Smelt run hasn't begun

[Lee Borgersen]

    Smelt run hasn't begun in earnest.

 Apr 20, 2015
 
The smelt run in the Duluth area hasn't really begun with any consistency, observers say. Dick Martin of the Lake Superior Fish Co. in Superior said his crew picked up a few smelt on Monday but he's unsure of the status of the run.

 
"I'd like to see a couple or three days before I say anything," Martin said.

  .....
At the Bait Box in Superior, Steve Dinda said he has heard sporadic reports of success by smelters at the Brule River and on Park Point.

"It's not hot and heavy," Dinda said.

Cooler conditions this week may slow things down after warmer weather last week. Smelt generally enter streams in mid- to late April when the water in the tributaries warms into the upper 40-degree range, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Smelt are light-sensitive and run in shallow water at night, so most smelting takes place at night when the fish are moving into the streams.

People seeking smelt on the North Shore typically use a long-handled dip net and stand in streams with waders to intercept smelt heading upstream. Others uses seine nets in the shallows of Lake Superior along the Park Point beach.