If you like to dip and eat smelt, you can thank a program started in the late 1800’s that planted them in a Benzie County lake. The smelt eventually escaped and spread throughout the Great Lakes ...

Tom Durecki remembers the glory days for smelt fishing — or smelting — in Michigan in the 1970s. “The smelt are running!” was a call that sent fisherman scrambling to Michigan rivers and ...

He was dipping and checking, dipping and checking, but coming up empty on every dip. Up on shore there were bonfires on the rock beach and small groups of people huddled around plastic buckets and ...

Local smelt are a different species (Thaleichthys pacificus) than the Lake Michigan variety (Osmerus mordax, which also inhabit eastern coastal rivers.), but they are of the same family.

Prepare your dip nets — there will be a one-day recreational smelt dipping window this Tuesday. The traditional iconic event occurs one or two times yearly, if at all.

The opportunity to take part in one of Michigan’s favorite fishing pastimes brought back memories of my early years when I learned how to smelt dip in the 1970s.

For years now, the spring smelt runs have been shadows of their former selves. Gone are the days when rivers and streams would run black, teaming with billions of migrating smelt. With only a few ...

The hot ticket on the outdoor stage - smelt dipping on the Cowlitz River - dropped off dramatically early this week, but with any luck at all it should pick back up with warmer weather.

For years now, the spring smelt runs have been shadows of their former selves. Gone are the days when rivers and streams would run black, teaming with billions of migrating smelt. With only a few ...

Smelt run draws netters to Duluth for tasty spring tradition Warmer spring may have meant an earlier than usual spawning run for little Lake Superior fish.

Runs like those haven’t been experienced in years. The dismal state of the smelt population was confirmed in November, when the Natural Resources Committee limited the catch to two gallons per angler.