smelt and trout

Hi Folks, Spent all day yesterday at my shanty fishing for smelt and trout.  The water level was being lowered throughout the day and it appeared that the power company released over 5' of water.  Lots of noise, moaning, and groaning on the ice yesterday.  A little freaky except that there is over 18" of ice.  Plenty safe out there as I drove my truck onto the ice yesterday. 

Beautiful day with very little wind and plenty of sun.  We landed not quite 50 smelt on a silver Hali jig with a orange floating bibbit attached.  Had 7 flags yesterday and did not manage to land one trout.  Had several trout on who simply did not get hooked well enough.  Every trout ate a smelt under a tip-up. 

We started with golden shinners and rosy reds under tip-ups and did not get one trout bite.  We did have several large perch eat the rosy reds and shiners, but they were not the target species.  We set up in 5' to 25' of water and it appeared that most of the trout were suspended at 15'.  Every fish we lost and missed mauled the live smelt.

I am fishing this afternoon and lets hope that we can execute a little better on the trout.  I have replaced some hooks with rigs that should be more effective. 

Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Obey the bait laws.

Have Fun, Willy