If I were to bring some fresh dead SEA herring down to the canal and fished it near the run:

1. Would I be at risk of it being mistaken for river herring?
2. Would I have a decent shot of fooling a cow with it fished whole?
3. Anyone ever tried this?

There's a herring processing plant down the street from me and the boats are due in later this week.... should I make the trip?

It's not worth the risk, IMO. Especially if you were fishing near the run.

The EPOs may know the difference, but there are other enforcement agencies patrolling the Canal. You have the Corps rangers, plus Bourne and state police. Many of them may not even know that there's a difference between "river" herring and "sea" herring. I don't know about the Corps' enforcement powers, but both the Bourne and state police probably have the ability to cite you if they choose to. If not, they certainly have the power to "detain" you for the EPOs. Some Bourne DNR officers also have keys to the service road gates. Any one of them is likely to get on the horn and call in the EPOs if they see you throwing herring. You'll spend more time explaining yourself than you will fishing, even if the EPOs finally decide it's really sea herring.

OK, so is there not a distinctive difference in the appearance of Sea and River Herring? What if I provided proof of purchase of the Sea herring and/or pics to prove my point. I understand that I may be harrassed but as a fisherman I want to boost my odds of catching large and there is NOTHING illegal about using Sea herring. So is it worth it? Perhaps. If was landing large wouldn't you wanna borrow some?

I do prefer to throw artificials but this sounds like an opportunity that should be explored.

I personally don't believe throwing dead sea herring will "boost" your odds. Especially when you factor in the 9" Storms and Tsunamias. If live were still legal that would be a different story. The large rubber shads account for quite a few "large" fish. Just fish them anywhere you would have fished with live herring years back.

And as was pointed out above, don't limit yourself to the herring run area.....................

Why tempt trouble? If you feel the need to ask the question....obviously even you can see it may cause you unnecessary problems!