Leaderboard

As a boy, we would go out to Lake Huron somewhere along the shoreline when the smelt were "running" and catch them with just about anything - cattle feed bags, for example - and there would be a bonfire on the beach and a honkin' big frying pan, and people were frying up fresh smelts. Some of the smelt got cleaned first, and some actually got cooked before they were eaten. As a lad, it seemed like a wonderful adventure. Fast forward to my teenage years. We heard the smelt were running, and a bunch of us went to a patch of Lake Huron shoreline with some feed bags, a logging chain to act as a bottom drag, and since we did not own waders, we wrapped our legs and shoes in black plastic garbage bags. Alcohol may have been involved. Everybody got soaked to the ass, no smelt were caught, and if memory serves me, somebody got some wieners and we had a wiener roast on the bonfire as we tried to dry our soaking wet clothes and shoes. Good times!

I can remember going smelt fishing when I was a kid. It was either at Fishers Glen or in Normandale. Both these creeks (Villages) were between Port Dover and Turkey Point on Lake Erie. A community bonfire on the beach, where everyone was invited. Two-man dragnets out off the beach and dipnets in the creek. Most everyone shared their catch, once their own buckets or bushels were full. The smelt were so thick in the streams, that I remember walking into the stream (I was 10 or 11 then) with my rubber boots (crap kickers) on, up to my knees in water; with the boots only as high as my shins. Walked out with a couple of dozen smelts in my boots. LOL My Dad who didn't fish would always come with us and most times was the most popular guy on the beach. He'd have a bunch of paper grocery bags with him. My brothers would bring him a pail of smelts, that dad would clean and wash in the creek. He'd then tear the bags into strips that could hold a handful of smelts and wrap the smelts in the paper tightly. He would then rake the fire to one side and drop a number of the packets down on the bottom of the raked fire. Before the paper could catch fire he'd cover them with glowing coals. Waited 5 or so minutes and uncover the packets. The paper was a bit burnt on the edges, but inside was the best cooked/steamed smelt you would have ever eaten. Dad and both my brothers are gone now, but these memories keep them alive for me!!! Dan...

I have a Nikon P900 camera.

If you need one for yourself give me a call, I have 3 of them, one is huge worn by a clysdale, a bit rusted but should work.

If you can mail that with the bugs I'll pay the extra postage....😁 Doug

My oldest son,removed his,washed and lent to me. I have since,done the same and returned. LOL

I did my smelt fishing on Whitby pier. Bushel baskets full of smelt. Seen odd rainbow or brown trout show up in the net. They did a fast disappearing act. It's also involve a lot of home made wine and food.

Oh I would love to get out smelt fishing again, we use to go down to Wellend and fish them through the ice but I haven't been in a very long time. All we used was some red wool on the hook, most of what we caught didn't have the hook, their teeth were just tangled in the wool. So much fun and great eating 😊

Remember folks, back in the 50s, ice fishing was invented by the Department of Health to give heavy drinkers some fresh air in the winter time! Doug

A reprint from the archives, first published in 2015. And still true.......... DEATH MARCH ON CHARLESTON LAKE So “out4trout” and I have been chatting about where we might lay a beating on some mid-winter perch. Both of us are hungry for a fresh feed of perch fillets, and generally we can do exactly that on some lakes we know. EXCEPT those lakes are under a ton of snow and neither of us owns a snowmobile. O4t is pretty fit and could walk a mile in snowshoes, but me, not so much. And plus, when he tried out his snowshoes a couple days ago on a local lake it was worse than wearing no snowshoes at all. So we had to find a lake with EASY access and not so far to walk to the hot spot. I remembered that a fellow I know had been on Charleston Lake two years ago and just slayed the jumbos. I also recalled him saying that they were right close to a road. So I called him up and asked him if he would share that spot with me, which he did. (Trusting soul, isn’t he!) So we made plans to meet this morning close to the honey hole and from there find a good spot to park where we would not impede traffic. As a bonus, 04t’s young lad would be joining us, and he is a strong young man who could possibly be used as a pack mule…. Met up this morning and a brisk walk confirmed a decent access point, so we loaded up the sleds and headed out onto the lake. Now it is worth mentioning here that o4t is six foot thirteen, and his son is taller by a couple inches. I am a short-ass older man with arthritis in my neck and back, and carrying about twenty pounds that I did not have when I wore a younger man’s clothes. The snow was about knee-deep, and had no body, so each step your foot would slide out sideways. And even though those guys were breaking trail, it took two of my steps for every one of theirs, so I was breaking the “half-trail” and pulling my sled. You know, when you look at “Google Earth” and estimate the distances based on their handy little “SCALE” that they provide, you get a fairly good guess as to actual distances on the ground. HAH!!!!!!!! The evil folks at Google Earth probably deliberately make their scale appear to be much bigger than it is. And for example they probably don’t calculate the curvature of the earth, which over distances like this adds many hundreds of yards to the ACTUAL distance to be travelled. Evil machines and their “FREE” programs, eh? They are just softening us up for the robocalypse. Anyways, MULTIPLE stops later, we got out to a fine-looking drop-off that the Navionics was showing. Of course, when we actually drilled the holes, the water was somewhat deeper than we had been intending to fish. We were aiming at 20 but got 24 FOW. And so we started fishing. For perch. With ultralights and micro-sized baits. About an hour into this adventure, when my breathing had returned more or less to normal, and my pulse was finally below 100, I saw the young lad fighting a fish. It was abundantly clear that this was NOT a perch, and sure enough up came a nice lake trout which was returned down the hole immediately. Not long after that, the scene was repeated but this time a very nice lake trout came topside and straight back down the hole. I was fishing with a 1/16 oz Ice Worm on 2 lb test and a very light rod and BOOM! That’s no perch………….and after quite a tussle another laker came up and right back into the water. Then o4t caught a laker and of course released it, there being no open season on lake trout in Charleston Lake in the winter time. Clearly we had to move, so we pulled up our lines and loaded the sleds for another trudge through that cursed snow and drilled holes in 18 to 15 FOW. I had a bump, and missed it, then o4t caught another laker. OK, so now we decided to head REAL shallow and got onto some green cottontail down about 8 feet. Should be good, right? NOPE. Another hour or two, nada, so once again we moved camp, but at least this time we were headed back towards our vehicles. (Maybe because I suggested that was the direction I was going to go…) 15 to 16 FOW, fish on the flasher, and FINALLY the young lad landed a gigantic perch. Well, five inches anyways. By now the wind had picked up considerably and I was convinced that the perch had lockjaw, so we called it a day. Of course, there remained the death march BACK to shore, and our tracks heading out had already been obliterated by blowing wind. I think I stopped twelve or maybe even fifteen times to catch my breath, but hallelujah finally got back on a plowed road! Five hours, five OOS lakers, one perch, and another tale to tell. I am looking forward to getting back out there once the snow has melted (or after the ICE has melted this spring!) The spot has promise for sure, and I suspect it holds perch – we just did not unlock the secret today, or maybe they were just not interested in feeding. And no pictures accompany this little report, given that the lakers went right back down the holes………… Doug

It,s my 2nd as well. It is going to be put away for safe keepings. I am always up at 4am now. I think I am turning into Lew Oclock guy. LOL I get up,coffee and on the vise for a few hours, then I go fishing or stay home and tie more.

That offer still stands my friend, I had a bunch very kindly donated to me, more than I need and would be happy to share some with you if you decide you can use them.

Years ago I caught a fish. Thanks to this board I was invited out fishing. We went to a place that’s hard for me to fish in my boat so it was nice to go. I didn’t have much to bring to support the now many trips. So I tried to be a good guy to fish with. I know that sometimes that’s all other people need. Now the important part. On my wall beside my chair there is an 8x10 of the first Muskie I caught on Georgian bay. Must be ten years ago I guess. I just wanted the driver of that boat to know I still say thanks.

BTW, my shot above of that same fish shows it's true size.

I know that spot... and you're always welcome Glen!! My big boat hasn't moved in 3 years now with too much going on . Then there was the time you caught a fishing rod... I think it fought better than the Muskie... or better yet the 14' board..