Herring...
 

I got herring on the brain:D

I have to admit I the past few years I didnt pay much attention to herring, but after learing a lot this year, I now know quite more about these shiney silver, gold, blue creatures....

Heres my question.....

I know where I'm going to go grab these little bass candies... but am wondering if the cold winter will delay their return....
I've been giving the wakefield ladder a quick glance everyday after work and so far... no herring.. I know its early for them, and from what I have been told they usually show up mid march..

so do you guys think it will be a late start?

how many of you live line them?

how many of you scoop em up and freeze them for bait?

how many of you actually eat them?

I'll give a shout when I start seeing them at my local ladder... its only 2 blocks away from me.:cool:

I think it's more fun to use chopped fresh herring as chum and throw plugs.

that's a thought.....

Wee Wee I love you! Now that's a real fisherman's point of view!

DOWN WITH HEATHENISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cheer s:

don,t freeze any

take 100 at a time


fish ten at a time

winter dosen,t matter =watch the spring




use hooks

I grab just enough to use for the day I'm going. In Mass you're only supposed to go after them with a dip net.
They work like magic, if you can find them.
later,
Rick

Find a nice rip, cut the herring into small chunks, and throw a bunch into the rip, put a 1 ounce weight on your line, put a 3 foot, 40 pound test mono leader on with a barrel swivel and a 2/0 -4/0 hook, put a chunk of herring on the hook and cast it into the chum line, keep your finger on the running line and set the hook when Mr. Big comes calling.

Used to do that and had a blast doing it...but Connectciut don't allow that anymore :(

In general , for conservation reasons , its best to wait till they have gone up and spawned and catch them on the way down. The bigger bass that will eat them don't come in till late april or early May.

Anyway , try to let them spawn before grabbing them.

saltheart,s right ===we see guys filling buckets to freeze =when they are going up====give them a chance===========

I think I read that the limit was 24 per day? so no one should be filling buckets anyway. I agree get them on their way out. Best for the fish and you still get what you want.

Can you net them at the wakefield ladder? HoW? there's a wire mesh cover over the ladder itself.

It is a BIG NO NO to take them from the ladder. If I am corect you cant be within 5 or 10 ft of a ladder.

Anything that I've read says that water temp is the controlling factor for when fish enter freshwater to spawn. I agree...let'em spawn then catch'em.

I know that... and no, I would never do that. If youlook at the ladder from the bridge, then cross the street, you can see a rope across the river.. that is the upper limit of where you are allowed to catch them.

MakoMike....... think 69 beers on tap, then think back parking lot:D

Saltheart, I will definately grab the ones going downstream.... it makes perfect sense.

I went to a ladder by me last year just to see how they were running ( did not even have anything to catch them with) and went thru the gate to look in the ladder and DEM came screemin down the hill and went nutz on me. At least I know he was serious about his job.:D

Hey Eb, I posted awhile back on this. I'm anxious to live line'em - you know the spot where I'd like to do it. I have no clue how to get them or how to keep them. I'm sure they're not as hardy as eels!
But I agree with an earlier post. If they're running March and April, there are not usually any big bass around 'til late May, at least in SoCo. I thought the run goes into May?

RIJIMMY,

you need a livewell, a bucket with an airator and a cast net or a dip net.

Yep I know where you want to go:D its a long walk with that bucket..

I just picked up a penn liveliner.... so I got herring on the brain....

I dip net for 'em and definitely on the way down AFTER spawning. I wait for a long time before I go dip net for a couple. I put them in a bucket with an aerator and pen'n up at dads slip ;) They die in the pen the get cut into chunks. ;) Fish dont like bass candy anyhow leave 'em alone, think they'll let us in there in waders and with our dip nets? And dont throw swimmers in your chum slick, you arms tend to get sore.

:smash: you gotta take me out on that boat....I got a trick to show you and pops..:D

So when we going? You can walk down first , and ill float them down from the road to you in a innertube, just dont feed all the stripers before i get down there.

While we're on the subject of herring plugs...thought I'd post a pic of some types that have done well for me in prior Springs when the herring were running.

When you're fishing daytime with sun, I like to use a color scheme that shows off the pink irridescence when the sun hits the water. You'll see the pink stripe on the Mambo Minnow, a Beachmaster "Atom-40" type metal-lip swimmer, and a Super Strike darter.

Herring also have a rich "gold" color - so if I'm fishing low light situations, I'll throw the olive and gold Bassmaster Danny plug (below right).

In shallow water (1-3 feet) I'll just use a plain old Mambo Minnow with a white/silver body and black back. Simple but deadly on the Vineyard in May.

One more thing...you've seen this pic posted here a million times before. I was goofing off at the local aquarium a few winters ago and took this snapshot of a tank full of juvenile herring.

If you look close you can see flashes of pink irridescence. I didn't really pick it out until another guy who was a knowledgeable plug builder pointed it out after I had posted the pic.

I took a peak this afternoon during lunch at the local run...no heavy ice anymore but no sign of them yet...soon though. Sounded really nice!

I agree, I think you *should* ONLY be allowed to take them post spawn...I have asked the constable about this (why it is open pre spawn) and he said some folks like them for the roe. OK. I think (at this juncture) the roe is the most valuable part of this fish, we need it to grow more fish..we can't waste it. But that guy is a lobster man looking for bait!!...again, poor management (who really don't care) and little enforcement with no teeth is the reason the herring status is what it is. Not just the runs either...offshore as well. How about we do what is right for the fishery and forget about everyones individule needs for once.

You want to stop run breakins/poaching ect..1 year in prison mandtory no parole. (yeah i am serious) Unfort. It will never happen. Crack dealers in jr. Highs don't get that! No one really cares about these fish...if they did something would have been done a loooong time ago.

IMO they should just shut down all the runs for at least 5 years completely. It is insane out here. I swung past the run at 3:00am last year and there was already a line for when it opened at 5:00am. We have guys breaking into the run at night on closed days to steal herring, they bust up the gates and even damagin the run itself....several times each season. I am going to stake it out some night and 911 these sob's.
I spoke to the constable about this and he said that what really pisses him off is they they trashed the latter and no fish made it up for something like 48 hours...until he fixed it. Everyone esp sports fisherman need to protect this resource not abuse it.

They are building a new run out here (re-establishing an old one from katama bay to the pond) Dug it out and but they plan to cover it somehow (friggin cormants can eat something like 20 per day each.), take about 5+ years for it to get producing again. The constable told me they had $300K to do it, most of it went for the firggin permits to the state and fed to dig in there! WTF is wrong with this picture!?! Again, top management with their thum up their butt. They should GIVE them the permits and HELP($) them with the heavy lifting...if not this will be gone.

the herring run that i fish centers around the CT river. the state of CT has a ban on the taking of herring. even when it was legal to fish live herring, plugs can consistantly outfish live bait! by day, you can't beat a yellow/white pencill popper up here. at night, bombers in solid black or solid white, depending on the moon phase, are the ticket. i guess i was always too conservation minded to use live herring. also, i look at time spent "catching" bait as waisted fishing time. that's just me though.

nothing beats a livie on the end of your line...any time, anywhere.

I dunno Steve, hand grenades work better than herring, I think. :hihi:

it is NOT possible to properly fish a live herring in 75% of the places i fish. it is totally different than anything you will encounter in the salt. i have never been outfished on the river standing next to a person throwing live herring when i am throwing plugs. EVER! the herring runs in RI and out eastern mass compared to what we have on the CT river river are like comparing ice fishing to fly fishing.

I'll get thrown in the pokey by the local constabulary if I so much as LOOK at a herring here in Connecticut. :(

for CT herring issues, check out this post i made about the next CCA-CT hartford meeting. http://www.striped-bass.com/vbulleti...threadid=12957