I am living in Boston again for the first time in years and I'm looking forward to some of the local squid and herring runs I've heard about. Can anyone give some advice on where and when and how to best catch squid? I've heard Newport is great...anywhere closer to Boston? And how about the herring runs? Where and when is best? What's the best way to store for bait for Striper fishing later on? Also, does anyone eat (and even enjoy) herring and if so, how?

I realize I've got a lot of questions. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it.

Fresh Fish - welcome back to Boston & welcome to S-B ...

There is a list of Mass herring runs here: http://striped-bass.com/regulation/massherring.shtml from last year. I have not found any changes officially although I know there is some.

Couldn't tell you about best ways to keep them long term because I only fish them live. Otherwise I'm using eels or plugs or another live bait.

Squid - personally know of nothing in the Boston area. Everything I know is in Rhody or out at the Islands (I'm not allowed to reveal much due to penalty of death :D )...

Again, welcome aboard...

FreshFish - Welcome!

As far as keeping herring - if you mean freezing it for use of the season, here's what I do -

Short of having a vacuum packing thingy.......

As soon as I get my take.....where I go it's 40 or 48 a week, forget which, but basically, as thick as they were last year, two net fulls in the cooler would get ya about 60, and the officer there would say "Yep, that looks okay" (No worries gents, I only did that twice last year during the run season, so I'm not greedy...)....anyway, get them in the cooler, ice them down (some guys add salt to the ice, but I don't) and get them home ASAP.....but in a cooler they will be all but dead in a 1/2 hour or so.....

I dump them all in my sink in the basement. I then sort them into gallon ziplock bags, 3 or 4 per bag, depending on the size. Once they are all in the bags, I fill the sink with water. Seal all but the very corner of the bag, and slowly and carefully submerge the bag in the water, keeping the open corner above the water line. This forces all the air out of the bag, almost as well as a vacuum packer. Once you get up to the corner, seal the bag the rest of the way, and toss it aside. Continue until all the bags are done and sealed.

Then, fold them up nice and neat, and place them in the freezer. Depending on how many I have, and how much freezer space I have (I have a fridge in the basement for exclusive bait and beer use.....:D), I might only put 5 or 6 packs in at a time, so that I don't have to layer them. If so, the rest go in the fridge in the interim. This allows them to freeze rather qucikly. Once the first batch is frozen, I put in the next batch on top, etc. until all are in there.

Keeps them nice and fresh with no freezer burn for most of, if not the whole season.

BTW - use the same method if you are freezing eating fillets.....I have bluefish caught in November that were frozen that way. Had some on the grill a week ago, and while not QUITE like fresh caught, they were still tasty.....:)

I also don't use any salt but I have an unlimted Ice supply from work :D I will never leave this job. Some times I take 200 pounds at a wack. Any way I have a vacum pack machine and do the same as SIM I put in the freezer. If you have to stack them then either put some stcks between them to get air around all so they can freeze good. Or make sure you rotate them.

When fishing them I like to hook threw the bottom lip out threw the top. I also used something I found in a artical some were that you put a platics wire tie thur the eyes and when ready you put the hook threw the tie and pull tight cutting off the tag end. this worked well last year for me. And you can rig before hand.
One other thing I like to do if the fish are not biting to good is cut the bait from about the middle just behind the gill to the vent hole. When you put in the water this gives the bait a nice wiggle and will get them bitting.
Hope you have good luck
Macojoe