You guys have mentioned using live smelt for trolling and seem to have reasonable success, so I thought I should expand my fishing horizons and try them too. I've read on this site that people troll them at speeds anywhere from .8 mph up to 1.2 mph and that hooking them through the lip (only 1 lip) is the way to go. Makes sense to me.
However, what's the general consensus: Do I only need 1 hook in the smelt (lip) or should I use 2 hooks (1 through the lip and 1 through an area of the tail to address the potential for short strikes)?
I recognize the answer may have a lot to do with the size of the smelt. Nevetheless, any insight as to how live smelt should be rigged up would be greatly appreciated.
Alot of guys use the slider rig you can get at AJ's that has single hook for the lip and and sliding treble you bury in the back end. I also use another method of sewing them on. Using a #4 aberdeen hook snelled onto a 3 foot leader with a loop at the end to hook into a swivel. Take the smelt and run the hook up thru lower lip and out the nose hole then do the same exact thing again which will leave a loop of line (mono) in front of the smelts face. Then take the hook and carefully stitch it under the skin 1/4 inch behind the gills in middle of the body and push the hook right back out of skin again. (Dont go into the smelts flesh/meat cuz they die to quick) Repeat this process about another 3/8's in. behind the first stitch except this time leave the shank of the hook in the skin so that just hook sticks out from the side of the smelt. You then slowly pull the line from the loop by the head to gradually tighten up the stitches and form an arc in the smelt. When you put the smelt in the water the arc will cause the bait to slowly spin simulating an injured minnow. Sometimes they will initially shake the bend out when they swim but you can readjust if needed. Troll them slow. Often times the salmon will hit them hard and some times they just pick at them. If they pick at them you need to strip line to them and let them go a while before setting the hook. On large smelt you may need to stitch them 3 times to get a good arc. You can also adjust the bend so that they spin faster or slower based on speed.
They spin and definately need a swivel. Depending on the degree of the bend you put in the body, that govers the spin rate. Personallly I like a very shallow bend so the spin is very slow almost a slow roll. Sometimes they take it spinning fast also. You can play around with it and see what you like. If you need more info let me know. Don't skip the swivel though!