Ely Area Lakes

[JackpineRob]

Hey Harold - if you go to Slim Creek you really want to exercise some discipline!!  I dipped a couple of ice cream buckets-full last spring, and that was waaaaaay more than enough.  Like Greatoutdoors says, they are pretty small, and a real pain in the keister to clean.  Each ice cream bucket took nearly 3 hours of quality time with  the scissors.

However, a batch of those little devils beer battered and deep-fried is a tasty treat.  I got enough to have several meals throughout the year, and they freeze up well in a standard ziploc.

I was laughing at the father and sons who were having themselves a great time filling up 5 gallon buckets.  I would imagine most of those smelts ended up in the garden or the garbage.

Slim Creek is Party Central when the smelts are running - and the college kids are out in force.  I tend to wait 'til near the end of the run when the novelty has worn off.  All of the lights and activity scare the smelt back into the lake if the crowds are working things.

[Harold]

Sounds like the hey day of the smelt runs on the North Shore.  In the late seventies, early eighties, that was a heck of a good time.