Guts? What did you do with the guts of the smelt that you caught and fried up?
Peel the tail, and suck the juice out of the "head". No guts to worry about.
I don't like Smelt

, and never went dipping. I was absent on those trips
That's like grabbing a hand full of minnows out of a tank and determining how worthy of a cook you are. It did cross my mind once, but we have a few places to buy food around here
Hey, some people eat bugs. And am quite sure a few passed thru my digestive system, but not intentionally.
The Crayfish thing sounds pretty good tho!