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On the Atlantic coast, anadromous smelt stocks are fished during the fall and winter before the onset of the migration to spawning sites. Commercial-sized smelt are caught in gillnets of about 3.25 cm mesh size. Bag nets of a smaller mesh size are also used to avoid gilling and to ensure that smelt are trapped in the net "bag" . The opening of a bag net may be up to 10.5 m wide and 7.5 m long, and the bag is oriented so that the large "mouth" faces the tidal currents. The whole structure is held in place by poles driven into the bottom of the estuary or bay. As smelt move with the current, they enter the large opening, continue through the smaller opening of the internal trap, and finally arrive at the "bunt", the tapered end of the bag net. At slack tide, the fisherman hauls up the foot line to shut off the mouth of the net, shakes all the smelt back towards the bunt, and hauls it out of the water, emptying the catch into his boat.
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