This morning I went smelt fishing with Captain George Harris of Superfly Charters. Our party was made up of George, my son Noah and friend Don. It was a very cold morning here around 3 below zero at 6AM when I thought to check. Not as much wind as the last couple of days though.
Smelts are a small anadromous fish living in our tidal waters. There are also smelt in many of our lakes but the salt water version generally runs a little larger. You fish for them on light jigs usually tipped with a piece of bloodworm or other bait. A big one will be about ten inches long.
Since it can be cold and windy a heated shack is a great luxury. Capt. Harris has a shack on the Great Salt Bay of the Damariscotta River. He arrived before us and had the ice chopped out of the hole in the ice inside of the shack. The best feature of this location was that at low tide the bottom and the fish were clearly visible. Making the fish watching almost as interesting as the fishing.
We spent the morning warm and snug inside the shack and caught enough smelt for a nice lunch. No trophies to be sure but it was still great to do a little mid winter fishing. I recommend a few hours of smelt fishing to anyone who has never been. Great fun!
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