Smelt Songtext
von Bobby Gaylor

When I was a kid growing up
We used to have a cottage on Lake Winnisquam in New Hampshire
We used to do a lot of fishing out of that lake when we were kids
My grandfather was a fisherman and my father fished
We all fished man
It kind of brought us all together in
All those summers we spent up there

And there was this little grocery store that was on the lake
That supplied everybody with everything
I mean they had everything you′d need
We used to get a lot of candy down there

So one day me and my brothers were down
There and we're getting some candy
And there was all these old guys that would hang around down there
You know like the fishermen that had been there since like
You know the settlers moved in


Swapping all these stories about you know
I caught a fish this big
No mine was bigger
No mine was bigger
Mine got away
Which was the age old story
The one that got away

So one day me and my brothers are down there
I′m like nine
My brothers are like seven
And this old guy starts telling us a story
About this fish that are running right now called smelt
And they run in schools
And right now it's smelting season
Now we kind of looked at the guy and laughed
Cause we had never heard of a fish called smelt
To us all fish smelt

But it was true
And he told us how to catch them


Here's what he told us
What you do
Is you put a light at the end of your dock
The fish are attracted to the light
They swim in a big school like a snake
It goes for miles
The water′s lousy with them
You dip your net in and the stupid smelt swim right in
And you dump them in a bucket
Next day you have yourself a delicious smelt fry

Now me and my brothers ran home with fistfuls of candy
And our newfound information
To tell my old man about this fish called smelt
And we gotta go smelt fishing

So that night we made my father drag out the light
And all the crap that
You need a net
You need all this stuff
So we put the light out at the end of the dock
And we′re all just waiting for smelt
I mean our senses are heightened
We're just staring at the water for hours upon end
Hour and hour and we didn′t see jack

But it wasn't a total loss

Because the good thing about smelting season was
The smelt shack was open
And it was only open during smelting season
And the smelt shack only served one thing
Hot dogs
But not just any hot dog
The best hot dog in the world
And the big secret why they tasted so good was
They cooked them in beer

Now me and my brothers being little kids
You know you′re like
Oh man we're gonna get beer
We′re getting beer
Cause when you're a kid
Anything with alcohol is good

What we didn't know was

The alcohol evaporates once you cook it

But we didn′t care
Because these were the most amazing hot dogs
You would ever taste in your life
And we each got to get two
Which was a treat
Normally we′d only get one
My old man would be like
I got one
We got two every time

So for the next three years in a row
We never saw one goddamn smelt
But we got to eat them hot dogs man

So after a while

Every year we'd be out there smelting
Me and my brothers didn′t even care anymore
We'd be like
Dad smelt aren′t coming
Look in the water
No smelt are coming
Look down there
They got their light on
They're smelting two houses away

They′re probably catching all the smelt dad
Why don't we just screw this crap and go get some hot dogs

He was as tired of smelting as we were
So we went and got hot dogs

And that's what we did for the next twenty years
Never tried to catch smelt again
Just went and ate hot dogs

And they were good

I′d like one of those right now
Smelt fishing
Who′d have thought
We're drinking booze