Higgins Smelt

[hooch2a23]

Well, I went out to Higgins yesterday looking for smelt. I thought I would head out to shanty town off the west launch.............no more shanty town:yikes:! I took a friend out for his first time on Higgins and told him about all the shanties we would see......there were 5! Where did shanty town go? I'm guessing that they have to be off by march 1st. I heard that the smelt had turned on so we decided to fish of the west launch..........6 smelt in 5 hours. We fished from 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm, we tried waxies, spikes, and every jig we had. I did notice several shanties out from the north launch and several to the south. I'm not sure what they were fishing for. I have only fished smelt off the west launch. I was marking fish on the vex all the way from the bottom to about 15 ft. Am I too early yet? I haven't heard anything on the smelt for a while. Any info would be great.

[wildcoy73]

seems like a wierd year went last weekend and mark alot on bottom and ended up with just under 60 in a few hours and lost alot more might try to head up on the 8th if the ice hold up

[marakey]

I have been fishing smelt since the first ice with poor results.
Marking lots of smelt, but they don't want to bite.
I have always done well in the past.
There must be plenty of food because they don't want spikes or wax worms

[ih772]

Smeltville, for the most part, is made up of portable shanties these days. Take a look at it on the weekends.

[swampbuck]

Smeltville, for the most part, is made up of portable shanties these days. Take a look at it on the weekends.

Because all the locals are fishing where the smelt are.:lol: sorry I just had to say it.

[bucketbuster]

off the north state park launch it's probably smelt but during the day i think they fish lake trout also. i haven't fished to the south of the west launch but think it is perch and would imagine there would be some smelt there also. you probably can pick up a map of the lake at the bait shop that would probably help. i bought one at franks in linwood but thought i was going to have to mortgage the house to get out of there. think they were about $10 and am sure you can find one a lot cheaper then that

[swampbuck]

off the north state park launch it's probably smelt but during the day i think they fish lake trout also. i haven't fished to the south of the west launch but think it is perch and would imagine there would be some smelt there also. you probably can pick up a map of the lake at the bait shop that would probably help. i bought one at franks in linwood but thought i was going to have to mortgage the house to get out of there. think they were about $10 and am sure you can find one a lot cheaper then that

good guessing... the current known smelt spot would be the group to the north of the boat launch

[stillfish]

Ive got two words for ya (BIG CREEK)........:D

[swampbuck]

there is a lot of roadsides in that neighborhood that are legal for parking. there has been an ongoing battle to preserve the use of the roadends for public use. So for the sake of preserving those rights be considerate of private property and driveways, If you decide to park in that area. also the beach on the south side of big creek is private. you can access directly off the end of kenwood on the south edge of the beach or one of the other roadends north or south of there.

[Sportman1225]

Fished this past weekend with a buddy for smelt. We did Ok, got 140 between us in 2 nights of going after them little buggers. The bite wasn't real strong so you had to be on your toes to hook 'em. We fished about a mile north of the west launch in 35' FOW, not hard to figure out where to go if you know what I mean (try and stay a short distance away from the masses). Ice was 16" to 18" thick with automobile traffic all over the lake.:fish:

[LungBuster 21]

I was also up there over this last weekend. There was 6 of us fishing and managed over 200 smelt for two nights. Definately not spectacular fishing but it was more than enough to have a great time. We were also about a mile north of smeltville in about 60 fow. Also if Steve Sharp reads this thread let me know and we can meet up and take care of your cat problem !!:lol:!!

[born2fish]

Last weekend was the best so far. The girl and I got 132 on Saturday night / Sunday morning (left about 2:00 am) off the west side.