How to Fish the Annual Herring Spawn

Last year was the first time I really got into them, and loaded a cooler. Vac packed em and then tried them for rockfish and the non existent salmon this year. I never caught a thing on em! I was shocked. Thought I was going to clean up on the lings with em, and now we don't even have a crab season...so they just sit frozen in the freezer from last year. I'm not real motivated to get more this year with so many taking space in the freezer already. The only thing they worked for were tipping sabikis for smelt to catch halibut last summer. They were almost too big for salmon fishing and trying to get them to roll was difficult. The only way I could get them to roll was plug cut them shorter than normal. Most were too big for any of the bait roller contraptions.

Herring helmets are made to go up to purple label size, so you should be able to find something that fits.  I've had plenty of success with blue label size which is what I get mostly up here.  SOme green and purple mixed in.

You'll want to brine them and add milk to firm them up.  Powdered milk is good.  You'll also want to add blueing agent and borax (in the laundry isle at the store) then add scents like butt juice and maybe some colors.  Fire brine works well.

Then vacuum seal on manual so you don't deform the herring.  I sort by size when I bag them.

I'm champing at the bit, I missed out on the 24 hour run here last year and had to ration this summer, running out at the end and spending way too much money for bait.

Using blue label herring for salmon trolling will result in some short strikes and less fish on average than with green label or anchovies, but I've caught some really nice salmon up to 28# and I seem to catch fewer silvers than those fishing around me.

You might check out using a commercial setup with the hook attached to a SS "easy baiter" bar. Bars come in multiple lengths to suit herring size. It takes some knowledge to know how to use them effectively but they flat out work.  Spawning herring will be soft compared to commercial packaged herring which are usually starved in a pen then electro-shocked and packaged. As Crash said, the spawning herring has to be toughened for trolling and making it shine through use of powered milk and bluing also helps. Personally, if I had only a few days a year to fish salmon using herring I would just pay for Green Label.

You might check out using a commercial setup with the hook attached to a SS "easy baiter" bar. Bars come in multiple lengths to suit herring size. It takes some knowledge to know how to use them effectively but they flat out work.  Spawning herring will be soft compared to commercial packaged herring which are usually starved in a pen then electro-shocked and packaged. As Crash said, the spawning herring has to be toughened for trolling and making it shine through use of powered milk and bluing also helps. Personally, if I had only a few days a year to fish salmon using herring I would just pay for Green Label.

I agree with what the other guys have said. You've got to sort the herring out (This is a bitch) and brine them with a bluing agent. Ms. Stewarts bluing agent really shines up the bait good. I usually trooch herring for salmon under bait balls and it works, if you don't get slammed by a thresher first.  Catching herring just saves money on bait that can used for gas, tackle and other gear.