coloring for a change of pace. Just wrap them in a zip bag and re-freeze them. They stand out in a crowd of tip ups...

[snoozebutton]

Last I heard, they were illegal in Wisconsin. Might want to check the regs before using them.

[SP180]

That is all we can use in North Dakota. We are not allowed to use live suckers in this state. Yesterday I had 2 pike and 3 more releases with in 2 hours with dead smelt hanging. I am from MN and this is the first time i have used the smelt thing and they are cheaper and easier to maintain and seem to be deadly for the fish.

[dakotakid31]

Quote:

---

Last I heard, they were illegal in Wisconsin. Might want to check the regs before using them.

---

its illegal to use "live" smelt everywhere i believe but frozen smelt- that would be a new one. you can bait deer but cant use a dead smelt..lol. the headless will work, its the sent that drives the northrens crazy but i would only use them in the last resort if ya cant find the full ones.