Smelt: The cute and crispy little fishies
 

These are small and crunchy/crispy little fishes...somewhat similar to anchovies, but cooked with a lighter more delicate oil for a very crisp texture. You can find these at most fish stores or Asian specialty grocery stores. I bought these at the deli inside Uwajimaya in Seattle. They are very tasty and I would buy them again :)

http://www.robspics.com/smelt.jpg

We have a Filipino version of that dish. Before I turned veggie, I would eat that from time to time. Great with soy sauce, vinegar, and chili pepper dipping sauce. And of course, some RICE>

Looks like whitebait.

Weird, I always just used smelt as bait...

Nice eating fishy eyes huh

We eat them here all the time:thumbsup

We get 5 gallon buckets full of them every spring here in Michigan. They come in from Saginaw Bay up the rivers and if you get right by the mouth of the river in 2-3 foot of water you can scoop nets full of them out at a time.

Last spring we got about 20 gallons of them in a little over an hour. They come in to spawn by the 1000's.

Very easy to clean and super delicious fried in 1/2" of oil in a frying pan to where they just start to crisp. Mmmmmmmmmmm good. :thumbsup