Jacksmelt

[lee s]

Does anyone else enjoy a session of pestering jacksmelt in the salt? They are sleek little buggers only reaching 16"-18", but pull like demons and take to the air quite well. As we pollute more of our waters here locally, options diminish, and we seem to revert to other, more hardy options. Often we reserve a couple hours for the smelt when we target salmon, halibut, or rockfish for dinner. Locally rockfish and halibut can be targeted successfully with flies, salmon not so much...saltwater speaking. This has been our entertainment for the last month or so. ....lee s.

[FishnDave]

I had to look them up to see what they look like. Heck yeah, those look like fun! What sorts of flies/size do you target them with?

[lee s]

Sorry took so long Dave. Busy part of the season for hauling.We use nothing larger than a #10 because they have small mouths. They eat most anything in the top 3' of water. Your wolly worm type bugs would work great. .....lee s.

[john52948]

lee, not familiar with this fish, but sounds an awfull like the atlantic/gilf species i uesd to loce catching. this version is a lady fish of skip jack. i used to doe very well with a pattern called surf candy in size 6 or 8 it imitates the small minnows you find in the shallows good luck and merry christmas to all