THE SMELTS 
243 
SMELT FISHERY 
EUROPE 
According to Bloch (1796), at spawning time the smelts were taken in large 
quantities, especially in Prussia, where they were air-dried, placed in casks, and 
shipped to Pologna. Great quantities were found in the Elbe, also. He stated that 
as the fisheries of Hamburg could not sell all they caught, they salted and dried them 
and shipped them to neighboring Provinces. Quoting Pennant, he said that in Lon- 
don they were eaten at breakfast with a glass of wine. 
Day (1884, p. 123) stated that in Norfolk, England, the fishery for smelts com- 
mences in March and continues until the middle of April, during which period the 
fish are full of roe. He credited Lubbock with the following description of one of 
the methods employed. 
Hour after hour does the smelter persevere, moored exactly in the same spot with a torch 
attached to the side of his broad flat-bottomed boat (for this is a nocturnal occupation) in flinging 
his immense casting net, dropping the near side of it at each throw, within three inches of the torch. 
One fortunate cast, if smelts sell well, may recompense him for hours of fatigue, wet, and cold: and he 
waits like the losing gambler for the lucky throw which is to brighten his fortune. The smelts 
captured are kept alive in a tank. 
Day went on to say that they were also taken in the estuary of the Ouse and 
in Breydon by means of the stake nets. He wrote that smelts could be caught with 
a “paternoster” line and No. 8 or 9 hooks, with or without floats, using bait of 
shrimps (either fresh or boiled), gentles, red worm, or pieces of fish. Early mornings 
and late evenings were considered the best times for this fishing, and bread crumbs 
were recommended as ground bait. Day said that in the Solway Firth the best 
fishing season in September, but that the fish disappear the next month until March 
and April, when they ascend to spawn. 
According to Nordqvist (1910), near Helsingfors smelts are caught as long as the 
sea is frozen — from December or January to April. In the northern sections of the 
Gulf of Bothnia, where many large rivers enter, many smelts are caught in winter 
with drag nets. 
The well-know smelt fishery in the Norrstrom off Stockholm, according to Smitt 
(1895, p. 874) is carried on with large hoop nets, such as are in general use at many 
places among the island belt of Stockholm to secure all kind of small fishes for bait. 
These hoop nets, usually 3 to 3.5 meters in diameter, are let down and hoisted up 
from a boat with the aid of a long pole erected obliquely upwards in the stern, and 
a hand net is employed to scoop the fish out of the large net. The smelt is also 
caught on the hook with a bait of shrimps, sand hoppers (gammaroids), worms, or 
bits of fish, but this method is successful only when used for the large smelts— the slom 
or norskung, as they are called in some parts of Sweden when they occur as solitary 
specimens among the smaller smelts. 
Quoting Ekstrom, Smitt says that it is during the spawning season that the 
smelt is taken in any quantity, the fishery being commonly conducted in the follow - 
ing manner: Across the straits or the rivers to which the smelt ascends in order to 
