The Ultimate Herring Thread

[Fish_Eye]

Now that the herring are amongst us...why don't we start the ultimate herring thread.

I'll get the ball rolling with some pictures and a few questions along the way.

Perhaps we can share some of our experiences with these chrome-plated, bass candies and help educate some of the newcomers to the exciting world of live-lining.

We might even discuss alternatives for those who prefer to imitate alewives by way of lures, plugs, spoons, or flies.

Here's a look at these little beauties in all their splendor:



Notice how prominent the eyes are.
Do you think lures with big eyes are a plus?



These were fresh out of the water and the photo was taken at first light.
What color lures or flies do you like to use when the herring are running? Do you change these colors at different times of the day or night?

Note the large spot and the gold flecks on the pearl colored scales.


Let's make this the most informative post we can.

[SeaWolf]

but, herring don't catch fish...

now, barnicles on the other hand, they are killer on bass! a few of them on a gold hook, ohh, man!

[JohnR]

Got Herring? Got Hook? Got Sturdy Reel? Got Bass? Got Drag?


zzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZIIINNNNNNG GGGG!!!!!

[Fish_Eye]

FACTS ABOUT HERRING

These migrating fish have provided a bountiful source of food to humans, first Native Americans and then to European settlers, for centuries. The alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) has many, many common names - branch, blear-eyed, big-eyed, wall-eyed, freshwater, glut, gray, or spring herring; the golden or green shad; the bang, ellwife, gaspereau, grayback, kiak, kiack, kyak, mulhaden, racer, sawbelly, seth, skipjack, and spreau. The fact that it has so many names attests to its importance to people along the Atlantic coast from South Carolina to Newfoundland. Seabirds such as gulls, herons, hawks and cormorants as well as larger fish, especially striped bass and bluefish, also forage aggressively on alewives.

The alewife is difficult to distinguish from its close relative the blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) when sighted in the water. The alewife, however, arrives earlier in the spring and migrates much further up river to breed in headwater ponds while the bluebacks arrive later and breed in the river current.

They spend their adult lives at sea and return only to freshwater areas to spawn in the spring. Both alewife and blueback herring are silvery in color and have a series of scutes (modified scales that are spiny and keeled) along their belly; however, the dorsal area of alewife are bronze in color whereas blueback herring are deep bluish green. Alewife are more strongly compressed, deep, their body is less elongated and they have a much larger eye than blueback herring. However, the most distinguishing characteristic of these species is the color of their peritoneum or the lining of the abdominal cavity. An alewife's peritoneum is pale with dusky spots, whereas a blueback herring's is black to dusky in color. Alewife and blueback herring are so difficult to distinguish from each other, in most instances, they are collectively termed "river herring".

Alewife spawn in rivers and tributaries from northeastern Newfoundland to South Carolina, but are most abundant in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states. Blueback herring spawn from Nova Scotia to northern Florida, but are most numerous in warmer waters from Chesapeake Bay south. In the mid-Atlantic region, both alewife and blueback herring are found in Chesapeake Bay and in virtually all its' tributaries. Alewife spawn from late February through April, whereas blueback herring spawn from late March through mid-May. Females from both species usually reach 100% maturity by age 5 and produce from 60,000 - 103,000 eggs, whereas males of both species generally mature at an earlier age (ages 3-4) and smaller size than females.
Alewife spawn in a diversity of habitats that includes large rivers, small streams, ponds, and large lakes over a wide range of substrates such as gravel, sand, detritus, and submerged vegetation. In areas where alewife and blueback herring co-exist, blueback herring will exhibit more of a variety in their spawning sites including shallow areas covered with vegetation, in ricefields, in swampy areas, and in small tributaries upstream from the tidal zone. Mature river herring broadcast their eggs and sperm simultaneously into the water and over the substrate. Immediately after spawning, adults migrate rapidly downstream. Juveniles will remain in freshwater nursery areas in spring and summer, feeding mainly on zooplankton. As water temperatures decline in the fall, most juveniles move downstream to more saline waters, eventually to the sea; however, some will remain in deeper waters of the Bay and its tributaries for their first winter. Little information is available on the life history of subadult and adult river herring after they emigrate to the sea as juveniles, and before they mature and return to freshwater to spawn. Various studies have determined that river herring are capable of migrating long distance (over 1200 miles) in ocean waters of the Atlantic seaboard, and that patterns of river herring migration may be similar to those of American shad.

Adults overwinter at sea in the George's Bank, Gulf of Maine or Nantucket Shoals. Alewives can live at least 10 years.

In 1931, over 25 million pounds of river herring were harvested making ranking them 2nd in quantity and 5th in value of all Chesapeake finfish, and 1st in quantity and 4th in value of all finfish landed in Maryland.

Maximum length of a river herring is approximately 15 inches.

Alewife and blueback herring, like other alosine species (American shad and hickory shad) lay down spawning marks on their scales so that the number of times an individual fish has spawned in its lifetime is recorded on it's scale. Blueback herring (age 10) have been seen with as many as 5 and/or 6 spawning marks!

Despite the many thousands of eggs laid by spawning alewife, very few offspring actually survive. In some populations, as few as three young-of-the-year fish migrate downstream for each female that spawned.

[Fish_Eye]

HERE IS A LOOK AT ONE OF THE MANY "BUCKIE" RUNS IN RI

When early spring comes to Narragansett Bay and the shad bushes bloom, the alewives arrive and move up the small tributary streams to spawn. The thick-bodied herring, called "buckies" by some Rhode Islanders, used to be accompanied by big, female shad laden with roe, but in recent years the shad are less numerous. The water temperature has to be about 58° F for the alewives to move in from the sea. Although the size of the herring runs fluctuate, there are still good locations for them, such as Gilbert Stuart Brook, at the head of the Pettaquamscutt River in North Kingstown; Buckle Brook in Warwick; and the Palmer River in Barrington.

Gilbert Stuart Birthplace & Museum


815 Gilbert Stuart Road
saunderstown, Rhode Island

You probably have an example of America's most famous 18th century portrait painter in your wallet! He painted the image of George Washington that has appeared on the one dollar bill for over a 100 years.

When they open the flood gates next to the old snuff mill, the water gushes down this stream and encourages the herring to push upstream.




The runoff from Carr Pond funnels through this "Alaskan Steep Pass" fish ladder. When a herring exits the funnel, they break an electronic beam and are counted. Last year over 300,000 herring made this journey.



The water flows into the Mettatuset stream and eventually into the Narrow River. http://www.narrowriver.org/



The mouth of the Narrow River in Narragansett, RI is among the very best spots to fish for trophy stripers in the state.

As of yesterday there were no less than 50 herring waiting to be netted. Make sure you have a RI freshwater license and you abide by the limit of 24 herring in any one day. There is no taking of herring on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Mike

[Fish_Eye]

How do you like to rig your herring?

What's the most imortant factor in keeping them alive?

How do you keep your herring stash fresh & frisky?

[Mr. Kav]

i guess i will add my two cents in on this. last year i had quite a bit of good luck with the herring that were schooled up off squantum yacht club on Wallaston beach. There were thousands of them and with those sabaki rigs it made so easy to catch them in good shape. i have a live well on the boat and a hook up through the mouth and out the nostril with a 50 # leader and a barrel swivel is all i used to land fish. i am not a big fan of allot of terminal tackle so i try and keep it simple.

[Fish_Eye]

Kav -

Have you tried circle hooks?

I've had good luck with them and very few gut hooked fish.

The Gamakatsu circles have a slight offset that makes them easier to work into the jaw and out the snout.

I sometimes will hook the herring next to the anal fin if I want it to swim into deeper water. Then there are the times I like to hook them near the doral fin and then hold my rod over my head so that the herring stays on the top sending out distress ripples...that ruckus on the surface sure does ring the dinner bell.

Mike

[Tattoo]

Here's another tip;

Poke out one eye with the hook. This makes the guy swim in circles.....giving Mr. Striper an easy ambush.

[JohnR]

I'm big on circle hooks with cut bait but jury is still out for me on live bait like eels, macs, & buckies

One thing I picked up last year that really help keep my herring alive was to put that ammo-carb ammonia pellets in the livewell. The water quality stayed good for much longer and little to no die-offs in the tank overnight...

[fishsmith]

Fisheye,
Great Pictures, thank you!!
You asked:
How do you like to rig your herring?

I always hook bait fish in mouth and out nose, the only down side I find is the bluefish return only 1/2 the bait.
This year I'm going to try and rig some dead ones to bounce off the bottom.

What's the most imortant factor in keeping them alive?

For the live well I try to use the same water the fish come out of, and a block of ice in a plastic bag if it's hot out.


How do you keep your herring stash fresh & frisky?

The herring I get don't get the option of living fresh and frisky they go by Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi can be heard in the backround)
the dead ones get bagged and frozen, and then become chunks or chum, the live ones standby waiting for there turn on the hook.

[Mr. Kav]

Yes Mike, I have tried circles and now use them as well. those gamakatsu hooks sure are sharp, I swear by them chunking for tuna. This year I am plannning on running a couple of herring from my new homemade downriggers. I took a window sash weight and welded a nut to the end of it. then i took a downrigger release clip and secured to the nut. I tied rope to the end and I have the rope marked off with knots at certain lengths and that will allow me to lower the weight to the desired depth. I tested it out at the end of last year. I was worried that the release clip was going to stick when a fish hit it but it worked great. I can't wait to see what is waiting around this big boulder i know of in about 50-60ft near one of my favorite spots. I know there is a big fish lurking around the vicinity.

[Fish_Eye]

Mr. Kav,


Sounds like a simple and effective rig...let us know how you make out with it.

A lot of anglers don't think about using herring in deep water -- a big missed opportunity. Sure, early season brings lots of bass into skinny water, but you can always find some big cows in deep holes.

On a couple of my videos I show a rig that consists of Fire Line (40 pound test), a 3 ounce egg sinker, a tiny Spro swivel, three feet of fluorocarbon leader and in those days I would use a Mustad size 11 circle hook (difficult to hook the herring correctly -- and too thick a wire -- I now use the Gamakatsu Octopus circles). Even with fresh dead herring this rig can be worked in water 100 feet deep. I use an Abu 6500 and a Lamiglas Titanium rod. The sensitivity is terrific and the lack of stretch and thin diameter of the Fire Line allows me to free spool my offering right to the bottom. Every few seconds I go back into free spool and make sure I feel that egg bounce. When I get a pick up I can let the fish run and just wait for the rod to double over...no need to set the hook...and it's off to the races.


Fishsmith.

I hear what you're saying -- make mine live if at all possible. One thing about using fresh dead or previously frozen "whole" fish -- make sure you straighten out the spine by pressing down on the fish to minimize any spin while trolling.

In another thread I asked if anyone ever used the mooching technique that the folks on the west coast use for salmon. It actually encourages the spinning of the cut herring plug. I guess Bassmaster has used this trick off the rip lines near Woods Hole with great luck.


What type of flies do you flyfishers like?

[Fish_Eye]

153 Views and no comments!?!?

I know there have got to be a lot of anglers on this board that target stripers when herring are bountiful.

Some of you use the critters themselves and a lot of folks use lures and flies that imitate them.

For the sake of inquiring minds.

What has worked well for you in the past?

What is your favorite "I killed them on live herring story!"

Do you have any questions about how, when and where to use them?

Anyone have any good receipts for these tasty but bony treats?

I've had them pickled, smoked and have also tried the roe...but it's hard to give up a bait that could easily mean a 40 or 50 pound striper.

Let's hear your thoughts.

[Slipknot]

I hooked a herring in the nose and cast it out and caught a striper once. Wasn't too difficult. I've drifted in a boat while dropping a herring down with a rubber core sinker on the line and caught bass that way too. Herring are very fragile bait, and are pressured too much lately in my opinion.

I plan to toss plugs and rubba this year and stand next to BM and catch fish while he tosses out herring til he can't take it anymore. I still have some in the freezer I can use for chum.

Lots of info here Mike, nice post.

[Fish_Eye]

Thanks Slip,

I hear what you're saying. Herring aren't quite the finesse offering a jig, plug, plastic, tin or fly offering is....but the sight of a herring being tossed three feet into the air by a hungry linesider is sure exciting to watch.

One morning, just after daybreak at the herring creek at Menemsha, we outperformed live herring with Habs poppers -- much to his delight -- in fact, you can hear him saying, "I died and went to heaven" on my video "Stripers in Paradise".

Can anyone guess what color popper worked best during that early morning massacre...and maybe your thoughts on why?

Mike

[redcrbbr]

this will be my first year using live herring. mike thank-you for an incredible amount of info. heck till recently i thought a herring was a herring. last year i went out a grabbed some and iced them. when i was done, i took em home and vacum packed em. they lasted me quite a while, and had good results chunking them.

[Slipknot]

Before I hit the sack tonight ,I'll pop in the video and listen for the "I've died and gone to heaven" comment.

The color I would guess if it was morning would be yellow because of the low angle of the sun may cause it to sillohette more than other colors. I don't know could be pink or white for all I know. But I will look at the video to see.

I have a bunch of Habs poppers, good stuff.

You are right , there is alot of excitement to see a bass clobber a live herring with reckless abandon.

[Scotch Bonnet]

When is the spawning finished and where do these fish head after they leave the rivers?It must be magical when these fish exit out the mouth of the river and back into the ocean.What about the breachways? In Charlestown, the freshwater pond I live on(Cross Mills) eventually trikles into Ninigret pond.Do herring enter the salt ponds?

[Fish_Eye]

Slipknot,

If you look at the herring pictures I took at the top of this thread, you can't help but notice the flecks of gold on their side. I took this picture just after the sun climbed over the pond so that you would get an idea of how they take on a golden hue...underwater it's much the same situation. In most ponds or creeks they often appear even more golden thanks to the tannin stained water. I love yellow lures in the early morning and late afternoon for these reasons. This is very subjective stuff, as long as the fish aren't talking, but it's my story and I'm sticking to it .

You mentioned earlier that there is a lot of pressure on herring these days -- Russian processing ships aside. This might be true, but many herring runs have been refurbished and are now contributing significant numbers of herring to the sea. I feel that the absolute best return on investment comes from improving stream access (adding ladders, taking down dams) and from eel grass restoration. Save the Bay, is very active in both of these projects and I strongly suggest support this conservation organization. The Federal government has also earmarked millions of dollars for this kind of work...finally some money well spent.

Check out these sites and you can learn more about these efforts: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/res...ayecholake.htm

Then there's there's are boys with shovels Don't believe what they say about shoveling against the tide! Nice work Bloo, Tattoo and Goose

Scotch,

The river herring are hell bent for fresh water to spawn and don't settle for much salinity. When the young of the year, and that's most of the new fry, head back to the ocean, they are often in large schools, moving at night. I think the most interesting breachway push of bait comes in September with the push of mullet...but that's another story.

Mike

[Fish_Eye]

Hello and Goodbye,

I'll be off the board for a little over a week...I have to take care of a little business in Costa Rica: fun, sun and a whole lot of fishing and filming. I hope to have lots of interesting things to share with you folks when I return.

In my absence, please try and keep this thread alive with a heap of herring helpful hints and some photos of what's happening at the local runs. I hope to return and read about some nice keepers taken on herring over the next few days.

I think this kind of thread can be helpful to the many new registered visitors on Striped-Bass.com -- who's going to be # 500. Good job everyone! Keep up the good work JohnR.

Mike

[Slipknot]

You lucky dog you Mike!
Enjoy yourself down there and catch a fish for us will you.

I think it's great that alot of conservation is being done to help the herring populations It's just that with so many more people fishing for stripers it is getting harder to get them, the lines are long and so forth.
I love yellow too. I watched the video and noticed the popper looked like an off-white pale color on film, hard to tell on a small tv. John and Ron sure know how to fish.

I love that big herring fly!

Hey GBOUTDOORS, you got a live well on the boat of yours? well in May fill it up and head over to Quicks and drop a few down and see what happens

[bloocrab]

How do you get the Herring to go up a "man-made" Herring Run???.......












.......HOW ELSE???.........YOU DO THE HERRING DANCE AT THE TOP OF THE RUN!!!......

[Scotch Bonnet]

What about the livewell? Is it necessary to have a circulating pump or can you get away with just a livewell.

[GBOUTDOORS]

SLIP the boat has a 35gal. built in bait tank and I picked up this over the weekend to get them to the boat from the river.

[GBOUTDOORS]

Has anyone used the KEEPALIVE OXYEN INFUSOR rig? It looks great for transport but with the pump on the inside I think it would heat the water up as an overnight holding tank? And talk to me about the ammonia tabs, what are they and where do I get them? M+D have them?

[JohnR]

GB - the keepalive infusor might be the best out there, there are a couple models to choose from...

They won't significantly heat up the water, not a bad idea to use ice in a bag to keep the water cool though. The ammonia chips can be found at most pet stores/aquarium shops. It is specifically used for keeping the ammonia level down if fish tanks but works wonders in livewells...

[GBOUTDOORS]

Thanks for the info John. I picked up a 30 gal. Keepalive tank this weekend and had them order me a infusor for it as they did not have any. Will pick up some ammonia chips this week.

[Spare Spool]

Just wanted to bump this up, since this is such a great thread! Thanks Mike for starting this. The pictures of the herring are super! I've had good luck with gold colored lures at first light (i.e. gold bombers, orange/gold darters), and now I have a basis for understanding why they are effective (at least I think). Education is the greatest thing that we can pass on to others. Not only does it make us better anglers, but it also, IMHO, gives us a better understanding and respect for our quarry. Thanks again.

Eugene.

[Saltheart]

Scotch , you need a pump. Either you need to keep oxygenating the water in the tank or you need to keep pumping in new fresh water as they do on many boat livewells. Just a big tank with no way to airate the water will not keep them live at all.

I have a Keep Alive system. It works great. A little ice now and then to keep the water cool. The keep Alive pump pumps the air down rather than the water up. It airates better and a battery lasts a lot longer. This year I want to try the ammonia tablets.