Smelt

The smelt is a small, thin fish with an elongated body, big eyes, small dorsal and ventral fins and a forked tail fin. It is a shiny, silver colour and its back is a green-grey colour with brown webbed looking pigmentation. It has a silvery-black band along its sides and a white belly. It is about 7-10 cm long. Its flesh is tasty and popular.

The Smelt has always been (as far back as we can remember) a species living in Lake Trasimeno, feeding there and periodically reproducing. Winter is the best season for fishing. The smelt is generally fished with special nets or with the tofo or tofone con ali (special nets featuring fixed installation, wings and gill net), drop nets and other techniques used for fishing bleaks. These fish are sold whole.