Smelt Substitute

[Pilar]

This is for you Hookset. Bring one bag of prime bait smelt on a trip and set it aside, you'll know when to break it out. In the meantime your options are limited.

I've used four substitutes in the past and all work well.

1) Any kind of fish gills. Salmon works well as does steelhead and panfish.

2) Whole small trout, 8" - 10"

3) Salmon eggs wrapped in Maline cloth and tied with stretchy thread.

4) Frozen anchovies, soaked in dill pickle juice but only over night. Any longer and they get softer instead of firmer. Also my buddy used to dump a little pro-cure in the mason jar with the anchovies and pickle juice. This concoction is called "Pizza Fish". This bait is good for one bite and then it's time for a bait check.

Various strip baits have been tried with spotty results. A guy on this board was chatting about panfish whole? Sandshrimp work but I use them as a topper on the smelt, tied on with thread. I've used shad cut into strips and it works on big daddy.

Once they start to bite good, break out the smelt and bag some keepers.

Don't bring these poor substitutes out to where smelt are being used. You won't even get a single bite. Smelt are that much preferred.

The bend is your friend!

[Trick]

I concure.....There aint anything that outfishes smelt day in and day out for them "gators". It's still fun to experiment though.

[Barnyard]

If ya don't believe the peel man it's your fault

[4u2fish]

Well here goes my 2 cents:

I almost exclusivelly use sand shrimp two per hook; the first through the tail and the second I lay 180 deg. from the first then wrap vigorously with streatch thread. Then an injection of anise.

This is my main staple for sturgeon fishing although there are exceptions to this rule of mine. Always try to have more than one bait in the boat you never know what they are going to bite unless a run is in ie. shad or smelt. At those points there are few substitutes for what is running.

Just what I have experrienced

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AKC H2O-K9

[Jellyhead]

EARTHWORMS!!!!!!!!!

Yup, just plain ol' worms. Here's how I rig mine up.

Tie your dacron leader on your hook and make it about 30" long. Then take the end of your leader and tie it back to the eye. You should end up with a loop about 12-14" long. Then just use a bait threader and thread on 2-4 worms on your leader. I put one on the hook too.

This is pretty much my standard cold water bait before the smelt start running. If you use this in the summer, be prepared for a ton of turbo bites. It'll work then too, but the trash fish will drive you nuts. This is also a good combo to use with sandshrimp. Buy about 4-6 doz. worms for a day's use.

Good Luck.

Aaron

[Pilar]

Jellyhead, thanks buddy! It's only 0845 and already I've learned something today. I have never been able to keep those dang worms on my rig. I've tried stretchy thread, netting and who knows what else. You're method is so simple!

I'm trying it next time out. We top a smelt with a nightcrawler to get the bite going but have never tried them straight up. Thanks again!

The bend is your friend!