species identification

could anybody tell me what I have here ? We got maybe 15 of them while jigging for macs.Iv never seen them before and was thinking they might be pilchards .

thats a herring - tasty fried on the pan

I was thinking that too.there was literately 100,s of them being picked up on the sounder but they were very slow to take.Is there a better way to catch them ?
There in the freezer now for piking in a few days

Turns out there not herring and as I first thought they are pilchard.I was taking to a family friend whos a fish monger and he has been approached lately about buying them.

we caught a few last year early in howth on sabikis

yup , we went back out today and had a load of them on sabiki rigs.I later found out they dont freeze to well due to all the oil they contain but Id say that's more for eating purposes then bait.

Think they are same thing as sardines just given a different name when they hit northern waters.
Imagine if they shoaled like they do in East Africa ?
Tommy

the rays love them had some good fishing useing them fresh where were you fishing ?

that's basicly what they are , a large sardine.The sounder was picking up 100,s of them and it was only in 15tf of water so Im after getting a 12ft diameter cast net for them.We were fishing off helvick in Dungarvan for bait ,ended up getting a lovely 11lb PB cod that day too.

Sardines are just related to herrings, they taste totally different to herring.
On the picture above is pure Atlantic Herring, very nice fish to eat !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herring