On a crisp, steel-gray night I sat with good friends and cold feet in a small plywood shack on a thick slab of ice. No, it was not a winter camping trip, rather I was smelting. The dictionary defines smelting as “a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product.” While I could have used some of that heat to bolster our small woodstove, we were engaged in trying to extract from the river a favorite Maine species, the smelt.

To be precise, we were after sea-run rainbow smelt, Osmerus mordax. People serious about the English language frown upon turning a noun into a verb, known as “verbing,” what Johnathan Bouquet, an editor for England’s Guardian newspaper labels a “linguistic crime.” Yet in five decades around fishermen, I cannot recall anyone ever saying they were going “smelt fishing.” The activity is simply called smelting, and it takes place in dozens of northern US states during the winter months. Maine has a strong tradition of pursuing these bite-sized fish.

Rainbow smelt are native to the near-shore waters of New England and eastern Canada, as well as the Pacific coast north of Vancouver. Historically these were anadromous fish, meaning they spent part of their lives in fresh water, and part in salt water. They hatch in quiet freshwater streams, gradually work their way down to the sea during their growth phase, then in the spring the fish return to the streams for spawning. Their diet varies as they grow but the presence of zooplankton is key to their survival, while larger smelt are aggressive feeders willing to take any small fish or shrimp they can find.

This is a small but handsome fish, slender and cylindrical in shape. The back can appear silvery green or black depending upon age and overhead lighting, with a pale gray belly. The rainbow part of their name comes from the iridescent blue and pink seen on their sides. Adults seem to average around three ounces and eight inches in length but I found reports of fish as long as 14 inches for individuals that may live up to seven years. They are known to prefer streams with clean water and little siltation, and the fish cannot tolerate acidic conditions caused by pollution.

Like the brook trout and landlocked salmon of Maine, many smelt were trapped by the glaciers over Maine during the great Ice Age. These fish adapted to living their lives only in fresh water since they could not reach the ocean. The smelt did well in inland waters and today are a major prey species in places like Rangeley Lake. The history I was able to unearth from Wikipedia states that smelt eggs from Maine were transported to Crystal Lake in Michigan in 1912 as a food species for lake trout and other gamefish.

Fish rarely stay where they are stocked, except in land-locked ponds. The smelt gradually worked their way into Lake Michigan and from there to the rest of the Great Lakes and their tributaries. They were reported in Lake Ontario in 1929, perhaps the result of stocking in New York’s Finger Lakes around 1917. The only limit on their spread seems to be large numbers of predators or river dams, because the fish cannot jump like Atlantic salmon and struggle with most fish ladders. I first encountered the fish after college in small tributaries on lakes in central New York, spending evenings with friends hoping to capture some of these tasty fish with our long-handled nets. When the smelt were running strong, it was possible to fill a five-gallon bucket in less than an hour.

Scientists have documented sea-run smelt summering along the coast in shallow waters within a mile of shore. In the winter months the fish congregate in bays and estuaries like the fertile Merrymeeting Bay, able to tolerate cold water thanks to their ability to produce antifreeze proteins and glycerol that prevents freezing. Starting in December the fish begin moving into shallower waters like Bowdoinham’s Abagadasset River in the evenings on a rising tide, seeking food along the bottom or washing in from small tributaries. There is no easy way to predict the movement of the fish, so it helps to be in the right place at the right time. After ice-out in the spring, when waters warm into the mid to upper 40s, the smelt will spawn in small streams, leaving their sticky eggs behind to start the cycle of life. The eggs hatch within one to four weeks depending upon water temperatures.

In good conditions, smelt can be found in huge concentrations. In 2003 a scientist named Horppila estimated that in freshwater lakes smelt might exceed 16,000 fish per acre. Their presence has a significant impact on predator species like trout and salmon. I saw this firsthand in the 1980’s when New York State began large scale stocking activities in Lake Ontario with Pacific, coho and Atlantic salmon along with rainbow, brown and lake trout. Thanks to the smelt and other small prey species, almost overnight the lake became a hugely popular fishery with massive sport derbies drawing anglers from all over the northeastern US. Over time the smelt were found to out-compete the popular yellow perch for food so perch numbers declined significantly.

Wherever they are found smelt are a popular winter target for fisherman with few options after the NFL season wraps up. Given a large enough population commercial fishing also occurs, with some fish showing up on restaurant menus but many are processed into animal feed. In 1880 the annual harvest on the Charles River in Massachusetts was reported at nine million fish. Along the shores of Lake Michigan near Chicago the tradition was to use a gill net to harvest smelt.

Drive along the coast this time of year and you will easily spot ice fishing shacks over salt or brackish water. A number of these shacks represent the attempts of small businessmen to make some winter cash from visiting fishermen. Fishing camps with names like Worthing’s, Jim’s, and the Back 40 have been operating for decades, catering to folks without easy access to the water and hoping for a good night of smelting. For as little as $15 per person you can gain access to a small shack that will seat a group of three or four fishermen, including minnows or blood worms for bait, lines and hooks, and a kerosene heater or wood stove to keep cold winds at bay (sort of!).

It must be said that smelt camps have a historical reputation for rowdy behavior, with some of the inhabitants less interested in fishing than in alcohol and tom foolery. Especially if the fishing is slow, it is easy to imbibe a bit too much brandy or beer, and the standards of behavior go downhill from there. I read online accounts of fishing seasons past where it required officers of the law to keep the fisherman from doing each other great bodily harm. Fortunately, that era is passing and smelting is becoming more of a family-friendly sport for folks who want to enjoy the outdoors in winter and hopefully catch a few fish.

The good memories from my introduction to smelting have much to do with the chance to eat some of our catch. My friends would set up small camp kitchens streamside with fish-cutting boards, propane lanterns, and stoves. Smelt are easily processed, requiring only that you remove the head and entrails. The traditional cooking method is to roll the fish in egg, with flour or breadcrumbs, then drop the fish into hot oil. Once cooked the smelt are eaten whole since the bones and fins are soft and give a nice crunch to the tasty treat. Some folks use tartar sauce or cocktail sauce, others just down the crispy fish as delicious finger food. Pick your beverage of choice.

Fishing from a smelt shack offers a bit more comfort, with a small generator supporting a few light bulbs and reasonably good chairs to sit in front of the rectangular cut in the ice where you watch your lines like a hawk (smelt are notorious for their light “bite” and their ability to steal your bait). The shack also offers flexibility in cooking, since you have shelter from the wind and you can use the wood stove or propane heater to support a frying pan. The night I fished recently involved delicious elk summer sausage, sharp cheddar cheese on crackers, elk bratwurst and spicy mustard on baguettes, and sweet treats for dessert. It is a good thing we planned such a menu because it was early season and we managed only three smelt on a light run. If the fish are really moving Maine law allows you to keep as many as four quarts of smelt per day, freezing plenty of meals for the rest of winter.

As with so many other species introductions by mankind, the smelt can be a mixed blessing in some areas. In waters with few predator fish, smelt are aggressive feeders that may proliferate beyond a healthy level. Fisheries managers respond by introducing more predator species and encouraging fisherman to take more smelt. In cases where smelt are illegally introduced to protected ponds, the use of Rotenone poisoning may be necessary to eliminate the non-native smelt and allow restocking of native fish like brook trout. Over time, scientists are finding that after the initial boom in smelt numbers following a stocking event, their numbers are likely to fall considerably as a new balance is reached in the watershed.

Along the shores of Maine, annual runs of ocean-going smelt are now far below historic numbers. As with alewives, shad, salmon, and other anadromous species, smelt numbers suffered from the rush to build dams and the resulting erosion of rivers. Agricultural pollution and acid rain also contributed to the decline of the species. The rainbow smelt is currently designated as a National Marine Fisheries Species of Concern, with NOAA keeping an eye on the status of the fish. Unfortunately, there is insufficient scientific data to determine whether the species qualifies for listing under the US Endangered Species Act. The good news is that farmers are doing a better job in controlling harmful runoffs, acid rain is less prevalent than in the latter 20^th century, and efforts to remove unnecessary dams are gaining significant momentum.

So grab a couple friends or family members and go smelting before we lose our ice!

If you like Ed Robinson’s writing, check out his two Nature Notes books! Click here for more information.