Here’s the Catch It’s a fish fact. For many in Maine, spring is the season to savor the smelt

Bust out the tartar sauce and lemon wedges. It’s time to go smelting.

For many Mainers, catching a mess of the slippery, silver-bellied fish is as much a springtime tradition as gathering fiddleheads or collecting maple sap. And now that smelts are spawning in tidal estuaries, hungry anglers are reaching for their flour and their frying pans.

Friday night, platters were expected to overflow with crispy golden fillets as the Washington County town of Columbia Falls celebrated its annual smelt fry and potluck dinner. The feast, now in its fifth year, is a jovial gathering of locals who not only savor the flavor of smelts but also enjoy supporting the Downeast Salmon Federation and the Downeast Rivers Land Trust, which sponsor the fish fry.

Last year, about 400 people sat elbow to elbow inside the town’s community room and shared more than 80 pounds of the New England treat, along with a bounty of homemade casseroles, salads, breads and pies – and, undoubtedly, a few fish stories.

By this time of year, the slender fish, which typically range from 6 to 9 inches in length, have migrated in large schools to coastal streams and rivers to lay their eggs at a safe distance from their biggest predators, Atlantic salmon. Fishermen catch them at high tide, either with nets or baited hooks.

Ask any smelt-lover and they’ll tell you exactly how they like their fish cooked. Most like them fried but many others enjoy them baked, grilled, smoked or even pickled. Some eat their smelts whole while others remove the heads and tails. Even celebrity TV chef Emeril Lagasse (who hails from Massachusetts) has his own favorite recipe, which calls for mustard, pickles and garlic for a homemade tartar sauce.

Late this past week in Columbia Falls, volunteers were gearing up for the smelt fry. The fish were to be dipped and deep-fried in oil. The town is located on the Pleasant River about 50 miles east of Ellsworth and is perhaps best known for its blueberry barrens.

“Boy, are they some good,” Dwayne Shaw, executive director of the Downeast Salmon Federation, said about smelts, which he calls “the New England treat of the North Atlantic.”

“A fresh smelt smells like a cucumber. A lot of people don’t know that,” he said. “They are delicious.”

Sewell Look favors his smelt straight out of the Fry Daddy, while one of his cribbage partners prefers them pan-fried with a little butter.

The 68-year-old from Columbia Falls has been catching smelt for decades, so long now that he has forgotten exactly when he started. He is also one of several local fishermen who each year donate a portion of their catch for the fish fry.

“It’s like being a lobster fisherman. It just gets in your blood and you can’t lose it,” he said. “I love it.”

Look fishes for smelt through the ice in the winter and in the open water once spring arrives. About four or five times a week, he takes his boat onto the Pleasant River and uses ropes and anchors to stretch out an 85-foot mesh net as the tide comes in.

A typical catch yields about 100 pounds of smelt, which he sells to locals and fish markets for roughly $2 a pound.

Of course, smelt fishing also occurs in the winter, when ice covers the rivers. Jim Worthing owns a smelting camp on the Kennebec River in Randolph, near Augusta. The area is a popular spot for winter fishing.

At his camp, the going rate for a tide’s worth of angling ranges from $25 for a two-person cabin to $65 for a six-person cabin. That includes the necessary equipment, a bucket of sandworms and a wood stove to keep warm.

When he first went into business, his customers were predominantly local guys getting together to fish, drink and have a good time. But over the years, he said, that trend has changed and now he is seeing more young families and tourists taking part.

“Now it’s more family-oriented,” he said. “We’ve had them from Florida, all over the place. The weekends book up pretty good.”

Shaw, from the Downeast Salmon Federation, enjoys taking his 5-year-old son smelting.

“He loves it,” he said. “It’s one of his favorite things to do.”