# Smelts!!



## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

My grocery store got some frozen smelts in a few months ago. They are packaged in 2.5 lb bags for $10. That is food for one day for my boys. I thought that $10 was a little pricey for one days worth of food so I didn't buy any. 

But!! It was reduced to $5/bag!! Woooooo!! I bought one bag to see how the boys would like it and they loved it and even better, it loved them! (I was worried about Brom's tummy since he hadn't had fish before). I went back and bought 6 more bags. 

The fish is cleaned and has no heads but it still is good for them, right? I will give them one meal of fish a week, like I used to do with Iorek when I was able to get fish in Halifax. 

Soon I will be able to buy fish right out of the ocean when the fishery opens again. I hope that I will be able to get mackerel then and then it won't be cleaned, it will be "on the round" as they call it around here. 

Anyway, I am just so happy to have fish for the boys again! By the time the 6 bags are used up (6 weeks from now) I should have another fish source.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

That's great!! 

Btw, do uncleaned fish smell really fishy when they're being eaten by the dogs? I know when we buy fish at home and we need to clean it, it stinks up the whole house @[email protected]


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

When I used to get mackerel from the raw food company in Halifax it was un-cleaned and it was pretty smelly, very fishy, but I gave it partially frozen so it wasn't so bad. Iorek always ate the middle section of the fish first, he really loves fish organs I guess! The stuff I got from the grocery store here for the boys was fishy smelling but not _too_ bad. It smelled more like the ocean. I also gave that to them frozen too so it would have probably been worse if it was thawed. 

I can imagine having to clean a fish in your house would make it smell! The only time I have ever cleaned a fish was when I was fishing when I was younger and it was done outside on the side of the pond. It gives me the willies that I actually did that! I wouldn't be able to do that now. I must have grown soft in my old age!


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## MagicRe (Jan 8, 2010)

what's the difference between clean and unclean...

the smelts i get are intact....is that unclean?
same with the sardines i get, whether they are large or small...

i do know that freezing fish makes them smell. i feed them frozen....i find the smell offputting, but i won't eat fish that smells..

my dogs don't care because they know they won't get anything else if they don't eat their fish LOL


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

A cleaned fish has no head and no organs. I would prefer to have them uncleaned because then the organs are in there and that is much better. 

I didn't know that freezing fish makes it smelly. I only ever got frozen fish for the dogs and I feed it only slightly thawed and I don't find it too bad.

Iorek LOVES fish but prefers to have the organs inside. Either that or he prefers mackerel to salmon and smelt.  I can't wait to get some mackerel! Brom was a little iffy on the fish at first but really liked it afterwards. We will have to see how he does on Friday when he gets fish again


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## MagicRe (Jan 8, 2010)

ah...then i buy them uncleaned.

what i'm saying is when i freeze fish and then defrost it, the fish is stinky and then I can't eat it.

consequently i don't buy fish for my use.

but the dogs don't care.


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

Oooohhh! Haha! My brain is just not working today 

I buy cod fillets that are frozen and I don't find them bad. But, I bake them straight from frozen so it is not bad. I don't eat any fish other than white, firm fish like cod, haddock, and tilapia. I buy it frozen and bake it from frozen. If it smelled fishy then there is NO WAY at all that I could eat it. I just started liking fish a few years ago. I am not a fish fan generally. Thank goodness it doesn't smell. It is so good for you that I have to force myself to eat it and as long as it is not fishy then I am usually good. On occasion I can eat small amounts of salmon but I find that way too fishy!!


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## MagicRe (Jan 8, 2010)

Michiyo-Fir said:


> That's great!!
> 
> Btw, do uncleaned fish smell really fishy when they're being eaten by the dogs? I know when we buy fish at home and we need to clean it, it stinks up the whole house @[email protected]


ours don't because we feed them frozen...they don't care for them when they are thawed...

only really fresh fish doesn't smell fishy....well, it smells like fish, but not old or icky....

and we freeze the fish to kill off any parasites....

i'm still looking for a definitive answer on alaskan and pacific northwest salmon...i can get salmon heads and would love to feed them to my dogs, but i keep thinking that pacific northwest and alaskan salmon is on the no no list due to some parasite not found in other fish...that and trout, too.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Ohh smelts. We used to get them lots when I was a kid in New Brunswick. I didn't like them, I prefer my lake fish (trout, splake).
As to smells...FRESH fish do not smell. Older or frozen fish does.


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

It was quite fishy in here for a little while after supper tonight  The boys enjoyed it though!


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