Smelt in Bismarck ?

[scrotcaster]

Gonna go chase some pike this weekend. Do any of the grocery stores sell bags of smelt anymore ?
I know i can get them at gas stations but they are spendy

 

[Lycanthrope]

South cashwise has nice sized ones, not big but not the little dinky ones that the grocery stores so often have. I bought a couple bags and vacuum sealed them 10 / pack for longer storage, should keep me going for a couple years.

 

[mikef]

Runnings had herring too

 

[Lycanthrope]

Runnings had herring too

herring suck, smelts are bettererer. Anyone ever try whole sardines?

 

[Wall-eyes]

Seems them toothy buggers like smelt only, ram big treble hook through center throw it out.

 

[scrotcaster]

Seems them toothy buggers like smelt only, ram big treble hook through center throw it out.

I agree, I bought some herring last year (from Asian mart) definitely didn't have near the success as smelt

 

[1lessdog]

You can also use the Red hotdogs. When we ran tip ups a 1/3 would be Smelt, a 1/3 Hotdogs and a 1/3 treble hook with 3 minnows. The treble hook with 3 minnows worked the best then Hotdogs, then Smelt.

 

[svnmag]

Gonna go chase some pike this weekend. Do any of the grocery stores sell bags of smelt anymore ?
I know i can get them at gas stations but they are spendy

IMHO/E: Presentation isn't very important. You can Frankenstein a big smelt with a knife on a long shank/plastic worm hook or just ball up a bunch of smaller ones like you're after catfish. BTW; I've never received an answer whether muskie could be caught in the same manner. It stands to reason as wild trout can be caught on cheeseballs.

 

[svnmag]

The herring and sardine posts are intriguing... doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me they'd be that selective and still hit red hots.

 

[Sluggo]

You can also use the Red hotdogs. When we ran tip ups a 1/3 would be Smelt, a 1/3 Hotdogs and a 1/3 treble hook with 3 minnows. The treble hook with 3 minnows worked the best then Hotdogs, then Smelt.

Interesting experiment you ran there. What size of pike were you catching on those offerings?

 

[1lessdog]

We were over on Green lake by Wishek a number of yrs ago. It was myself and 2 of my boys and 2 neighbor kids. I dont think we caught a Northern under6 lbs, we did catch 8 or 9 fish over 12 lbs. There were 4 guys from Lisbon there. And they couldnt catch much. We had tip up running from 5 ft from the cattails going out every 10 feet a tip up. We had 15 to 18 lines out all the time. The hotdogs just drop them on the bottom and let them set. The Northerns would pick them up right off the bottom. The Smelt and Minnow about a ft off the bottom. The hotdogs caught a little over half are fish that day.

We gave the guys from Lisbon about 10 fish. We didnt know they were fishing the Fort Ransom fishing tournament. And they won it.


A few yrs before that my middle boy and I were fishing on Cherry Lake. We had tip up out and were using Smelt and 3 minnows on a treble hook. We were catching fish and my boy went over to talk to some older guys fishing. Now my boy was maybe 5 or 6 yrs old. When he came back he was eating a hotdog. I asked him where he got it and he said them guys over there. I went over there to talk to them and say I was sorry he was eating there lunch. They said thats are bait. And I was like sure it is. Then I looked in the sled and they had 7 or 8 Northerns over 10 lbs. All caught on hotdogs. I be came a believer that day.

 

[svnmag]