Smelts 



numbers, and the run continues till the mid- 

 dle of May. They ascend usually at night, 

 and on the ebb tide, though sometimes there 

 are runs on dark days. During spawning 

 time they will not bite the hook, and seem 

 not to feed much, though at times small 

 creatures, such as young shrimp and killie 

 fish, are found in their stomachs. Smelts 

 have been successfully introduced into many 

 of the large lakes that they are unable to 

 ascend because of dams and other obstruc- 

 tions, but in such waters fishing is done 

 almost entirely through the ice in late win- 

 ter. They have also been placed as food 

 for large game fish, such as the muskel- 

 lunge, lake trout, bass and pike. So that 

 to successfully take smelts with rod and 

 line the angler must go in the channels at 

 the mouth of streams, along the edge of 

 small rivers, where they are on the move 

 from salt to fresh water. 



From the latter part of August to late 

 December smelts will bite with avidity, 

 and the best time is at flood tide, though 



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