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It looks like the monster waves ate up most of the ice on the beach by the Tot Lot from what I could see yesterday. The ice on the one pier has a ways to go before it will be gone.

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I'm going to give it a try off of Park Point tonight. From the looks of things it should be a wild night!!!

I'm sorry I had to find a little joy in this crazy weather....

Anyone want to grab the other side of the net? grin

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I was making fun of the fresh coating of snow. I'm hoping to start testing the waters in about two weeks unless someone else gets it done before I do.

Butch I also put your new or different cell number in my phone and removed it from your post. You should still have my number. Give me a call when you have time or e-mail is below.

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Got the Christenson net all put together and going to try it out tonight.

My buddy picked up a 50x4 with purse yesterday but he gets to pull on the WI side. He also ordered a 75x6 with purse for next season. Gotta see what it's like pulling that one in!

To be honest when I pulled out the 25 footer it's plently of net.

Not sure what all of you guys run for poles but tried something different for this one. Got two 6ft steel pipes for hanging clothes on. Wrapped both with pipe foam insulation and zip tied it on. The poles are a lot lighter than wood.

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Quote:
Got two 6ft steel pipes for hanging clothes on. Wrapped both with pipe foam insulation and zip tied it on. The poles are a lot lighter than wood.

Great idea! Thanks. I pulled 25' last year and thought it was enough - helps with a few guys to switch it up over the night though!

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Gotta say the insulated poles worked very well, very pleased. You could toss them down and they floated very well. Soft to the touch and didn't seem to take in water.

Pulling a 25ft with purse is sure a work out.

3 guys took turns pulling the sein and ended up with about 8 gallons. Did a little better than we thought we would being the only ones out. In the water from dark to 3.

When the clouds covered the full moon would average 20-30, best pull 68. When the moon was shining bright averaged 1-3. Luckily the clouds were out most of the night!

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Good news, considering the cold front and high winds that we are experiencing. Maybe this coming up Thursday or Friday I will be giving it a shot. It should be warmer on those days...but you never know. It is Minnesota after all. Well, any updates, please let us know! Thanks!

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I pulled a 50' seign once and they can have them. What a back breaker! The 25'ers can get to be work when they have a lot of smelt or back wash catching them.

We will be lucky if we are smelting Park Point by May.

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I agree! Even if it's legal to have something over 50 feet, I'll pass. 25 feet is plenty good. I can't even imagine trying to pull a 75' x 6' seine on the Wisconsin side....it's too much!

Anyhow, please keep us updated the rest of this week. I have a feeling sometime this week we will be getting in some good news/report....

-AL

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Dougger,

Were you guys at parkpoint or on the wisonsin side?

The smelt were not netted on the North Shore/MN side of Superior. Planning to go up to Ashland Monday night... Most reports there are still 1/2 bucket per person and with a wind change finaly that should improve.

The other 3 smelters in the group were pretty cold but with a little captain tucked into my waders managed to stay fairly warm all night!

One thing I may try next time with the Christenson sein is to run a length of swing set chain on the bottom. Last night with the wind and waves it was a tad tough to keep the bottom down. We saw a few getting out under the net.

Got a friend to go and at 57 it was his first time out and he liked it a lot. He's alread asking "when we going again?"!!! And yes for you wondering his bucket did have one with no head!

Still found it odd that when the moon was shining bright the run basicly stopped. Then thick clouds then game on again.

Water temp 35.5, shocked to do ok with water that cold. Measured a couple feet in the water never took a reading on top though.

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I agree! Even if it's legal to have something over 50 feet, I'll pass. 25 feet is plenty good. I can't even imagine trying to pull a 75' x 6' seine on the Wisconsin side....it's too much!

Anyhow, please keep us updated the rest of this week. I have a feeling sometime this week we will be getting in some good news/report....

-AL

With a 75x6 with purse you would be best off with two jon boats!

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wow, has anything like that ever happened in park point in the last few years. those photos are an eye-opener. I wished I could of witnessed this myself.

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Not nearly as nice of pulls as the one shown by SrBrit but we did great over the 2 nights we went in Ashland last year. Also, pulling over sand would help keep those fish in the nets, they would get into the rocks and let the net slide over... Really fun. Unfortuanley, I wanted to use them for northern bait, VHS came into the picture before I really got to use them for that... Invasive species blow.

full-33703-7896-screenshot2011_04_18at10

full-33703-7897-screenshot2011_04_18at10

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Ya we have had a few nights in the past few years where we filled a couple 5 gallon pails in 1 pull. Not many but a few.

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Getting excited to go out again tonight. Hope they are running!!! Over to Ashland...

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For those who's keeping a tight lips, it's not like they can keep all the smelts to themselves. There are literally millions of these little suckers that it wouldn't make any difference.

Last year, we had a couple pulls that were similar to the ones in those pictures too. Boy, was it fun!!

Please do keep us informed. I have a cousin who is willing to come from Winona so we definitely need trustworthy info. Thanks and good luck everyone. Hopefully this year will be a good year!

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do any of you guys think that smelt will be seen in duluth this weekend. after telling my friends and family about ashland, everyone is thinking about trying this weekend on the lester, and park point, but i'm telling them its too early. but i'm no local, so what do you local guys think, will there be smelt this weekend.

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I have seen people out - but they are keeping tight lips.

When people start talking about getting smelt millions of other little buggers show up! I hate having to fight for a spot.

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Water is still a bit cold but a "very few" smelt are being caught off park point. Not many people testing it yet and those that have tried havent caught enough to make it worth my time yet.

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can anybody say smeltfry! man that's a good load. good luck.

I organized a smelt/fishfry last week at work with some co-workers, and it was a blast!!!

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I'm curious,, is the netting used by "SrBrits" a christiansen?

no it is not,

it is a home made net with a purse, pocket, or what ever you want to call it, but they work. a few years back i called a bud and asked him about the smeldt run and he called me back later and said, it's happening now, drop what ever your doing and get here now, they are running big time, if you want to see it first hand come RIGHT now, so we showed, and they where on. those pics were 15 gallon pulls, 5 gallons plus in the sock and the balance in the net. i still owe him for that one.

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