Smelt Dipping

(My first ‘Published’ Piece, Written at age 11)

A few weeks ago, our family went smelt dipping. My cousin used a pair of our waders and went out dipping for smelt. When he came back to shore, he was soaked and wet. Then I went out and started dipping. I caught one w]and went back to get the bucket. On the way back out, I tripped over a log and got soaked too. While I was walking back in, I tripped again over a stone and got really wet.

Printed in the Flint Journal’s Wide Awake Club
Smelts are a family of small fish, found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, as well as rivers, streams and lakes in Europe, North America and Northeast Asia. "Smelt dipping" is a common group sport in the early spring and when stream waters reach around 39 °F. Fish are spotted using a flashlight or headlamp and scooped out of the water using a dip net made of nylon or metal mesh.
May 15, 1971