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If you want to smelt by the bridge, you have to arrive early, or just be like some people show up late and dump there buckets and nets next to the break wall and take over a spot close where people have been since before it got dark.

Maybe this is a rant but there is more than enough room on the beach for everyone. Just show some courtesy but not leaving your net were someone is trying to pull up on the beach after moving in on somebody.

Going down to lookie see tonight.>>>>later the load

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Hey Steve Have been down almost every night and the best I have seen is 1 (ONE). I left before the 10:00pm hour so it must have been after that. Or they were down by the airport. If you look at the nets in the Harbor, there are no seagulls around so that tells me the nets have no smelt in them.

Thinking this weekend the start. They just started pulling hard in Ashland and are getting a 5gal full in four hours. Its just to cold for this old man to pull a net for no fish yet.>>>>later the load

I thought that the ashland reported no smelt as of yet?

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I have been watching the "river rock inn & Bait shop's" Facebook page, and it seems as tho people in Ashland are just starting to have some success. I'm no expert, but I would imagine that this weekend will start the run, especially if we get the rain they are talking about, and things may be looking good for mid week next week... but its hard to say looking 2 weekends out...

Today @ 6:45 am (4/11)--"Hey Folks we have reports of some smelt running last night on the Ashland side! Lets keep our fingers crossed for a good run this season and good luck!!"

Yesterday Morning (4/10)--"we have not gotten any on the Ashland shoreline yet but just keep checking because it should be soon :)"

(4/6)--"Nothing in the net for smelt again last night.. But, the water temps have gone up in the bay.. So, get ready!!"

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Went out last night (Tuesday) towards the end of the point. PiedmontAngler and myself spent about 3hrs pulling and had a total of twenty (20) Smelt to show for our efforts. To give you an idea of how cold things are when we got back to the truck from the beach anything that was wet was already starting to freeze.

It's always great to be out in the water but this has been the coldest season I remember.

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after following these the past three years, I think I've realized that almost everyone involved has the same goal - sharing timely information about the smelt run.

Based on the info found I think 4 or 5 of us are going to give it a go at the Tot Lot tonight. I'll be sure to provide a recap tomorrow.

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I found where it said smelters reported some smelt around Ashland but they were not running yet...

We would have to agree with the report from last night. Some smelt but they are not running yet.

We will see how we do tonight and tomorrow night.

BTW,

Pulling that 75x6ft with huge purse is a real work out!!! We are planning to run the 50 footer tonight as a break.

There's still a lot of nights the smelt can/will run up there.

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If you want to smelt by the bridge, you have to arrive early, or just be like some people show up late and dump there buckets and nets next to the break wall and take over a spot close where people have been since before it got dark.

Maybe this is a rant but there is more than enough room on the beach for everyone. Just show some courtesy but not leaving your net were someone is trying to pull up on the beach after moving in on somebody.

Going down to lookie see tonight.>>>>later the load

Wow, it must be really good by the bridge then if people do that there.

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I've smelted along the break wall area by the lift bridge and never did very well. Always crowded and you have to go out really far.

Always done better down by the airport.

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Filled about 1/2 a pail last night off Park Point. Man it was cold. Tonight should be good with this warm day. Ill be down about 11pm after work.

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Sam Cook's smelt report:

Commercial fishermen are catching smelt in their nets in the Duluth harbor, but the run has not begun either along Park Point or in North Shore streams, according to reports Wednesday.

The Lake Superior Fish Co., operating its boat “The Provider,” netted 750 pounds of smelt in the Duluth Harbor on Wednesday, said Dick Martin, one of the partners in the company. The two previous days, the company took 1,800 pounds of smelt each day.

“I’m pretty sure they’re pre-spawn,” Martin said. “It’s awfully early yet.”

Smelt gather offshore this time of year and ascend streams or the Minnesota Point beach area to spawn. But stream temperatures typically need to be in the mid- to upper 40s for a few nights to trigger a run, said Josh Blankenheim, fisheries specialist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources at French River.

“I haven’t heard of anybody (smelters) doing anything,” Blankenheim said. “It’s been so cold at night. The stream temperatures have been in the 30s at night.”

Martin said he spoke to people who had been trying to seine smelt along Minnesota Point Tuesday night.

“They didn’t get hardly anything,” he said.

Coho salmon are hanging close to shore along Minnesota Point, said Scott VanValkenburg of Fisherman’s Corner in Pike Lake. That means they’re feeding on smelt, he said.

“I think as soon as we get this warmer weather, coming up in the next week or so, I think it’ll happen,” VanValkenburg said.

Smelt runs were impressive and drew huge crowds of smelters in the 1970s and 1980s, but the run has diminished to very modest proportions in the past decade or so. Fewer people try to net the fish now, and those who do are usually content with a few gallons.

Smelters 16 and older in Minnesota are reminded they must have a fishing license to take smelt, and they may be taken only for personal consumption.

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Just goes to show you you cant always believe what you read in the paper. They are always a day late and dollar short.

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Filled about 1/2 a pail last night off Park Point. Man it was cold. Tonight should be good with this warm day. Ill be down about 11pm after work.

1/2 pale of ice cream bucket or 5 gal pale?

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So much work at work!!! I won't be able to come until atleast friday at the earliest.

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Was out on park point tonight, filled 10 gallons in less than 2 hours. A sock was crucial with the waves when we were using a normal net all the smelt got sucked out by the waves near shore, when my buddies showed up with their net that had a sock we made short work of the coolers we had brought. It was a great night since a few of my friends have never smelted before. Needless to say we were all soaked and about 100 lbs heavier with all the water in our waders by the end of the night. Not sure if our situation was an anomaly or the norm tonight on numbers but we had a great time. If you go out with these waves be careful and smart and have fun!

Nick

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Looks like the Ashland run may be starting.

We did ok but suspect the real run to start tomorrow night...

Most of the night the water was glass, 72 gallons...

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We were out at the Tot Lot from 9:00 - 11:00. Gardn184 was right about the waves, but as long as we kept moving - even when we were wet - it wasn't too bad.

We also had a 25' Christiansen. Of about 15 pulls, a few were empty, a few had 5-10, one had about 5 or 6 dozen, and the rest had large amounts of debris. At one point about 15 of the 25 feet of net was filled with it and a dozen or so smelt. We had 5 guys trying to haul the net up but had to dump it in the water as it was so heavy it was on the verge of ripping.

Tried to keep moving down the shore towards the bridge to stay away from the debris, but it always eventually caught us. Ended up with a little less than half of a 5-gallon bucket filled. Most of them were big ones.

Despite the challenges, everyone went home happy. Had a few rookies with who - despite being soaking wet and sore from pulling against the waves - were asking when we could go again. That's what it's all about!

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Thank you for the reports. When seinging with waves, do you guys put heavy sinkers/weights on your nets? I too have a seign with a sock in it, but in waves, it always pushes the net ahead of me which made my seign useless.

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Not much you can do when it gets that bad. Some nights we find pulling along the shoreline saves time and gets you more smelt than the typical going in and out method.

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Took home 3 gal. Today and8 yesterday. Could have gotten more but i have learned my lesson about cleaning 20 gallons of smelt... not fun.

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Anyone need any help pulling a seine this weekend? I's juss a po' boy wit a dip net... smile

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Thank you for the reports. When seinging with waves, do you guys put heavy sinkers/weights on your nets? I too have a seign with a sock in it, but in waves, it always pushes the net ahead of me which made my seign useless.

When the waves are really bad it's next to impossible to get smelt. Not only do you get water in your waders but the waves are always pushing the smelt out and under the net.

We've seen some guys run bicycle chain on the bottom of the sein which works. You can either tie it up with rope or run zip ties.

I haven't seined out of Duluth for a couple years but when we did we had to deal with waves and quite a bit of debris. In one night the best we ever did was 10 gallons. The best pull was a few hundred, pretty exciting back then!

One year the smelters were doing decent by the lift bridge but we could only manage one or two at a time. My guess is we were loosing them all out the bottom. We were running a Christensen 25ft w/purse.

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Looks like it's comin' boys! 60s and rain this weekend! See yaaz at the Lester on Friday night... smile

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Ive got a dip net im wanting to get rid of. Anyone want it. Needs minor repair. Easily fixed with some bailing wire. Trade for a beer

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I'll take your offer. Sent you a PM with my phone number. Call me tonight. I will be at park point.

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I'll take your offer. Sent you a PM with my phone number. Call me tonight. I will be at park point.

Dont forget to give us a report tomorrow. smile

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Any updates from last night? I'm planning to give it a try tonight. Hopefully, there's good news! Good luck to all.

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