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MANITOULIN—In the interest of public safety, several Island authorities are urging a skip to one of the annual rites of spring this year: smelt fishing.

The tiny fish follow the ice out at streams flowing into the North Channel, Georgian Bay and Island lakes this time of year, when they spawn, so people know where to scoop them up, always after dark when they stage their reproductive runs. 

The mouth of the Kagawong River at its outflow into the North Channel’s Mudge Bay is usually one of the first places to de-ice and so catch smelt there but with this year’s oversize spring freshet and rushing waters, precisely where people traditionally come with their flashlights, nets and buckets late at night, is unsafe this year and Billings council is asking would-be smelters to curb the urge and wait until next year for middle of the night snacking on the tiny fish fried in butter.