Smelt Fishing Pre Ice-in

[oddfish]

I was driving by sagamore creek today and remembering that I used to see people smelt fishing there before Ice in in the GB. Does anyone know when the smelt start their push up the rivers, and whats the best way to find them (yeah I know a loaded question have at it.) I know they appear just off the coast about now, maybe a little later like early Nov. But I am completly ignorant of their river travels.


Thanks, Oddfish

[DBunker]

Seems like in December, before safe ice has set on the rivers, people report catching smelt off the fishermen's dock in Rye Harbor at night. I went down one year to check it out and did not see anyone else so I did not give it a try.

I have heard about people smelting off of the Sag Creek bridge at Route 1, but they haven't been doing that for several years as I understand it. Not sure which disappeared: the fish or the fishermen.

When winter rolls around I start watching an icefishing forum and last year there was a crazy dude in the Portsmouth area that was fishing small tidal creeks before ice in. Apparently he would straddle the creeks with a ladder and work his way out over the deeper parts. He claimed to catch many smelt.

[47onthewall]

When I was a kid there was a hard-core bunch that caught smelt at the Hampton River Boat Club in late August and September. They seemed to have disappeared in the upper river but can still be caught at the Seabrook pier.