smelt advise

[byronbaitskimmer]

fished green lake smelt for the first time sat evening. used ratfinkies and halis and caught 50 in about six hours. wondering if theres some trick to hooking them. missed at least twice as many then we caught. going back friday. some help please!!!

[brad49660]

You have to be quick on the draw. They bite light. The smelt on green have been small and that is part of the reason they don't hook up. I have been on green in the past where the smelt are running big and you seem to hook up more fish. Hali's are the key though. Are you using wigs or minnows.
Brad

[perch-a-holic]

Use an ultra-light rod with 2# line. Had more success using spikes. If you are using minnows try to find some pinners, they are about half an inch long.

[youngbuck26]

I had a lot of success with tying three very small red hooks I think size 14??? (sorry not good with the numbers) tied in about 6 inch intervals above the glow hali...I also put a little glow ball above each hook....Spikes were the key bait...they seemed to like the wax worms more but with the smelts exceptionaly small size they were just eating the part that wasn't hooked..just my .02


Joe

[byronbaitskimmer]

we used spikes.tried minnows but they were too big. we had light rods with spring bobbers and light line.we had a green light down in our shanty is it better to place the light away from your lines?the fish by the light were very inactive while the fish 10-15ft below the light were more active.I will try the small hook trick above the hali thanks.

[youngbuck26]

I believe the fish aren't as attracted to the light itself as much as the things they eat are...I catch most my fish outside the reach of the light...Heck last time I was up there my Light burnt out and I only had a couple of lanterns going, but the bigger ones I was catching were still hugging pretty close to the bottom in about 60 fow.


Joe

[byronbaitskimmer]

we had never tried this before nor had we ever been to green lake so we just stopped in the middle of the permanent shanties.we were in about 45 feet of water.is there better fishing deeper or is the action pretty much the same all around.i read another thread that said using yarn on your hook helps stick to the smelts teeth any truth to that?we started with our light 10ft away from the shanty and had maginal success and didn't mark as many fish.when we moved the light into the shanty the whole vexilar screen was covered within 30min.does the color of the light make a difference in attracting bait for the smelt?

[youngbuck26]

wich launch did you go out from??? The best fishing this year from what i have heard from the local is out of the green lake rustic campground...It could of been 45 feet (I don't have any electronics)...I have heard the thing about the yarn but I have never tried it yet...I am thinking about going up there again this weekend to try my hand at those yummy little guys again...


Joe

[byronbaitskimmer]

went out from the eastern boat launch not sure if it is the rustic campground or not of the two shanty towns on the east side the one that is the farthest to the south.anything else happening in green lake or is the smelt the only attraction.