what is a smelt

Smelt is a family of small fish, the Osmeridae, found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, as well as rivers, streams, and lakes in Europe, North America, and Northeast Asia. They are closely related to salmon and trout and are slender carnivores that spawn short distances upstream, in the surf or in ponds. Smelt are an important winter catch in the saltwater mouths of rivers in New England and the Maritime Provinces of Canada, and they are fished both commercially using nets at sea and for recreation by hand-netting them or spearing or angling them through holes in river ice. Smelt are often the target fish of small fishing shack' villages that spring up along frozen rivers. Typical ways of preparing them include pan-frying in flour and butter, or deep-frying in batter, and they are sometimes cooked directly out of the water over small stoves in the shacks. Smelt populations in the Great Lakes are no longer as large as they once were, and smelt dipping has suffered accordingly.