Smelt

[Stonedfish]

Looks like there will be a five hour smelt opening on the Cowlitz this weekend.
Haven’t done it in years but it was a lot of fun as a kid. Fried smelt are pretty tasty.
Anyone planning to dip this weekend?
SF

 

[Buzzy]

Are river run smelt anything like the beach spawn smelt my dad and his buddies dipped near Kalaloch? I remember the smelt cleaning "assembly" line and my mom and her friends cooking them in butter and bacon fat. Delicious!

 

[Stonedfish]

Are river run smelt anything like the beach spawn smelt my dad and his buddies dipped near Kalaloch? I remember the smelt cleaning "assembly" line and my mom and her friends cooking them in butter and bacon fat. Delicious!

Can’t say as I’ve only eaten smelt from the Columbia system and they were very good.
I’ve never eaten surf smelt, but fried in butter and bacon fat sure sounds good.
SF

 

[Nick Clayton]

Are river run smelt anything like the beach spawn smelt my dad and his buddies dipped near Kalaloch? I remember the smelt cleaning "assembly" line and my mom and her friends cooking them in butter and bacon fat. Delicious!

Used to do the same thing out there growing up. Family always utilized us kids for the assembly line, and oh man did I hate it lol.

I haven't eaten one since probably high school. Wasn't a big fan of them back then but I wouldn't mind giving em a try again sometime.

 

[Buzzy]

Used to do the same thing out there growing up. Family always utilized us kids for the assembly line, and oh man did I hate it lol.

I haven't eaten one since probably high school. Wasn't a big fan of them back then but I wouldn't mind giving em a try again sometime.

Who knows, might be like fresh roast Ethiopian coffee compared to Folgers..... every once in a while, I find I like a food I didn't used to like or a food that I'd never tried. Natto comes to mind.

 

[Bob N]

Beach smelt are very firm, Columbia smelt have to me the texture of hatchery trout.

 

[Nick Clayton]

Who knows, might be like fresh roast Ethiopian coffee compared to Folgers..... every once in a while, I find I like a food I didn't used to like or a food that I'd never tried. Natto comes to mind.

My tastes have changed drastically over the last five years or so, especially in the seafood realm. Wouldn't surprise me at all if I was suddenly a big fan.

My last time dipping smelt in the Kalaloch area was right after high school and we spread the ashes of my great uncle Bob in the surf. Most of my family on my moms side was from the Forks area and had a deep love of that area. Him and I weren't super close really, but he was a great man who had a simple love of life. I'll never forget spreading his ashes. It had a profound impact on me at the time. I dont think anyone loved anything as much as he loved camping on the beach out there. I've said since that day that I want my ashes spread in the ocean off of our coast, and that definitely comes from that experience.

 

[Buzzy]

My tastes have changed drastically over the last five years or so, especially in the seafood realm. Wouldn't surprise me at all if I was suddenly a big fan.

My last time dipping smelt in the Kalaloch area was right after high school and we spread the ashes of my great uncle Bob in the surf. Most of my family on my moms side was from the Forks area and had a deep love of that area. Him and I weren't super close really, but he was a great man who had a simple love of life. I'll never forget spreading his ashes. It had a profound impact on me at the time. I dont think anyone loved anything as much as he loved camping on the beach out there. I've said since that day that I want my ashes spread in the ocean off of our coast, and that definitely comes from that experience.

Great story, thanks!

My dad loved dipping smelt out there. He and Kenny and Ernie and dad. Sometimes the surf was so powerful that they'd tie a rope to driftwood behind them when they waded out to dip. We're going to drive by next week......

 

[Nick Clayton]

Great story, thanks!

My dad loved dipping smelt out there. He and Kenny and Ernie and dad. Sometimes the surf was so powerful that they'd tie a rope to driftwood behind them when they waded out to dip. We're going to drive by next week......

We spent weeks out there every summer as a kid. So many great memories of exploring the woods and the beaches. Such a great place to grow up.

 

[Greg Armstrong]

First smelt dipping excursion we caught one…. yep, exactly one smelt

Smoked Smelt are wonderful! Smoked smelt, beer and poker night at college created some great, now decades old memories!

 

[Stonedfish]

First smelt dipping excursion we caught one…. yep, exactly one smelt

Smoked Smelt are wonderful! Smoked smelt, beer and poker night at college created some great, now decades old memories!

The little smelt that couldn’t…..
SF

 

[Tallguy]

Smelt fishing story: I haven't eaten a smelt in over 20 years myself, though I never actually liked eating them, only catching them. Up until I went to college in the mid 90s, my family and some friends would ice fish for smelt, on tidewater! This fishery would happen on Great Bay in NH. You would go put your ice shanty out at low tide, the ice would be sitting on mud. In fact, you could dig clams and oysters once you chipped out your hole. Tide would lift the ice 3-6' or so, and you would catch smelt on small hooks tipped with little pieces of sea worm till the tide went out and you were back on mud. Best at night when you could shine light down the hole, but it worked in the day too. We used a row of bent thin hack saw blades as indicators, the smelt were light biters and on the smallest quiver, you would drag them in fast. A good night you could fill most of a bucket.

I think that fishery is pretty much gone now, not cold enough anymore to get safe ice out on the tidal estuaries.

 

[bennysbuddy]

what time of year do the smelt show on the beaches out on the coast ? right now its jigging season on the sound but in a month or so They will start dipping them off the beach

 

[Chadk]

Assembly lines? In the 80s we'd go with my grandpa and fill several 5 gallon buckets (not sure what the per person limit was, but we definitely had no problem hitting it). He treated them like sardines, and we didn't clean them. They would have some for smoking, some for deep frying, some for pan frying - but always whole. Head and all. I did check the 'guts' once as I didn't trust them at first. Was nothing in there. But I did always cut off the had before eating. They would eat the head and all...

 

[Nick Clayton]

I dont remember exactly what we used to do with them, but I do remember we removed the heads. Other than that they were whole.

 

[Nick Clayton]

what time of year do the smelt show on the beaches out on the coast ? right now its jigging season on the sound but in a month or so They will start dipping them off the beach

I have no idea actually. I remember doing it in the summer, usually in August, but really don't know much about them beyond those memories as a kid.

 

[Brute]

Who knows, might be like fresh roast Ethiopian coffee compared to Folgers..... every once in a while, I find I like a food I didn't used to like or a food that I'd never tried. Natto comes to mind.

First, I eat everything...except natto, which are basically slimy rotting soy beans; I can't get past my nose.

Secondly, I have fond memories of catching smelt near Fall River MA with my grandpa over 50 years ago...egg wash & cornmeal . fried crispy like french fries...

 

[Buzzy]

First, I eat everything...except natto, which are basically slimy rotting soy beans; I can't get past my nose.

Secondly, I have fond memories of catching smelt near Fall River MA with my grandpa over 50 years ago...egg wash & cornmeal . fried crispy like french fries...

slimy "fermenting" soybeans, please. ;-)

 

[SilverFly]

First smelt dipping excursion we caught one…. yep, exactly one smelt

Smoked Smelt are wonderful! Smoked smelt, beer and poker night at college created some great, now decades old memories!

Brings back memories of the plywood smoker Dad built. It was a bit smaller than a standard fridge and had an external firebox. It got regular use back in the 80's. Yeah, Dad and I made the trip to the Cow a few times. IIRC he did a simple salt and brown sugar brine and hard-smoked them whole - heads and all. Pretty much the same treatment the local hatchery salmon and steelhead got (filleted). The bottom half of the freezer was nothing but gallon bags of hard smoked fish. Pairing with cold beer was a must. Miss those days.

 

[Grandpa Jim]

While living in MN in 80's I ate smelt. Local restaurants got them from commercial fishermen on Lake Superior. Whole smelt dipped in beer batter and deep fried. Very tasty!

Smelt also make good bait for ice-out northern pike. At the time a bunch of us would fish tributary mouths in early May on big lakes north of Thunder Bay on Lake Superior in Canada. We would pick up a 40 lb. case of frozen smelt for bait in Duluth, MN on the way up north. To fish we would hang a smelt off each hook of a big treble hook on a wire leader with a big spinner above it. We used a big slip bobber and weight to suspend the smelt a couple feet off the bottom. The northerns would take it like a crappie...just a slow movement of the bobber with it eventually going under. Big hook set and then hang on. Largest I landed was 18 lb. with a 16" walleye in it. A buddy caught one that went 27 lbs. Cold and windy on those big lakes in May but good fun!