Curonian Lagoon Smoked Fish

The Curonian Lagoon is shallow, brackish and productive, and the villages along it have smoked its fish for generations: bream above all, along with perch, pike, zander and the eel that made the lagoon's reputation, hot-smoked over alder in small brick or metal ovens until the skin is golden and the flesh comes away warm. Stalls sell them whole, wrapped in paper, at Nida, Juodkrantė, Preila and Dreverna, and eating one at a wooden table looking over the water is a fixed part of visiting the spit. Eel is expensive and stocks have declined severely, which is worth knowing before ordering. The fishing tradition of the lagoon, with its distinctive kurėnas boats and carved weathervanes, is part of the same culture.

What you actually see

• Alder smokeovens - fish smoked in small ovens behind the stalls.
• Whole smoked bream - the everyday fish, sold hot in paper.
• Village stalls - selling points at Nida, Juodkrantė and Preila.
• Lagoon fishing culture - kurėnas boats and carved weathervanes.

When to go

May to September, when the spit is in season and the stalls are working; some operate year round at Nida but many close in winter. Fish is freshest and hottest in the middle of the day.

Honest expectations

Eel is expensive and the European stock is in serious decline, so ordering it is a choice worth thinking about. Prices on the spit are high in season. Some stalls sell fish smoked elsewhere rather than locally caught. Bones in bream are numerous.

Nearby

Nida and Juodkrantė are on the spit; the lagoon shore runs east.