FISHING FOR open-water smelt in the saltwater (usually starts in mid-month) is simplicity in its purest form.

All you need is a long pole (doesn’t have to be a rod with reel or line guides), line, sinker and hook or hooks. All the old timers favored long bamboo poles, but there are plenty of poles now on the market, especially those designed for crappie fishing, that will fit the bill. An old fly rod makes an excellent smelt rig.

For line, almost any kind will do. The old timer’s favorite line was woven cod line, which absorbs water and will freeze in cold conditions. We like mono line best for this, but any ice fishing line would also do.

If you have a reel that you don’t mind exposing to salt water, use it. If you don’t, all you have to do is to take 10 or 12 feet of line and tie it to the end of the rod and wind any excess over the length of the rod onto the tip and secure with a rubber band.

A snelled number six hook or a pair of hooks tied in tandem, or a simple weighted two-hook spreader all will work. Use as little sinker as needed to keep the bait down into the strike zone, which will vary from place to place. The use of a bobber is optional, but we like to use one, the smaller the better. For bait, common earthworms will work but not as well as sea worms. Small tommy cod minnows or glass shrimp are also excellent bait. If you can’t find sea worms to purchase, try digging them around mussel beds at low tide.

Tommy cod can easily be trapped in a minnow trap. You don’t even have to bait your trap. Just tuck your minnow trap into an hourglass-type narrowing of a small tidal creek and you should have enough bait in an overnight set to go fishing with. You may have to try several creeks before finding one that will produce steady bait. Know that you need a free license available at New Hampshire Fish and Game in Durham to set minnow traps in the saltwater.

Bait shrimp can be had by screening small saltwater tidal ponds, or will often show up in your bait trap. If all of these efforts fail, purchase a mackerel at your fish market and use tiny slivers of cut mackerel for bait. After you catch a smelt or two, you can switch to cut smelt, but we’ll bet that the mackerel will do as well. We’ve never tried cutting squid, but again, we’d bet on this as also being effective. We know that store-bought shrimp will work, but they tend to be a bit on the expensive side to use for bait. I’d rather be dipping them in some hot sauce!

Night fishing tends to be better than day, but don’t sell fishing in the daylight short. Along the many docks in Portsmouth near Strawbery Bank, smelt will often congregate under the lights. There used to be a little fleet of smelters fishing from boats in the New Castle Back Channel but we don’t think that this is being done anymore and we don’t know why.

Sagamore Creek, which starts in the marsh behind the Dinnehorn and Bratskeller restaurants on Route 1 in Portsmouth, often is loaded with smelt. We’ve had some nice catches by fishing from shore on the downstream side of the bridge — on the same side as the WHEB radio tower. This area seems to be best at night.

The bridge over Witch’s Creek at Ordione Point in Rye is a great smelting place. There’s also a chance to hook a big sea-run trout as well, as the fish that come and go from Berry Brook have to pass under this bridge. The docks at Rye Harbor will often produce good catches of smelt, as will the docks, piers and marinas in Hampton/Seabrook Harbor.

Best night places are docks at Rye Harbor, at the Dinnerhorn, and at Witches Creek and docks at Prescott Park. Bring a Coleman Lantern for both heat and light. I also like to bring a folding chair as these legs get tired. An old towel to wipe your hands after handling bait or smelt is a great addition to your gear.

And dress a lot warmer than you think you should, especially with footgear. You can always take it off but if you don’t have it you can’t put it on. Famous words from my lifetime friend the “Tomcat!”

Drop us an email at DoDuckInn@aol.com and get out and get you some.

Dick Pinney’s Guide Lines column appears weekly in the New Hampshire Sunday News. Readers may e-mail him at DoDuckInn@aol.com.