Shoot the bull thread

[prefers shiners]

Louisiana is a state I want to visit someday.

Be sure to come "hongry".........

[spartannation]

If any of you southern boys ever want to venture north during the winter months I would be happy to take you out on the ice. I have enough gear for half of Louisiana. Who knows, you might even like it. And Steve, my son probably won't come back to Michigan so I'll be making a lot of trips south, and you know I have to fish while I'm there. Maybe you can tag along on one of my adventures. Also have a daughter in Dunwoody( Atlanta), Ga. but can't see myself pulling my boat through that traffic.

[Tracker123]

Thanks for the invite spartannation, but been there and have done that. What's interesting about that part of the country there is a small lake or river running every few miles you drive. There's got to be hundreds there. Water everywhere and the water is cold even during the middle of summer. What I got a kick out of was catching the Steelhead trout during the runs. They would run in the shallow rivers sometimes when the water was only 4 inches deep, if not less. That was serious fishing for sure. Other times were the Smelt runs, which to me is a big shiner. The locals were plum excited about netting those during that part of the year. They were into frying them whole, eyeballs and all. I didn't do that, nor ate one.

[spartannation]

I've gone smelt dipping a number of times. Seems like a good idea at the time to catch a couple of trash cans full of smelt but not such a good idea when you spend an entire day cleaning them. The great lake smelt population has crashed so not a lot of dipping goes on anymore. They also imposed a 2 gallon limit. We have some deep, cold trout lakes that have smelt in them and guys will catch them through the ice on rod and reel. I've done that a few times and it's a blast if you get on an active school.

[Just Steve]

And Steve, my son probably won't come back to Michigan so I'll be making a lot of trips south, and you know I have to fish while I'm there. Maybe you can tag along on one of my adventures.

Oh Yeah.......

[Just Steve]

OMG.....Smelt Runs!!!!

I lived in the upper peninsula of Michigan for 22 years and I got stories of smelt runs!

1974 my dad just bought a brand new 4wd chevy pickup and had to go to Montana for a cattle convention, so it being spring and the creeks are thawed out, the smelt are running and beer is a staple in da UP, we commenced to literally fill the back of dad's brand new truck with smelt! since mom and dad were gone all we had to do was feed 300 head of cattle twice a day and the rest of the day was ours, so we cleaned smelt, and cleaned smelt......and cleaned them friggen smelt for days! We called friends, neighbors, anyone we could think of to clean smelt....they are yours if you want them. Couple sundays later I go to church with mom and a church lady gets up in front of the congregation and wanted to say to everyone she was sooo grateful for the smelt her son brought home cleaned and packaged and what a fine upstanding young man I was to provide, she looked at my mom and said "Mr's Ash you should be so proud of your son"s......we was busted....we never told dad his truck had all those smelt in his brand new truck. He was not at all happy with us.

[Just Steve]

Smelt story #2

My wife and I picked up our friends one evening in April, the creeks were thawed and the smelt were running heavy!
My wife and the wife of my friend wanted to start dipping smelt, a smelt net when full can fill half a 5 gallon bucket. The girls were chest deep in freezing water, no waders, just the jeans they wore......they had to be cold, but they just kept scooping and filling every ones buckets. My friend Rod and I just stood back in the shadows of the campfire as our wives dipped smelt out of the freezing creeks for about a hour.
On the bank of the creek a guy had a fire going with a kettle of hot oil, and was frying them fresh smelt whole!....for everyone!

Ain't nothing better than fresh smelt, cold beer and spring time in da UP.

We eventually told our wives enough is enough, get out of the water and warm up by the fire!

I'm still married to that gal.......she lets me fish any time I want, I'm a blessed man!

[Just Steve]

#3

A guy comes up from lower Michigan he has a restaurant and want to get as many smelt as he can for it. He gets his truck stuck in the sand of the riverbank and someone tells him to find me since I am a farmer, I can pull him out with a tractor. He finds my house at about midnight, knocks on my door and tells me his dilemma can I help? Sure I can, but gonna cost ya time for me to run a couple miles with my tractor, he says OK.

So I get to the creek with my JD 3020 and he is buried up to the bumpers in sand. I got out the chains and cables, got on firm terra cotta and pulled him out. He had 5 milk cans he needed to have filled, so since I was there I grabbed his net and started filling.

At the end of filling his cans, he asked what he owed me for pulling him out.....I said, what ever you want to give me is fine. He whipped out a $100.00 bill and said for the pull and filling up his cans he was more than happy to give me this.

I don't know whether I made this money farming or fishing, but I did appreciate it.

With that, I wont hijack this thread anymore with smelt stories.......they sure was fun though.

["D"]

It was fun for us also, Steve. Maybe I'll post something on the Michigan thread someday. I'm normally quiet and minding my own business though.

[Tracker123]

That was fun. Glad you tuned in to us. Just sharing the time I lived there. I normally don't venture off the Louisiana forum often. I'm not quiet and don't mind my own business. That's the way I roll.