rdyzz
Full Member
Posts: 21
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Post by rdyzz on May 15, 2013 9:19:51 GMT -6
went to duluth last night may14th to try and get some smelt. we headed towards park point around 8:30pm to see how calm it was. it seemed to be very wavy still, so we decided to abandon the idea of trying there. headed towards the lester and got there around 9. from 9-11:40pm we ended up getting atlest 1-2 smelt per dip. some times we were lucky and got up to 5. some of the other guys with better dip nets did do very well per dip. it wasn't the mother load but it was very modivating to get smelt like this. at the end by 11:40pm between my borther in-law and myself working the lester river it ended producing a cooler full or a little more than 10gallons worth of smelt for us. there wasnt that many people at the lester last night too. around 11:30 it seemed to slow down a bit, but as we were leaving it picked up again.
GOOD LUCK to those who are still after smelt. i think im done for the year.
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Post by dominodaves on May 15, 2013 13:37:52 GMT -6
Nice report. It would seem like a lot people this year have gotten all the smelt they want. Which is exactly what this site is for. The season has been great, keep posting your results. My wify might just make me take her this year if things keep going....we shall see?
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Post by fish1123 on May 15, 2013 17:19:08 GMT -6
By the air port was hot last night. They were jumping on the shore! I work late so I didn't get out til 1145 and we left at 1215 with 25 gallons! Did 7 pulls! Could of got much more but didn't need that much. Last pull was the biggest filled. Waves were horrible and we lost a lot but it did not matter. No one was really by us
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Post by kongie on May 16, 2013 7:01:42 GMT -6
Anyone go out to lester last night? I talked to a lady and her huband that has been hitting up lester all week. She said last week was running very good. That was odd becuase I was there last week and they were running slow. She ask me how late did I stay? My reply was 3am. Long story short. She told last week they ran like crazy at 5am! Her husband was getting one 5g bucket a scoop! She told me by the end of the night they had filled everything they had and end up with a full truck load. She also said one other group went home with three truck loads of smelt! This sounds crazy and made up, but I don't think she would make up a lie. Just wanted to let everyone know what I heard. I'm going to lester tonight for the last time for this year. I'll let you guys know how I do.
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Post by popolarbear(POPO) on May 16, 2013 7:40:25 GMT -6
can anyone recomend spot for weekend. we got thunderstorms and strong south winds comming. perhaps i should try farther north for the end of the run.
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Post by dominodaves on May 16, 2013 8:17:09 GMT -6
Kongie, in my younger years, my family was up with our neighbor at the Lester, they went home because it was slow, they missed a huge run that moved in 15 min later, we filled every cooler in 15 min, we got home a half hour after they did, and they came over and said you threw in the towel too eh? Nope, we filled our coolers! They couldn't believe it, we had plenty for them...but you just never know if they are stories or not, unless you were there. But the way things have been this year...I would tend to believe them.
Polarbear, you have the right suits, (suit-up) so a south wind on the north shore won't bother you much. But I would start at the Lester, and move up the shore as needed. They may still be going good at the Lester this weekend, who knows? But being mobile might be the ticket. Stay tuned to this site too, people should be providing good info that will help you out.
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Post by popolarbear(POPO) on May 16, 2013 8:37:05 GMT -6
hey dominodaves is this a play on words or do i know you?"Polarbear, you have the right suits, (suit-up)" im smelting in a Full body dry-suit actually. could walk all the way down under. but i start freaking as it gets deeper and the under curent starts to tug on my lower body.im going to be up this weekend regardless of weather. im actually contemplating bringing my scuba gear and jump the surf to personally examine this spawn face to face. might learn something on how the fish move.
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Post by dominodaves on May 16, 2013 8:46:41 GMT -6
Lets just say don't play poker with me! No...I just remember your post from earlier!
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Post by cvang393 on May 16, 2013 11:15:20 GMT -6
so would you consider driving up 3 hrs to test the lester for the early morning run if it ever runs? if you had to guess a percentage, what would the percentage of there being run?
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Post by popolarbear(POPO) on May 16, 2013 13:29:26 GMT -6
currious what do the smelt do during the day? do they hang just slightly deeper? also i see that comercial guys are trapping them. looks like a large set in deeper water. but they are pulling several thousand pounds. how is it that they pull so much and shore guys are picking hard to get afew pounds?
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Post by dominodaves on May 16, 2013 15:47:01 GMT -6
Vang, That's a long drive to put all your eggs in one basket. I think the odds are as good as any other time of the night. I've seen them run hard anytime, even once at 9:30am while steelhead fishing! Amazing site in the daytime...but very rare!
Polarbear, Yes the hang out in deeper water during the day, they are light sensitive. Come shallow during the night to spawn. The commercial guys set their nets and check them daily. When they move in to spawn, they get into the traps, and they get harvested in the morning when they check them. They are not necessarily in deeper water, just where they like to travel.
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Post by kongie on May 17, 2013 6:19:54 GMT -6
Stopped by Lester and a couple more streams up north with no luck last night. Got a chance to talk to a guy that claims his buddy did 19 five gallon buckets at the breakwall Wednesday night. So we stopped by the breakwall before calling it a night. When we got there, around 11:45pm, The groups there already had 2-3 5g buckets full. They were running but not as hard as the night before. Run stopped shortly after we got there so we didn't get much. Maybe 3gallons or so. Stayed till 3am to see if they'll show up again with no luck. So I'm done for the year. Hope to see you guys on this forum again next year! Good luck to all!
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Post by popolarbear(POPO) on May 17, 2013 6:38:02 GMT -6
is it worth driving up tonight or tomorrow? any reports. thanks
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Post by bgood22 on May 17, 2013 8:08:14 GMT -6
I will have a chance tonight and tomorrow night if anyone wants to go. Have a sein and a dip net, thinking im going to dip a while before I try to find someone to sein.
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Post by dominodaves on May 17, 2013 9:25:58 GMT -6
Polarbear, I do not know what kind of nets you have, but if I were out tonight, I would start at the break wall using a seine, if slow, then check out the park at the end of Point, then go to Lester and dip, and move up the shore from there. If you go, I'm sure you would get smelt using this progression. It's getting late in the season, so the mother load is not likely, but you just never know, it's been a crazy year!
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