Much of the fun for me was derived from actually getting the bait as opposed to the easy fishing...midnight commando runs into hostile territory, crazy livewell contraptions, laundry baskets, throw nets, beating my competition to the bait, embezzlement, treachery, disguise, paranoia, lies...I experienced it all...
It didn't seem wrong because everyone else was doing it and I learned largely by observing the "pros."
I have way too much to lose now so I wouldn't engage in much of the above stuff ever again (except disguise) even if they legalized the netting of herring.
I actually do better on rubber anyways in terms of fish size. Lots of times the 30" fish would decimate your bait supply before you hooked a real big one, although my canal best of 47# was taken with a live herring on a sunny mid may afternoon just west of the cribbin.