Sunny Frantz
Pasture & Plenty offers smelt as an option in its Friday fish fries.
That grand tradition of the Wisconsin spring, the smelt fry, is harder to find this year. While COVID scotched many of the smaller events (often fundraisers for churches and other organizations) in 2020 and 2021, this year the roadblock is not necessarily caution against the virus. The North Bristol Sportsman’s Club, long considered a standout fry among smelt fans, is not holding any this spring due to “shortages of smelt and volunteers,” according to its website. “Hoping for 2023!” The Jefferson Lions Club is also canceling its 2022 smelt fundraiser, for the third year.
Smelt numbers in both Lake Michigan and Lake Superior have been declining for the last two decades, and in 2021 the Wisconsin DNR issued a fish consumption advisory for Lake Superior rainbow smelt due to high PFAS levels. Officials suggest no more than one smelt dinner a month.
But there are smelt fries out there. The Owl’s Nest in Poynette is serving smelt dinners Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays through March 31. In Madison, Dexter’s Pub will be serving smelt through the end of Lent if supplies hold out, but only on Wednesdays — not Fridays. Gates & Brovi has a fried smelt appetizer on its menu, and Pasture & Plenty has both a smelt appetizer and a smelt dinner as an option among its Friday fish fry offerings.
Christy McKenzie of Pasture & Plenty says she hasn’t encountered any supply problems, but she purchases frozen smelt “from a Canadian Great Lakes fishery, and we don’t see Wisconsin smelt on the list often, if ever.” McKenzie stocks up and says Pasture & Plenty is “lucky to have bigger freezers than most [restaurants] around here.”
