Herring Strip - The Forgotten Bait

[Dogbreath]

Derby would know.

 

[Fins -n- Skins]

Wise buys had it and i think Trotac had it. Didn't see it last year so i don't think it was a good seller ? I,ve learned to cut my own and it does take some practice for sure. I like to keep the tail on myself.

 

[TheBigGuy]

Wise buys had it and i think Trotac had it. Didn't see it last year so i don't think it was a good seller ? I,ve learned to cut my own and it does take some practice for sure. I like to keep the tail on myself.

Do you put the hook in the strip and add a bend to your bait when you use a slab strip?

 

[Fins -n- Skins]

Sometimes yes and no.. I use Herring heads sometimes instead of strip heads. The tiny teaser heads are a bit of a collectors item now. Like any baits you need to play with heads and bends. Just like you said drill some new holes gives a different action or speed. I had the good fortune of sitting with Tom Davis a PSF dinner years back and i had a lot of questions !!

 

[bones]

black label baits victoria, we would just bend the teaser head at the side of the boat this would achieve the roll you would be looking for,

 

[TheBigGuy]

Yes tiny strip works well too. I mostly used that in the winter. The Rhys Davis tiny strip teasers never put much roll on the tiny strips though. I would sometimes use a mini size Scotty Roller Baiter for those. They are the cloths pin style bait holders that impart a spin with a plastic vane. Sometimes the fish preferred the type of roll the Scotty heads gave when using strip.

Thanks for the info Bones.

 

[Derby]

Hard to find cheap good quality herring to cut as bait... would be a lot of money for the bait in retail land... most guys using strip today cut there own.. not really hard to do if you really want to us strip... get a bunch of the herring u buy at the bucket sales and practice on that them move to the good stuff to get the strip us desire..practice makes prefect...

 

[SteelyDan]

When I was a kid my dad would cut strip from pickled herring roll mops lol. It worked. If it worked then dont see why it wouldn't now.

 

[TheBigGuy]

Hard to find cheap good quality herring to cut as bait... would be a lot of money for the bait in retail land... most guys using strip today cut there own.. not really hard to do if you really want to us strip... get a bunch of the herring u buy at the bucket sales and practice on that them move to the good stuff to get the strip us desire..practice makes prefect...

The two most important parts to cutting good strips are a really sharp knife, and the herring needs to still be semi frozen. Not hard to do, just a messy and a bit of a pain. Throw all the trimmings back in the freezer for baiting your traps or a hali chum bag. At least you get some extra milage from it afterwards that way.

 

[sly_karma]

Heading to Haida Gwaii again in late July. Last time there it was an all-herring event, mostly cut plug but we started running low and had to switch to cutting strip to make the bait go further. I got ok at rigging the strip and adjusting the roll with the hooks, but my strip cutting skills are very rudimentary. What a blast though to be fighting 20-25 lb fish in shallow clear water using nothing but hooks and a piece of bait.

 

[profisher]

Have cut lots of strip over the years but used it mostly for fall northerns. I invited Jack Young of Sooke out one time and he brought along his own custom cut strip that he fished on his rod. He had it rolled up in some newspaper like he was bringing along fish and chips for a snack. I wish I examined it more closely to remember exactly how he cut it. It was thick and had some angled cuts on the flesh side. I think the cuts produced a gem stone like pattern if that makes sense ( only way I can describe what I remember). Anyway he outfished me 9 to 1 on a slow day...we kept our limit of the largest and those 8 were all off his gear. I could tell as soon as I seen the roll he got from his strip that he was going to out fish me. We trolled quite fast and his bait produced a really consistent 6-8 inch corkscrew ( nice head diving action) circle at a perfect rate of revolutions. Jack passed away a few years later and I felt grateful to get a chance to fish at least once with one of the old timers I always looked up to as a local top rod.

 

[Labman2]

Anyone tried the Rhy's Davis "Baitrix" Special?

 

[TheBigGuy]

I think I've caught one spring on the mini baitrix strip in a Scotty Roller Baiter head. I've caught nothing with the full size baitrix strips. Not that I use them much though. Had high hopes when they came out, but they never produced enough to keep using them..

 

[Cuba Libre]

Wow !-- memories-- Many years ago I got invited to go mooching for springs aboard the Kenora Kutie with Ted Peck ( Uncle Stumbly from the Old Tides and Trails TV show, and Finn Anthony from the Save the Salmon Society and KVOS TV. Both were heavy drinkers and by 9 am , we were pretty much juiced ( who am I to be different in the company of the masters ) I thought we were going cruising to find the best area for salmon fishing.. suprise ! we barely left Eagle Cove in West Van when Ted dropped the hook in about 125 ft. After topping up his drink, he brought out a cutting board and selected a couple of livies from the bait tank. He VERY carefully cut a strip off one side and then the other side with tail intact. Four oz weight with two #8 trebles was the ticket. I remember him studying the old flasher sounder and stripping off the pulls that he felt got the strip down to the zone. During the morning he noticed that he had an audience from a couple of other boats nearby that were mimicking his dropping of the strip. With a chuckle, the next time he stripped the pulls off the reel to get into the "zone" , he stopped actually stripping and began " false" stripping to way past the bottom depth under the boat. He had a grin from ear to ear when we saw one of the other boats trying to figure out why they were hung up on bottom! I was told later by a friend that knew him well that if the other fisherman had just asked "How deep? " he would have been happy to tell him.

 

[fishin_magician]

Yes tiny strip works well too. I mostly used that in the winter. The Rhys Davis tiny strip teasers never put much roll on the tiny strips though. I would sometimes use a mini size Scotty Roller Baiter for those. They are the cloths pin style bait holders that impart a spin with a plastic vane. Sometimes the fish preferred the type of roll the Scotty heads gave when using strip.

Thanks for the info Bones.

Well kept secret in your post Big Guy.

I'll take any tiny Strip Teasers anyone wants to give me...

 

[Filletandrelease]

I've had the pleasure of meeting Finn here in Sechelt . What a cool ole guy.

 

[TheBigGuy]

Does anybody use durabait strip and have success with it? Looks like theyve got some deadly color combos available on their website.

I haven't tried the durabait or MC Rocket Strips. I remember a couple guys saying the used the rocket Strips and they work well. I think you have to order at least $50 worth to get them shipped. I don't think I'd take a flyer on them at that price. If they were available in local stores I'd probably give the rocket Strips a try. They seem to have a big following back east. Strangely the only artificial strip that I used to use regularly and worked well was the Glitter Strips developed by David Korsch of predator charters many years ago. They were heavy and no where near as lifelike as the new stuff out today, but when I ran out of strip I used them for backup and they worked pretty well. They didn't work to well in the Rhys Davis heads, but there was another brand from the states that spun them really well with a little modification. They didn't work that well for mature springs, but the feeders and coho really liked them at faster trolling speeds.
Too bad Dave never kept developing that line of strip he invented. I loved the fact that they worked and the money was going to one of the good local guys in town.

I will see what I can find for you FM. I can't make any promises because I don't know where the tiny teaser heads I have are at. I rarely if ever use the tiny teaser heads. I use the Scotty heads more for tiny strip. If I can find where they're at, which do you prefer the old style or the more recent version with the little fin sticking out on the trailing edge. I don't have a lot of tiny teasers, the full size I've got probably 50 or 60 heads. I don't think I'll be running out of those anytime soon.

 

[fishin_magician]

I haven't tried the durabait or MC Rocket Strips. I remember a couple guys saying the used the rocket Strips and they work well. I think you have to order at least $50 worth to get them shipped. I don't think I'd take a flyer on them at that price. If they were available in local stores I'd probably give the rocket Strips a try. They seem to have a big following back east. Strangely the only artificial strip that I used to use regularly and worked well was the Glitter Strips developed by David Korsch of predator charters many years ago. They were heavy and no where near as lifelike as the new stuff out today, but when I ran out of strip I used them for backup and they worked pretty well. They didn't work to well in the Rhys Davis heads, but there was another brand from the states that spun them really well with a little modification. They didn't work that well for mature springs, but the feeders and coho really liked them at faster trolling speeds.
Too bad Dave never kept developing that line of strip he invented. I loved the fact that they worked and the money was going to one of the good local guys in town.

I will see what I can find for you FM. I can't make any promises because I don't know where the tiny teaser heads I have are at. I rarely if ever use the tiny teaser heads. I use the Scotty heads more for tiny strip. If I can find where they're at, which do you prefer the old style or the more recent version with the little fin sticking out on the trailing edge. I don't have a lot of tiny teasers, the full size I've got probably 50 or 60 heads. I don't think I'll be running out of those anytime soon.

Either style works...the old version is my preference...

 

[TheBigGuy]

Ok I'm playing with some of my gear stored away tonight I'll see if I can find some. I don't exactly just have one tackle box. More like a one tackle store. I love the old gear too, so I have tons pack ratted away. I know it's a sickness, but hey there could be a lot worse things to hoard.

 

[tubber]

The N.Van Canadian Tire had some Rhys Davis tiny strip trout killers, complete with the pretty little baitrix strip reduced for $2 and change last week. There might still be some there. I had then in my basket and put them back on the rack.