How-to salt cure smelt...

[Barleydog]

This recipe is fantastic for salt curing smelt, herring, alewives, and sardines!!!
First get your bait and never let it get warm.  Warm bait will start to deteriarate rapidly and leave you with mushy fish that's hard to thread on a hook.

1.  Take a cooler and fill it with 2 1/2 gallons of ice cold "non-chlorinated" water.  If you don't have a way to remove the chlorine, leave the water out on the counter overnight and it will be gone by morning.

2.  Mix about 3 Tbls. of Mrs. Stewarts liquid blueing into the water.  This will give the fish a really shiney look that is quite impressive!  If you can't get liquid blueing, try green food coloring, but it's not as productive.

3.  Mix in 4 cups of Non-Iodized salt, rock, or even kosher salt until diluted.

4.  1 cup of powdered milk.  This will help keep the fish firm and fresh, and helps if your working with soft fish.

5.  Let the fish sit a couple hours or a couple days.  You can add chopped garlic, garlic oil, or about 2 tbls. of anise oil for extra flavoring. 

This recipe is a bit labor intensive, but trust me it's worth it!  You should wait until after the fish have firmed up before performing any cuts for the purpose of cut-plugging etc...  Enjoy!  Barleydog

[trapperdirk]

OK Barley Dog I need some more info bud . I have a bunch of smelt in my freezer .  Can I use them to accomplish this  . Now if I can what do I do with them after ?. Refreeze them or do I do this the day before going out .? When you say to let them firm up , does that mean dry them ? Man I'm confused and full of questions but very interested because I'm not familiar with this at all .

[Barleydog]

Trapper,
You can take that smelt, (providing it's not freezer burnt), and follow the easy "Germ Proof" instructions for firmer bait.  Basically your thawing your smelt out s-l-o-w-l-y in the fridge and once they thaw, follow the directions provided.  Don't dry out the bait!  Firm up, means to let the salt solution work at the fish to create a tougher bait that won't fall off on the first cast.  I have never attemped to re-freeze the cured bait, don't know if it would work or not with all of the salt penetration??  The biggest thing to remember is keep the bait very cold!  I usually place a bag of cured bait in a small lunch cooler filled with ice.  Do you vacuum seal your smelt after you catch them, or buy them sealed?  If you do, remember to poke a hole in the bag before thawing them out.  Seems they thaw out better when not under vacuum pressure.  I hope that helps you out!  Tell me how they turn out!
I have a question for you??  Do you perform any tanning on skins around the house?  I do a little trapping and have a couple beaver hides that need tanning.  Care to share any information?  Thanks! Jim 

[trapperdirk]

Germ Proof  . LMAO Good one Barley Dog . I don't have one of those vacuum sealers yet , BD , so the smelt I caught this spring are in styrofofoam containers .They are not freezer burnt as yet and it was one of my reasons to pay particular attention to this informative post of yours . I am hoping to make some up for icefishing this winter if I could in advance . I dried some up this spring and was going to salt them but I had them in the freezer and tried them the other day and they were actually tough and worked good . But your method sounds like they would be better and have that fresh live look to them , and I will try a batch and maybe see how they freeze . I know I have put frozen smoked fish in my freezer before for a time period . I have   over 20 pounds of whole smelt in my freezer that I can experiment with .
  Barley Dog I have done some home tanning of hides using that tanning solution that you can get from most trapping or taxidermy supply houses . I have done one fisher that was a tough old male which I still have here . I think I did him 5 yrs ago now and he still seems fine .
  I have done many fox and they turn out particularly good because of the thinness of the hide . A fellow trapper also did a small beaver to put on a hoop for a wall hanger and it was good but stiff which was fine for this type of use . From my experience so far I find you don't get that soft flexible type of finished product that you do from a commercial tannery but for most uses it's great . Now I think you would get this finish if your married to a hide chewer . Most of us are , but over time they seem to have lost this very useful talent and proceeded to change it to conform with their idea of the modern version of it but all it does for me is give me a friggin headache . The old valuable version was much better and had a useful purpose .
 

[Barleydog]

Trapperdirk,  I have a "hide chewing tundra women" at home, but with no teeth, she's not like she used to be.  I had also performed some home tans on fox with pretty good success, and your right about the beaver pelts.  They are probably best off left to the pros, do to hide thickness and fat.  I was planning on making some chopper mits and a hat from the ones I trapped this year, (nuisance trapping and not in prime.)  Then all I have to do is convince the tundra momma to sew em' up in time for ice fishing!
Let me know how your freezer experiment pans out would o.k.?  Hey in your picture next to your name, is that a silver fox in the mix?   -Barleydog

[trapperdirk]

The furthest on the left is a wolf and that black critter in the center is a fisher . A good size male . I sure will let you know how your method and then freezing works out for me Barley Dog and thanks for your recipe . Too bad the tundra hide chewer has lost her teeth but since shes still good with needle and thread there is no need for a trade in yet .
  Most good chewers can't sew and the sewing is the critical part and not easily learned .