effectiveness of herring as bait ?

Hi folks,
Does anyone use herring as bait with any significant success ? I've heard mixed (mainly negative) reports of is effectiveness over the years. I have a few in the freezer so i'll be trying them out over the next few months even if it only for tipping lug.

Cheers

ive used in the past both sea fishing and pike fishing, and have caught fish with it... i think it would be quite similar to mack..

the only thing with it, is that its quite soft, so u will defo need elastic thread

Great cheap conger bait and rubby dubby filler . Pretty much useless as anything else in my books.

Great cheap conger bait and rubby dubby filler . Pretty much useless as anything else in my books.

I was thinking as much. I'll chance them on a second rod for dogs and congers. Got a few feathering for mackerel bait so i thought I might as well try them Cheers.

had one herring in freezer for last few months took it out last night used it for tipping lug and on its own nothing would look at it so never again with frozen herring i think fresh should be ok

i'd bet conger conger would take their heads just like a mackerel head...maybe more so than a fillet,was sucessful on two occasions landing medium size conger(bout 3 feet)on just mackerel heads alone...and a good friend of mine,maybe 3 weeks ago almost,almost landed a 5 foot conger...but almost never got me home...
hmmm one to try...
soon

Have to say I think I would pass it over,tried it a few times and no joy at all,a funny bait I think

Used to use fresh herring chunks as bait for Thornies over in the Thames estuary. Some fantastic results on it.

Was fishing a competition in cork before and was having limited success on lug, mac & eel, switched to tipping with herring and stsrted burying big whiting in 2's & 3's while those around me struggled!

Used to use fresh herring chunks as bait for Thornies over in the Thames estuary. Some fantastic results on it.

Cheers for that tanglerat Would you reckon you would have had any success on that session with thawed Herring or is it beyond usefulness when frozen ?

Was fishing a competition in cork before and was having limited success on lug, mac & eel, switched to tipping with herring and stsrted burying big whiting in 2's & 3's while those around me struggled!

Nice one Alby Interesting that the Whiting were taking it, I might not give up on it just yet.....

i work on a commercial boat and ill tell you everything that swims would be stuffed with herring especially cod hake and the big whiting i know the shoals of herring come close to shore on the south east coast in november and december also good whiting be there too my theory is they follow them for feed so maybe that time of year would be a time to use it as bait

Herring is an excellent bait. The only reason it does not get used more is that is is not as versatile as mac because of its softer flesh. Lots of oil and lots of scent, it will catch plenty of fish.

i work on a commercial boat and ill tell you everything that swims would be stuffed with herring especially cod hake and the big whiting i know the shoals of herring come close to shore on the south east coast in november and december also good whiting be there too my theory is they follow them for feed so maybe that time of year would be a time to use it as bait

Couldn't agree more, its a major prey item and we see lots of them in cod and pollock - the only issue being using it successfully as bait. Its very soft unless totally fresh and other baits are much more user friendly, and more readily available. That said if a few fresh ones where to come on the boat they'd be going straight down again!

i work on a commercial boat and ill tell you everything that swims would be stuffed with herring especially cod hake and the big whiting i know the shoals of herring come close to shore on the south east coast in november and december also good whiting be there too my theory is they follow them for feed so maybe that time of year would be a time to use it as bait

Thats interesting Robbie, Thanks for that. I think I'll keep my few Herring for the Winter so to target cod Whiting and maybe Bass at close range

Herring is an excellent bait. The only reason it does not get used more is that is is not as versatile as mac because of its softer flesh. Lots of oil and lots of scent, it will catch plenty of fish.

Thats encouraging news 'Wreckfish' Due to the softer flesh, I think I'll be using them for close range or dinghy work . The only time I ever used before was at a rock mark which has deep water at my feet so losing the bait during casting was not an issue. As far as I remember, a ballan took a Herring/lug cocktail that evening, memory not being my strongest attribute !

Herring is an excellent bait. The only reason it does not get used more is that is is not as versatile as mac because of its softer flesh. Lots of oil and lots of scent, it will catch plenty of fish.

+1

excellent bait!!

dave