Smelt and Salmon by Matt Chapple 

I can remember when I was a kid as spring had come and my friend's father down the street was deep-frying a bunch of little fish that he had dipped in a beer batter.  He asked me if I wanted to try one and I replied, "What is it?" He said that it was a smelt. I think I said no thank you and at that time I had no idea that I would be interested in smelt ever again.  Well now every spring I have smelt on my mind.  Not as a delicacy, which they are considered by some people, but as a forage fish for the Landlocked Salmon and an exciting fly-fishing opportunity. 

A contented angler with a typical Landlocked Salmon taken on a smelt fly

Smelt spend summers in deep cold water but they spawn in the spring in April and May and will enter both large and very small tributaries during this time. They generally find the first gentle riffle and that is the extent of the upstream journey.  Smelt are the principle food for the Landlocked Salmon and when schools of them come in to spawn, the salmon will follow.  This is when the fishing gets good.  Many times smelt are seen dimpling the surface or jumping out of the water.  Many anglers believe that the smelt are trying to avoid the predacious salmon and this is a good time to fish along the surface. 

There are many smelt patterns and anglers are always trying to develop new ones, but some of the old standards are still productive.