herring as bait

Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:26 am

One tackle shop had Herring for sale I have never used it before so I decided I would give it a try. Has anybody had sucess using it? And what are the best ways to use it? I presume being a fish bait it will need some bait elastic :)

Re: herring as bait

Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:39 am

it can be a bit soft so the elastic is a must. i bought a batch lot of frozen sea and course bait a while back and it had packets of little herring about 14cm long. i just put them onto a 3/0 the same way you'd elastic a sand eel on and had doggies, pollock, coalies and codling on them. seemed to keep the smaller fish at bay just plucking at it until something bigger came along :P

Re: herring as bait

Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:31 am

Al and Jordan wrote:it can be a bit soft so the elastic is a must. i bought a batch lot of frozen sea and course bait a while back and it had packets of little herring about 14cm long. i just put them onto a 3/0 the same way you'd elastic a sand eel on and had doggies, pollock, coalies and codling on them. seemed to keep the smaller fish at bay just plucking at it until something bigger came along :P


sound like a good bait!!!! where did u purchase??????

Re: herring as bait

Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:23 pm

it was a batch lot from a fella closing down a tackle shop. made him an offer for everything he had in the freezer and got over 50 packets of frozen bait for £40. included black lug, mackerel, peeler crab, sand eel, eel, roach, herring and bluey :P :P

Re: herring as bait

Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:48 pm

Al and Jordan wrote:it was a batch lot from a fella closing down a tackle shop. made him an offer for everything he had in the freezer and got over 50 packets of frozen bait for £40. included black lug, mackerel, peeler crab, sand eel, eel, roach, herring and bluey :P :P


SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!

Re: herring as bait

Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:31 pm

Al and Jordan wrote:it was a batch lot from a fella closing down a tackle shop. made him an offer for everything he had in the freezer and got over 50 packets of frozen bait for £40. included black lug, mackerel, peeler crab, sand eel, eel, roach, herring and bluey :P :P


NICE WORK!!!

They're great for conger and rays, esp if the venues hard fished. The guy probably stocked them for pike but they're well worth a go, plenty of elastic required tho. Tesco's 'fresh' sardines are pretty much the same if anyone was wondering...

Re: herring as bait

Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:00 pm

Lucky You Al Sounds good 40 quid aint bad atal for all that! Im just back from fishing gave them a whirl seemed to be getting bites but no hook ups sadly i blame myself for being slow today :L have some left for tomorrows session :) I have a few 3/0s on a few rigs so i might try using them whole was using strips and fillets today! May have a look at the tesco sardines might be worth a go aswell especially in an emergency! Thanks for the tips lads

Re: herring as bait

Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:35 pm

great if fresh they are not as soft as mackerel, do stay on the hook better and fish just as well...never fish'd from frozen!

Re: herring as bait

Sat Jun 11, 2011 3:20 am

have used as a tipping bait with some sucess

Re: herring as bait

Sat Jun 11, 2011 9:46 am

found it excellent in the winter for tipping of baits,esp for whiting

Re: herring as bait

Sat Jun 11, 2011 1:47 pm

I remember that herring was the bait to be used, before the advent of blast frozen baits, as herring was readily available, but Aah Hem! That was 40 odd years ago :oops: But it was a great bait on the hook as it is a very oily fish, but the guys are right it does have to be fresh, as it softens up pretty quickly, but as with the advent of bait elastic you should be able to get good use out of it!

Re: herring as bait

Sat Jun 11, 2011 8:55 pm

there was a good run of herring off fenit last winter and got somebodys overflow got a good ray off fenit early this year with them (first ray off fenit pier ! :D ) skin seemed fine and tough good as mackeral I would have thought.