Smelt

[fsnrod]

What light house were you on Wiconsin point?

[sor]

Firefighter: FYI. Going to pick up my Christiansen this afternoon. You (and everybody else) talked me into it. Might see you out there tonight. Look for the guys who look like they've never used a Christiansen before.

--Sor

[bowlingballhead]

Hi guys. Just wanna break out a North Shore report. Hit the Beaver River in Beaver Bay last night about 11pm, and over the course of an hour and a half caught a gallon and a pint dipping the net. Pretty excited, as it's more than I think in the last three years combined. Best pull was 10 smelt and one baby crawfish. Some folks who were there from 9pm-12am caught about three gallons worth. Gonna hit it again tonight.

Great site by the way!

[lispeej]

What light house were you on Wiconsin point?

No. Not wisconsin point. Park point. There was a tall white building with a rotating light not too far from us. I am not from Duluth, therefore I just assume that it was a light house. Maybe it was a light tower. If you take the park point road until you past all the houses and there will be a parking lot to your right. Park there, walk through the sand path on the left and go towards the sandy beach area. That's where we were at. The shoreline there produced the same amount of smelt for everyone last night. The ones that had longer seine nets got more. We unfortunately was stuck with our dinky 10' seine net.

[JustLOVEit]

Originally Posted By: JustLOVEit

lispeej, seem like its still going strong over there. We were there last weekend and got a total of 4 coolers for 2 hours pull on Saturday and Sunday night... Saturday was mostly males and Sunday came in fat females.. I'm pretty sure everyone is about a week late, we were the only one there the first night and 3 other groups the second night.

Well, continue the success!!

I am afraid you are correct. That makes sense because the females that we got last night, their bellies weren't as big as it should be. I think they've been laying eggs all week. There are some that havent' though. That's one way I can tell if the run is early or not. One should have no problem telling males from females in the earlier part of the run.

Last weekend, we were at lester. Lester was slow. Looks like you guys hit jackpot lastweekend. Congrats.

BTW, what type of nets do you guys use?

Yeah, you can say it was the jackpot, haven't caught that many in years, 3-4 gallons a pull. We are basically loaded for the year.

We had a 25' drag net..

[walleyehunter80]

how far out do you go? how deep of water like 4-5 feet?

[acedarth]

Hows the wind down ther this eve?? I don't want to drive a hour to stand and watch the waves.

[firefighterj93]

Sor,

Hopefully it works for you. I should've bought on a long time ago.

I won't be out tonight, working this weekend. I'm going back out again on Sunday night.

Good luck!

~Johnson~

[Fins-n-feathers]

I hit Park Point last night. (Friday) Waited for about 2 hours. Didn't catch a thing but it didn't look like anyone else was doin so hot either. Talked to Bowfin and Mcfin. White caps rollin in- went over the waiters. Very windy.

Checked out Lester River and it looked like they were catching a few here and there but not by the bucketful. Has anyone tried Lester or Knife?

[DuluthGuy]

Might have family coming up tonight from south of the cities - plz call Butch @ 218-461-2458 if you got a idea of where to go.

Otherwise I'll hit the beach & Lester.

P.s. If you want a report tonight call me from dark on.

[fly651]

Am I too late or are they still coming in??? Thinking about coming up tonight after work... any info from last night???

[Northlander]

Wind seems ok and they should only get better now for a few weeks. Big thing is what part of the beach will the big surge hit?

[dougger222]

Was up on Friday night from 11:30pm to Saturday morning 3:15am. We were down by the airport. The waves were very big and it made running the seins rather tough. We noticed when we went out and got back before the big waves came we did better than big waves the whole run.

Four guys with waders, a 25 and 10ft sein 3 gallons. Towards 2am we thought we were on them when we got about 200 in 7 seins.

Went to check out the Lester and the best report was 20 smelt. One guy said they started to come in around 2am but the crowds spooked them off.

BTW, out of about 800 smelt cleaned 40 were females rest were males. All had full bellies.

[MidCoast]

Any predictions on how many more weeks of smelt we have left this season with the earlier ice out?

[Northlander]

Ok Ill bite. I say about 2 weeks but I have never seen a spring like this either.

[Bowfin]

Was on PP at the airport Friday night from 9-11. Got nothing except plenty wet battling the waves. Last night went to PP from 9-9:45 still nothing. Both nights the groups around us weren't doing anything either. Then went to Lester from 10-12 last night. Ended up with 72 smelt. Tough year for me so far - had to work for the few I've gotton. Anyone know if there are better places along PP than others? I always did good there in past years setting up anywhere along the beach.

[Fins-n-feathers]

I have gone to "PP" lately as well. Got nothin but rocks. Is it better farther along by the airport?

[sor]

We were out at the airport Friday night from 9:30 - 2:00 a.m. You're right Bowfin, tough surf. We took about two dozen pulls with a 25' Christiansen and netted about 6 dozen smelt total. Worked hard for 'em, but that just made 'em taste better!

Still, it would be nice to have one of those three gallon pulls that I hear about from time to time...

[firefighterj93]

I did good on Wed when We went out. 10 Gallons, parked by the airport and walked North on the beach to distance myself from everyone.

I'm going to try it again tonight and hope for at least 3 gallons or so for my smelt fry. I don't get out there till about 10 or 10:30'ish, they seem to start coming in around 11 and die off after 1.

I'll let you know tomorrow morning if I have luck.

~Johnson~

[firefighterj93]

Just got home from a somewhat productive night. We made 8 pulls and got a 5 gallon pail full. Would've done more, but my buddy on the other end of the net tripped over his two feet and got submerged by a nice wave, so we called it a night.

I was near the airport. Walked about 150 yards up the beach from another group and started getting them right away.

[tyeeme]

started out last night by the airport not great moved to the lift bridge and got into them. Last pull was 4 gallons. ended up with more than we wanted. Not to many people out there was kinda nice.

[Northlander]

Ill be out again tonight but this time for a bit longer. If anyone wants to get out let me know or call me. Should be a good night.

[JAR JAR]

Ill be out again tonight but this time for a bit longer. If anyone wants to get out let me know or call me. Should be a good night.

better do it tonight.......

Forecast as of 3:35 PM CDT on April 19, 2010

Two Harbors To Duluth Mn-Duluth Mn To Port Wing Wi-

Tonight

NE wind 5 to 10 kt decreasing to around 5 kt late in the evening...then veering SW after midnight. Partly cloudy in the evening then clearing. Waves calm to 2 ft.

Tuesday

W wind 5 to 10 kt backing NE 10 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Mostly sunny. Waves calm to 2 ft building to 1 to 3 ft.

Tuesday Night

NE wind 10 to 15 kt. Partly cloudy. Waves 1 to 3 ft building to 2 to 4 ft after midnight.

Wednesday

NE wind 10 to 15 kt decreasing to 5 to 10 kt in the afternoon. Partly cloudy. Waves 2 to 4 ft subsiding to 1 to 3 ft in the afternoon.

Jar Jar

[Surface Tension]

Jr and I seined the Tot Lot last night. It was a nice evening on the Point. Averaged about 2 dozen smelt per pull. Seined for 2 hours with no breaks to get our bucket of smelt and packed up at 11:15.

[sor]

We seined the Tot Lot last night with similar results. After battling the surf last Friday and Wednesday at the airport with virtually nothing to show for our efforts, the smelt gods decided to reward us with calm waters. We pulled from 9:00-11:00 and filled our 5 gallons as well.

It was a great night to be out there - regardless of the results. That just made it better. Would have been nice to stay a little longer...

[Northlander]

Just woke up after a late night smelting. BD110 and I seigned a area by his friends house down past the tot lot and we got about 11 gallons or so. We didnt have any huge pulls but a gallon to 3 tops at a time. We got smelting about 9:45 or so and ended before midnight so it was a good night. Cleaned smelt for a few hours when I got back and the rest are on ice for later.

The females are really starting to spew their eggs so it wont to too much longer.

Seemed like weedy or areas that had debry (spelling?) on the bottom held way more smelt than just sand. We tried to keep 1 guy in that stuff even if it meant cleaning out the net more.

Im more than likely done for the season now but if anyone wants to pull tonight call me or e-mail me before 8pm. I have the Christiansen with sock we can use.

[End of the Line]

Steve,

I would like just a couple of gallons of smelt at the most. Would be more than happy to pull tonight if it works out. Email sent.

[BD110]

I should be out for another attempt on Wednesday evening. Those plans may change after I finish cleaning this batch of Smelt!!

[SKIPPERS KID]

Wow the wind just put a kink in my plans tonight. This will keep us all off the beach now.

[Northlander]

Ya man I was in the back yard when that wind switched. Temps dropped like 20 some odd degrees in just 15 minutes. I think its a no go for tonight as well. Maybe Wed we can tag team with 2 nets BD110?

Joel E-mail back at ya.