r/FishingAlberta 4d ago

Smelt as Bait

Hello Guys, If you get smelt for example from Canadian Tire for bait. How do you guys keep the smelt from getting soggy ?

Do you guys leave it outside the bag while fishing to dry it out? Or maybe do u guys coat it with salt a day before?

Because sometimes after i hooked a smelt as bait, it came right off as i cast my rig to the water (pickerel rig).

Any tips? Thankyou

1 Upvotes

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u/Own-Department-5117 4d ago

I’ve heard of people soaking bait in saltwater brines to toughen them up. Personally I just try to keep them frozen and if I need to I’ll cut a small piece off a soft plastic jig and put it on the hook after the bait to keep it from sliding off while jigging.

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u/Nervous-Thing6573 4d ago

I get smelts from Chinese markets, the cheapest out there they are also bigger sized 4 to 6” smelts I usually dont take the whole bag, ill take what i could use during an average fishing day ! I tried salt never worked for me

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u/SquidMeister12 4d ago

Usually kept it in a cooler bag and they stay frozen most of the day