Monkeyface News: Night Smelt

I think you guys might appreciate the new MFN post including discussion of king fish, sand dab and... drum roll please... night smelt.  A quick search for "night smelt" on Youtube leads me to believe that I may be the first person to post a night smelting-with-A-frame video.  Wow.  Impressed?  I didn't thinks so... but still, it's a pretty cool video shot with a flip cam and a flashlight, and for those who are unfamiliar with that fishery it's sure to be at least nominally interesting.

http://monkeyfacenews.typepad.com/my-blog/2010/02/happy.html

Anyway, you can blame Sharky for this.  Had we been paddling around Drake's Estero today as we were supposed to do, I wouldn't have had the time to make this video...

--Kirk

Love to catch fish at night.  Those Smelts are great deep fried like you did!  Thanks for another awesome report and video Kirk.

dude, i love your web site... how does one post comments on your site?

Awesome as always!!!    You really need a new camera though! 

Another masterpiece.  Well done.   

Thanks for the feedback, guys.  Very strange how this blog keeps growing.  I really do want to post more kayak stuff, but I am limited (obviously) by my camera gear... or the lack there of.  If Guitarzan is reading this, I sure would appreciate some info on your kayak camera set up that you were using last time we went crabbing.  Cheers!  If anyone wants to go dabbing in the bay let me know I'm itchin' to get a yak on top of those little buggers.

Sweet vid!! Looks like so much fun.
How much work is involved in preparing those little things?
Never done it and never had 'em before.
Looks delicious.

Shoot, I'd go fishing with you anytime Kirk!  Where in the bay do you target these guys?  Know a great spot at MBK that we nailed them last year.

Dude, ive been itching to go dabbin, give me aq shout if you guys go!

    Great News and Video Kirk. Hopefully we will get a good run in the North Bay later in the spring. We have two A-frame nets that have not been used in years. Night smelt are a tasty treat...fried or smoked. As a kid I used to clean them by the ton with a pair of scissors. Lop off the head, run the blade up the stomach cavity, then scrape out the guts with your thumb. For smoking we just brushed on any sort of chili paste  and dry smoke....eat em guts, head and all.
     Keep us posted if you need some company on your adventures.....

Definitely I would like to go dabbin' in the bay.

Totally fun stuff!!

I give it a total "WHOO-HOOO." 

Hey, I always thought night smelt ran in the summer?  Is that a different run?  Fish geeks needed here.

Night smelt (Spirinctus starksi) traditionally run a little earlier than their diurnal cousins surf smelt (Hypomesus pretiosis)
Nightsmelt runs typically run Feb to July.  Last year the word on the beaches was that the best runs happened on the earlier side of things.  Feb, March and April.  Most guys stop targeting them by August.  But I did pretty well last August myself.  For both surf smelt and nighties.  In fact i had one day where the surf smelt ran so thick just before dusk I got half a bucket with my dip net.  Both are super fun fisheries, though the old timers tell me the abundance is nothing like it once was... oh jeez, don't get me started, this is one of my favorite subjects to drone on and on and on about...

--Kirk

Great stuff!

Your videos are always fun to watch and the blog is very well written!
Keep it up!