Basically, we tried to make our our "smelt fry."

Back up north, Smelt Frys are a pretty big thing in some areas. Back in Wisconsin, these small fish would venture out of Lake Michigan into some of the tributaries to spawn in the spring, and there is where people would gather bucket-loads of them, to have as a delicious meal known as a Smelt Fry.

Down here, we don't have smelt, but we do have some substitutes, so I decided to make my own "smelt fry" imitation for my family to try.

OUR IMITATION SMELT FRY - PHOTOS

While out the other day exploring by the lake, we found plenty of creek chubs and larger minnows. Soon we were collecting them and I came up with the idea to cook them up.

To clean them I simply cut off the heads and slit their bellies open to remove the entrails. After a quick rinse they were ready to get cooking!

I dumped them into a pan of hot oil, and made sure that they weren't getting stuck together. When cooked this way, even the fins and bones can be eaten, which is really cool.

Here's what one of them looks like when fried up. I could have battered them too, but I just wanted to see how tasty they were on their own first.

We had a nice appetizer for our efforts, and a new dish to try for our children. Overall, they went over pretty well and soon they were all devoured.

Not having tartar sauce on hand, we opted for some mayonnaise, which was really delicious on these tasty little fish.

Mama-Pepper was really impressed with them too, so I think they'll find their way into our "regular menu" here on the homestead. Have you ever tried smelt, or eaten small fish like this? If so, what'd you think?

Until next time…

Make today special!

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