Winter is a great time for smelt fishing. This small fish is a very healthy and tasty product. In this article, we propose to find out how the Far Eastern smelt differs from its other species. We will also see how to make the bait yourself, how to fish and how to cook the Far Eastern smelt.
Kinds
This small fish belongs to the family Koryushkovye. It includes all of us familiar capelin.
There are several varieties of smelt, which differ in size and life expectancy. It:
- Snout (European look). Its weight reaches an average of 6-8 grams, size from 9 to 10 centimeters, life expectancy of up to three years. This is the smallest representative.
- Asian (American) catfish. It grows up to 35 centimeters, weighing one individual can be up to 350 grams, a life span of up to 11 years, the largest representative.
- Slightly marine. This is the Far Eastern smelt. It is medium in size, up to 25 centimeters in length, up to 160 grams in weight. Life expectancy is up to 8 years.
The Far Eastern smelt differs from the other two species in a smaller mouth extended forward by the lower jaw and a shorter dorsal fin.
Where is the Far Eastern view?
The northwest of the Pacific Ocean is the main habitat of the species. Often smelt can be found in Kamchatka and in coastal waters, right up to the north of Korea. Favored by the Far Eastern smelt and the Gulf named after Peter the Great, the southern Kuril Islands, Sakhalin. You can meet this fish even in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk.
What feeds, how to spawn
Smelt feeds mainly on zooplankton, but will not refuse caviar of its relatives, it can also eat young animals.
Most smelt eats in the summer and autumn. This happens near the shores of its habitats.
The fish reaches puberty in the first and second years of life. For all 8 years, she spawns only three times. In the southern areas of its habitat spawning runs from April to May, in the northern - in June.
Fishermen of St. Petersburg go fishing for smelt in December. Only small specimens can be caught at this time, and the catch will be small. For larger prey you need to go in January and February.
Smelt fishing is exciting and interesting, especially during active biting. Let's get acquainted with the method of catching smelt.
Do-it-yourself bait for smelt Far Eastern
For any fishing you need to use bait, which attracts schools of fish to the place of fishing. If you try and lure the fish, then it will be better to peck, and this is a guarantee of catch.
Smelt is a special creature. Bait for her is a separate topic that needs to be considered in more detail. It is about what bait is worth using and how to do it, we want to tell.
In winter, Far Eastern individuals enter the bays and estuaries, where the depths are relatively small, so the fishing spots are covered with a reliable layer of ice. Smelt is a small but predatory fish. Therefore, for its capture, it is worth using live or imitated for live gear. Live bait must also be present in bait.
In winter, smelt Far Eastern swims under the ice in search of plankton. She is especially interested in krill. You can use a trick to lure a fish to its place of fishing using purchased krill. In shops for fishermen, this product is sold frozen, and the manufacturer is most often China or Japan.
Many fishermen, wanting to increase the amount of complementary foods, do it themselves, adding other products to krill. The most commonly used maggot. It can be clean or tinted.
To krill, you can add minced meat, fish shavings, powders from shrimp shells and crab. Clouding is a great idea for complementary foods. For this purpose, ordinary flour, milk powder or fine sand can be used.
How to properly feed smelt
If fishing takes place in places with a weak current or in stagnant water, then the bait will be the same as when catching another fish. You need to gradually add the bait, wait a little and cast a fishing rod.
If the course is clear, then ordinary bait does not work, the bait will simply carry away from the place of fishing. In this case, we need to make balls from bait, clay and sand. Bait should be more than other components. The ball will reach the bottom, will disintegrate, the particles will slowly rise up, and only then they will be carried to the side. But there is enough time until lure rises to the surface to lure smelt.
Tackle, bait and bait
For bait, you need to use the fillet pieces of a ruff, crab sticks, hake, perch, smelt itself. They are the same in productivity, but which is better is decided on the spot.
The best nozzle is the eel, as it is durable. It is better to use such a nozzle, coupled with a fishing pole, which is used for active biting.
The fishing rod should be comfortable, because fishing will take a lot of time with a good bite, which will definitely be if we use the recommended bait and bait.
How to cook a delicious Far Eastern smelt? We suggest discussing this further.
Soup
The Far Eastern smelt ear, the recipe of which we offer, is very fragrant and satisfying.
Cooking does not take much time, and the pleasure of eating such a soup will be guaranteed.
- The first step is to prepare the broth base from potatoes and onions. Take two large potatoes and a medium-sized onion. Cut into convenient pieces, pour them into boiling water, add parsley and a little celery.
- After the base has boiled, you need to add pepper peas (four pieces are enough), a couple of bay leaves, nutmeg and salt.
- Ten smelt must be peeled, added to the soup after the potatoes have become soft.
- After boiling, cook for no more than three minutes, take out the bay leaves and pepper.
- You can decorate the soup with greens.
Fried smelt
This is the most common dish, which, like soup, is prepared in a matter of minutes. Far Eastern smelt can be fried in the usual way, or in batter. Consider both options.
The usual way:
- Clean the fish, decapitate, roll in a mixture of flour and salt.
- Put on a hot frying pan with vegetable oil, cover with a lid.
- Fry each side for five minutes.
Breaded:
- Sprinkle the cleaned fish with salt and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Mix the egg with milk (one tablespoon of milk per egg).
- Dip the fish in a mixture of eggs and milk, then in flour.
- Fry until golden brown under the lid.
Roasting
There are several ways to cook a baked smelt, consider two that you will definitely like.
A simple recipe:
- We clean the fish, rub it with paprika, coriander and chopped garlic, do not forget about the salt.
- We lay the carcasses on a greased baking dish, sprinkle a little with lemon juice.
- The temperature in the oven should be 220 degrees, bake for twenty minutes.
Roasting for sauces lovers:
- On a baking sheet put a pound of tomatoes, canned in their own juice, mix with a little salt, add a teaspoon of sugar and herbs.
- Top with peeled, pre-fried smelt.
- Place chopped garlic and whole cherry tomatoes (about 300 grams) on the fish.
- Sprinkle a little with vegetable oil and bake for 40 minutes at 180 degrees.
Smelt Far Eastern dried
This is a favorite treat of men for beer. Consider the simplest recipe so that extra tastes do not interrupt the main one.
- Pour water into the container, salt well. The amount of salt is determined by peeled potato. We put it in water, pouring a little bit of salt, constantly stirring. Potato surfaced - enough salt.
- Next, add soy sauce (for 12 liters of water - 320 milliliters of sauce).
- Put the fish in the sauce, cover with a load (5-6 kilograms).
- After five hours, add a tablespoon of vinegar.
- After an hour, we remove the fish, rinse well under running water, leave for an hour to drain.
- After this, the carcasses should be rinsed in slightly sweetened water and allowed to drain again.
- Hang the fish only in a well-ventilated area.
So, we examined the simplest and most popular recipes for making smelt of the Far Eastern, now let's see why it should be eaten.
The benefits of smelt
This fish is fat and satisfying, but rather low in calories. One hundred grams contains about 100 Kcal, so it will not add excess weight.
For health, smelt is very useful. It contains:
- Proteins, fatty acids.
- Vitamins D and PP.
- High potassium content is therefore beneficial for people with heart and vascular disease.
- Calcium, iron, phosphorus (also found in large quantities).
- Magnesium, sulfur, fluorine, sodium, chromium, nickel, molybdenum and chlorine.
Smelt is useful for all people, including children.