Smoked smelt

MrSlick · March 12, 2014, 11:03:19 AM

First time posting pictures...

We went smelt dipping last weekend and came home with twenty pounds. I had the smoker running Saturday and Sunday. First batch was 4 hours of apple starting at 135 degrees progressing to 185 degrees. Second batch was 3 hours of maple with about the same time. I don't care for fish but wife and coworkers gave thumbs up.

Going in

First batch out

watchdog56 · March 12, 2014, 03:28:22 PM

You need to deep fry them. We used to get them up on Lake Superior years ago but the run is very spotty now.

NorthShoreMN · March 12, 2014, 04:54:05 PM

Those look like some large smelt ! Almost as big as
The herring the commercial fishermen get up here.

richard31 · May 23, 2014, 05:39:08 AM

Ohh!!
Serious the first batch there you have looks like gold fish.
Yeah I feel that deep fry is the best way to cook it and make it spicy.

Saber 4 · May 23, 2014, 06:01:57 AM

Looks like they turned out good but I never did develop a liking for smelt when I lived in Michigan years ago.

MrSlick · May 28, 2014, 04:51:51 PM

I really don't eat much fish but my wife loves it. We only have a few dozen left in the freezer.

The shad are running now and we have a salmon fishing trip planned in a few weeks so who knows what will be next!

cobra6223 · May 30, 2014, 07:12:01 PM

They look good but I agree with northshoremn they look huge for smelt. Is there more then one variety of them?

MrSlick · June 02, 2014, 04:24:55 PM

I guess there are different kinds. According to Wiki pacific smelt (Eulachon) that come up the NW rivers can be as long as 12 inches but most are in the 6-8 inch range.