THE SMELTS 
319 
FRESH-WATER SMELT FISHERIES 
It appears that in northern Europe, particularly in Germany and Sweden, far 
greater attention has been given to the commercial possibilities of the fresh-water 
smelt than they have received in this country. Bloch (1796) stated that at the 
first freezing they were brought in quantities to the markets from the neighborhood 
of Miiggel and other neighboring lakes. Every year tons upon tons from the lakes 
were said to be seen in the markets. Quoting Linnaeus, Bloch said that at Upsal, 
Sweden, they formed heaps, which sent forth a bad odor in the streets. He said 
that they were taken in small-mesh nets, and that the smelt did not live long, dying 
soon after being taken from the water. He added that the fish was so common and 
cheap that it was hardly worth transporting. 
According to Reuter (1883), in Finland, during the spawning time the smelt is 
caught in great quantities in seines and hand nets, and enormous quantities of quite 
young smelt fry, the so-called “Siniaisia,” are collected in certain districts. The 
smelt is caught all winter by nets as well as by bottom fishing. By “ bottom fish- 
ing” probably is meant hook-and-line fishing. 
In the lakes of Finland, according to Nordqvist (1910), the best fishing time is 
from the time the lakes are frozen over until the ice is covered with snow. 
In two neighboring lakes that lie not far from the west shore of Lake Ladoga, 
the smelt is fished only in the winter, under the ice, mostly with very fine-meshed 
drag nets about 180 meters (a little over 180 yards) long and up to 25 meters (a 
little over 25 yards) deep. He mentioned one net which, when the size of the 
thread was considered, had a mesh opening scarcely more than 2 millimeters square 
(about .08-inch bar), but other nets had larger meshes. 
In this country the fresh-water smelt fishery was restricted for the most part 
to Maine, New Hampshire, and Lake Champlain. In the New England States the 
fishery, if it may be called such, was largely carried on in the spring during the 
breeding runs of the smelts in the streams, although for a good many years there has 
been some hook-and-line fishing through the ice. In Lake Champlain hook-and-line 
fishing is the only method employed. 
There never has been much more than a local marketing of fresh-water smelts 
caught in the spring, except in one locality to be mentioned later. Most of the 
spring fishing was in the way of sport, most often by dip nets, and always at night. 
A graphic description of this sort of fishing long ago on a stream flowing into Long 
Lake, near Bridgeton, Me., was written by J. C. Mead (1885) under the pen name 
“North Bridgeton.” It is worth quoting at length: 
On the 21st of April the word went round that the “big smelts” had' put in an appearance in 
the streams the evening before. This was enough to bring over a dozen men and boys to the 
banks of a certain well-known brook near the head of Long Pond. A part of these carried dip nets, 
and the most of the others bundles of pitch-wood or jacks, although two or three, one of whom 
was the writer, carried no equipments of any kind, but went “merely to see the fun.” 
The evening was warm and very still, and a moon nearly at first quarter helped to prolong the 
lingering twilight. A fire had been kindled at some little distance from the stream, and as it had 
been agreed upon to keep away from the water until it was fully dark, all hands were grouped 
around the fire and were indulging in the usual gossip and jokes of such occasions. All at once 
