2016 smelt dipping

[doyourtime89]

I was just wondering if anyone has been hearing anything about a smelt dipping season this year.  Two years ago when it was crazy good, I was out of town on the dipping dates and last year when it was great again I was just about to have back surgery and couldn't do anything.  I really hope the run comes back strong again this year so I can get down there and get me some.  Thanks

[Blacklab]

Just watched outdoor GPS. Nobody knows anything as of yet. Still a little early 

[Encore 280]

Should be sometime next month.

[Jason]

Last year was pretty good, three limits in 20 minutes near 4 corners. I still have 90% of last years catch vacuumed packed in the freezer.

[NRA4LIFE]

Anybody willing to take a newby?  We used to net them in lake Michigan when I was young, but it was a whole different operation.  6' by 6' nets winched down off the break water in Port Washington.  Never done it in a river.

[TheHunt]

A buddy and I went down and got 6 limits.  Turned them into canned smoked fish for crackers and cheese.  He ate a lot of them.

[WAcoueshunter]

Anybody willing to take a newby?  We used to net them in lake Michigan when I was young, but it was a whole different operation.  6' by 6' nets winched down off the break water in Port Washington.  Never done it in a river.

It's super easy, you can figure it out pretty quickly by watching others.  Obviously you need a long handled smelt net, a bucket, a scale (to weigh your bucket and not go over the lb. limit), and waders are a good idea.  But other than that, drive down to Castle Rock when the reports are good and get after it.  There are so many people, you won't have any problem finding where the productive spots are.  And then just watch the guys that are catching fish and mimic what they do.  I went last year for the first time, drove into Castle Rock and found a spot along the river just south of town.  No less than 100 other people there.  The fish were right on the bottom - took a little time to figure out how far from the bank, depth, etc., but with a little trial and error we got the spot dialed in and started filling buckets.  Dragging the net through the water over and over can be a workout, so it's nice to have someone to trade off with - one guy mans the net, the other empties the net into the bucket.

[Encore 280]

Might be able to find something about it on YouTube.

[Jason]

It's very easy to do, I learned by just getting there and watching others and it didn't take long to figure it out, that is after I got over the shock  of how many people that where there    Combat Smelt Dipping at it finest!!

Attached are a couple pictures of my boys dipping for smelt and dumping them in the bucket, as stated earlier it works great with two or more people, because the lower back and forearms will be on fire 

And the very last pic is of the least populated beach we could find on our way out.

[Encore 280]

If you don't feel like dipping then just find a WDFW truck, they'll have buckets of confiscated smelt in the back of their trucks that they may be willing to give up since they don't want to waste 'em all.

[Deliverance1985]

ok i spent a lot of time this year researching elk and dear. and now that I got that out the way , besides tracking and keeping tabs on them their isn't much todo. I opted out of razor clam this year, however I did see a video where they used salt.  I'm not big  on fishing, but squid sounds awesome, just all the places are a drive from lacey wa,  and smelt. well this is new to me, and looks interesting. couldn't downloand the fishing reg so ill go to the adventure center on jblm and get one. any tips or whatnot. would be awesome, I have a week of leave in feb coming up, and if I don't do anything else ill at least go hike the enchanted forest valley, but id rather be fishing or hunting. lol

[bigtex]

According to the bios it's a big maybe if there will be a season this year.

[Encore 280]

Ugh, not good. Usually they look for the "scout" run then the main run will show up later on. I hope there's a season again this year.

[Lost in the mountains]

Anyone new and wanting to learn feel free to pm me and if i am in town if they decide to have a season i can show you around and how to do it. I have a net you would just need waders and a bucket.
We had a pilot run a month ago they ran for a bout a week and last i talked to the biologist about 2 weeks ago they weren't counting on having a season this year but they dont know for sure

[WSU]

If you don't feel like dipping then just find a WDFW truck, they'll have buckets of confiscated smelt in the back of their trucks that they may be willing to give up since they don't want to waste 'em all.

Last year I just asked a guy for a couple scoops. That was half a 5 gallon bucket.