i was at the herring run yesterday from 4-8:00 PM...nothing happening...guys were twenty deep with buckets waiting for the game warden to give them herring...there were almost zero herring in the run...the guys that did get them got there early and they fished them, but to no avail...it seemed like some of the herring were wasted in the effort...i was concerned about the reduced numbers of herring so i fished 9" storms and tsunami's instead...the canal vets down there tell me that the soft plastics will work when the stripers come through, but if you want to hook into real cows, you need to liveline herring...so what about it? can i catch big keepers on soft plastics in the canal during the (hopefully) upcomming may blitz?...this is my first spring at the herring run...these vets told me that once the big fish come in it will last for about eight days, with keeper size fish cleaning up on the herring dropping back down the run...also, one dude who said he's been there everyday for the past 10 days said he witnessed herring stacked back 4-5 light poles waiting to get up the run...he stated that there's probably 500,000 herring in the pond, waiting to come back down...i was also there on tuesday may 11th, and no stripers were showing...both days i was there on the slack...the vets say the canal water is still too cold and most predict the cows to be in by next week...

I'm really surprized to hear that no big fish have been at the run yet and that the run is essentially over. I've fished the run many times in May and usually by May 15, theres alot of quality fish being caught every day. My experience has shown that the canal regulars are 100% correct, when the big fish come in there, they are feeding on the dropback herring. The guys fishing plastic usually catch smaller fish. I've seen some nice ones caught on olive Mambo minnows as well as rellow and white Gibbs bottle swimmers. You might get a good size bass on plastic during the run, but 99% will be caught on a nice lively herring.The run produces keeper size fish in pretty good numbers, a smattering of 20+ pounders as well as a few 30's every day when the fish are in.
That whole stretch produces quality fish all season long to bait and eels as well as early morning plug casters.
When a person says they are going to "fish the herring run", that usually means that they will be fishing with live herring at the herring run.

Yep.....all the big fish are right at the mouth of the run.....just keep going there, you'll find them........