"Smelt
through the ice. . .or not!"
By Uncle
Bob.
" I laughed when I first
heard him say it. . .smelt.
. .through the ice. . .on
a hook and line?! Right! And
that's during the Jack-a-Lope
rut right? But then a hazy
memory of long ago came back
to me about a program I'd
seen on Public TV about a
couple of old timers doing
it and when Uncle Chuck brought
it up during our last trip
to Fletchers Pond I knew I
had to check it out!
Chuck said he had talked to
a couple of guys who'd done
it on Higgins Lake and that
our Muskie Guide, "Muskie
Manias" Mike Pittiglio
and some of his boys were
going up the weekend of March
6th, the stage was set.
Now, I grew up in Mt. Clemens
and when I was a kid we would
go to Port Huron with dip
nets and get them under the
Blue Water bridge around mid-April
during the annual run. . .by
the bucket load! I was introduced
to smelt fishing by my next
door neighbor, Mr. Banks when
I lived on Detroit's east
side back in the early 60's.
There I said it. . .I'm an
east sider! We didn't cruise
Woodward. . .we cruised Gratiot.
. .went over to Woodward and
stole their chicks! The east
side rules!!! Sorry. . .smelt
dipping Bob, smelt dipping!
My neighbor, Mr. Banks. .
.remember him? He would go
to Point Pelee in Ontario
and drag a big old net out
in the water and drag them
to shore in droves! Again,
that was in the early to mid-60's.
Over the last few years the
smelt runs have dropped off.
Nobody really knows where
they went. . .I'm thinkin'
maybe Cleveland. Speaking
of Cleveland. . .why is the
Rock-n-Roll hall of fame in
Cleveland?! Cleveland don't
rock. . .Detroit Rocks!!!
Focus Bob. . .smelt fishing
dude! A couple of years ago
while Chuck and I were in
Port Huron for a Salmon tournament
we took a stroll down by the
St. Clair River to smoke our
cigars. They wouldn't let
us smoke them in the hotel.
. .ANYWAY. . .we spoke to
several people who were trying
their luck and hoping for
a big run like back in the
day.
Now, being used to smelts
runs of the past where thousands
of the tasty little devils
availed themselves to our
nets, I was skeptical at best.
. .smelt. . .on a hook and
line? So I went to seek guidance
from our friends at KD Outdoors
in Waterford. Ken wasn't there.
. .fishing. Fisherman Mike
was in but had never done
it before but turned me on
to someone who did know. He
layed it on me and now I am
going to try to lay it on
you.
(Up to this point Chuck and
I hadn't left for the trip
yet. Here's what happened.)
We:
1.) Got a late start.
2.) Had car trouble.
3.) Wound up having only one
day to fish.
4.) Didn't bring a lantern.
5.) Didn't bring our ice creepers.
And on and on. What did happen
is we rented a shanty on Houghton
Lake, fished for pike and
got squat! It was a sunny
day and there was no snow
on the ice to kill the light
so they ran for cover. . .we
also found out they had just
lost their teeth. Pike. .
.with no teefahs? Who knew?
Actually I did. . .it happens
every year at this time.
Now about the smelt fishing!
You'll want to have a shanty
and a lantern because you'll
be fishing for them them at
night. Use your standard issue
ice fishing rig, like you
would use for pan fish. Tie
as many teardrops up your
your like as you like and
an ice jigging spoon on the
end for a weight. I used a
glow in the dark Hali. Some
folks tie on as many as 10
teardrops. . .I tied on 5.
I'm lazy. . .my bad. And yes,
that many hooks is legal as
long as you only use 2 lines
in the water. Fact.
Drill your holes, put up your
shanty and light your lamp.
The light will attract the
fish I am told. Drop your
line to the bottom and crank
it up just off the bottom.
After 5 to 10 minutes if you
don't get a bite, crank it
up a couple more inches and
so on till you find the fish.
You may have to move around
a little.
About the ice creepers. .
.for those of you who don't
know, they have teeth and
attach to the bottom of your
boots so you can walk on the
glare ice. (If your momma
knew you was warein' those
tennis shoes son she'd slap
the taste outcher mouth!).
I forgot to pack mine because
they weren't on my pack list.
. .again. . .my bad. Lucky
for me shanties were available
on Houghton and they drove
us out to them. Otherwise
I'd have been hit!
The room cost us $55.00 per
night and the gas ran about
$60.00, round trip. Add groceries
and bait and we brought the
trip in for about $200.00.
Not bad. We had a room with
a "kitchenette"
which included a 'fridge,
microwave and a 2 burner hot
plate (no oven or broiler
kids). I had gone hunting
at Thunder Hills Ranch (see
www.thunderhillsranch.com)
in December and shot a couple
of young hogs so I brought
up some wild boar bacon, breakfast
sausage and a boneless wild
boar pork loin. Needless to
say there was some happy tummy's
that weekend around our campfire.
I'll bet that room still smells
like dead pork!
Next: Back to Higgins at the
end of March for smelt in
the shallows!
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