After a short 2021 season, smelt camp operators and fishermen hope for a strong season, following a blast of ice-making weather earlier this month across the region.

By Maine standards the smelt fishing was slow during that first six-hour tide. Between them, the duo pulled about 30 fish from the icy river.

Deep freeze good news for Maine smelt fishing camps Ice on rivers comes sooner than it has for quite a few years, allowing commercial operations to get the season started.

McPherson has run Jim’s Camps in Bowdoinham for over 45 years. In that time, he's seen several other camps go out of business, as he watches the smelt fishing season get shorter and shorter.

There are numerous smelt camps along the coast of Maine and the Kittery Trading Post (1-888-587-6246) is a good contact for up-to-date information on camps and fishing conditions.

Maine smelt camps having bad season Along the Kennebec River, operators report an inexplicable shortage of the once-teeming fish species.

Maine smelt camp operators experience worst season ever The head smelt biologist for the state said it’s not clear why the season has been so poor for smelt fishing this winter.

Maine is making it more difficult to fish for smelts in an effort to help the wriggling fish rebuild populations that have plummeted in the state and elsewhere in New England.

HALLOWELL (AP) — Traditional Maine smelt fishing is banned in the lower half of the state this spring from Stonington to the New Hampshire border. Battered and fried, the small fish is a spring ...