Herring Strip - The Forgotten Bait

[TheBigGuy]

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.

Wow that's shockingly cheap. I didn't think anyone still sold the tiny Strips. Been a while since I've seen them around.

 

[spoiler]

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.

I used to fish with my uncle who lived at Otter Point in Sooke. All he ever used was herring strip, I believe it was Rhys Davis super strip. He was very particular about which packages he would buy and would root through all of them before picking out the ones that had a nice blue back. He used to trim the strip down to fit in a Rhys Davis minnow teaser head and fish it on a long leader behind a #3 Pal dodger. Back in those days no one used downriggers so it was a 16oz peetz clip weight and so many pulls to get the right depth. All of the fishing we did was at Otter Point out of a 12 foot aluminum boat with a 7.5hp outboard. My uncle caught a lot of big springs with that set up and gave me a lot of great memories!

 

[TheBigGuy]

I love to hear the old fishing stories they are so cool and heartwarming to hear everyone's fond memories from the old days. Fishing was so much simpler then. No electronics, heck sometimes not even any power, just a row boat some bait and a weight.

Does anyone remember seeing their dad or other relatives strip casting herring. I only remember the stories from my dad and I know how it worked. I don't imagine most people have any idea how that method was performed. In the old days there weren't many people who had saltwater casting reels, so they used there mooching or trolling reels to cast. I had an old Alvey side casting reel and it cast a mile. It was a very cool hybrid invention from down under that let you cast with a conventional pivoting drum trolling reel. I don't know what ever happened to that old reel, it was super fun to cast play Salmon with. How about a few strip casting stories I'd love to hear them. It is an all but forgotten part of our local fishing history.

 

[Cuba Libre]

Yes-- did that too , but used raked firecracker herring and 1 1/2 oz to 2 1/2 oz weights Off Norris Rocks, Seal Rocks, and Cape Lazo, An evening fishery when the bait was dimpling at the surface. We stalked the schools of bait and it was almost an imperceptible take .... Coho from 3 to 8 lbs with a few chinooks to 20 lbs if we were lucky. Also.. Watched Barry Thornton one afternoon release numerous fish on the fly off Flora Island-- Thorntons Silver Thorn fished in 10 ft of water. One of the best saltwater fishermen that I knew. Damn-- you young guys just dont realize just how good us old farts had it....

 

[wishiniwasfishin1]

I love to hear the old fishing stories they are so cool and heartwarming to hear everyone's fond memories from the old days. Fishing was so much simpler then. No electronics, heck sometimes not even any power, just a row boat some bait and a weight.

Does anyone remember seeing their dad or other relatives strip casting herring. I only remember the stories from my dad and I know how it worked. I don't imagine most people have any idea how that method was performed. In the old days there weren't many people who had saltwater casting reels, so they used there mooching or trolling reels to cast. I had an old Alvey side casting reel and it cast a mile. It was a very cool hybrid invention from down under that let you cast with a conventional pivoting drum trolling reel. I don't know what ever happened to that old reel, it was super fun to cast play Salmon with. How about a few strip casting stories I'd love to hear them. It is an all but forgotten part of our local fishing history.

Alright The Big Guy - you should organize an 'old school only' local derby. No riggers and no technique with origins dating later than 1985! Would be a hoot. I for one would be searching out some livies Might even have to grow a moustache, and find some croakies...

 

[TheBigGuy]

Alright The Big Guy - you should organize an 'old school only' local derby. No riggers and no technique with origins dating later than 1985! Would be a hoot. I for one would be searching out some livies Might even have to grow a moustache, and find some croakies...

Now your talking. That would be a blast. I still go full old school sometimes, but it's hard to find the fish shallow enough not to have to use the riggers. Lots of fun catching them old school when you do get one. I love old chrome, real metal Flashers and spoons still kick butt sometimes. So does old school bait techniques. To bad its a dying art on the water these days. Old lucky Louie's rock too. They want $200 on ebay for some of those plugs these days. I still fish them but it darn near broke my heart when I lost my favorite Louie up on Shuswap Lake a few years back. I think the old guys would have a blast doing something like that.

 

[Dorman Point]

Growing up, I fished a lot with my grandfather. We almost always mooched, as often with strip as with live herring. He was of the generation before live herring were available and I think he felt using live herring in the '80s and early '90s, when I was a young boy fishing with him, was somehow cheating. He cut beautiful strip and no matter how often he showed me, mine never looked as clean and nicely shaped. In my mind's eye I can still see him quietly cutting strip on an old piece of wood on the back deck, with the only sounds being the gentle clinks and groans of the boat rocking gently at anchor and the cry of gulls.

We mostly fished the lower Sunshine Coast spots: Gower Point, Camp Byng, Gospel Rock, Salmon Rock, Twin Islands. When I was very young and August brought the coho in, I remember him strip casting his hand-cut herring off Camp Byng. With a 10 1/2' moocher and an old Windex reel, a 2 oz weight and tiny trebles, he'd effortlessly cast and never tangle the loose loops piled at his feet. I remember he would cut his leaders back to do this, probably to as short as 5'. The leader and bait would always turn over nicely, just like a well-cast fly.

With the return of the coho and the large schools of anchovies we've seen over the last two years in Howe Sound, I think there will be some opportunities to do this again, this summer. There were lots of evenings last summer with big bait shoals and salmon actively feeding in the shallows. I really hope to do this again.

I love to hear the old fishing stories they are so cool and heartwarming to hear everyone's fond memories from the old days. Fishing was so much simpler then. No electronics, heck sometimes not even any power, just a row boat some bait and a weight.

Does anyone remember seeing their dad or other relatives strip casting herring. I only remember the stories from my dad and I know how it worked. I don't imagine most people have any idea how that method was performed. In the old days there weren't many people who had saltwater casting reels, so they used there mooching or trolling reels to cast. I had an old Alvey side casting reel and it cast a mile. It was a very cool hybrid invention from down under that let you cast with a conventional pivoting drum trolling reel. I don't know what ever happened to that old reel, it was super fun to cast play Salmon with. How about a few strip casting stories I'd love to hear them. It is an all but forgotten part of our local fishing history.

 

[bones]

We never "strip cast" we would strip our dead herring at the end of the day. Down to bottom strip,strip, strip pause. Worked once in awhile.

 

[bigbruce]

I "strip cast" a few times back in the day. After hooking a few seagulls, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle.

 

[eaglemaniac]

Well versed Dorman, Thanks for the memories. eman

 

[TheBigGuy]

Growing up, I fished a lot with my grandfather. We almost always mooched, as often with strip as with live herring. He was of the generation before live herring were available and I think he felt using live herring in the '80s and early '90s, when I was a young boy fishing with him, was somehow cheating. He cut beautiful strip and no matter how often he showed me, mine never looked as clean and nicely shaped. In my mind's eye I can still see him quietly cutting strip on an old piece of wood on the back deck, with the only sounds being the gentle clinks and groans of the boat rocking gently at anchor and the cry of gulls.

We mostly fished the lower Sunshine Coast spots: Gower Point, Camp Byng, Gospel Rock, Salmon Rock, Twin Islands. When I was very young and August brought the coho in, I remember him strip casting his hand-cut herring off Camp Byng. With a 10 1/2' moocher and an old Windex reel, a 2 oz weight and tiny trebles, he'd effortlessly cast and never tangle the loose loops piled at his feet. I remember he would cut his leaders back to do this, probably to as short as 5'. The leader and bait would always turn over nicely, just like a well-cast fly.

With the return of the coho and the large schools of anchovies we've seen over the last two years in Howe Sound, I think there will be some opportunities to do this again, this summer. There were lots of evenings last summer with big bait shoals and salmon actively feeding in the shallows. I really hope to do this again.

Dorman, thank you so much for sharing your experiences with your grandfather. Great memories from a bygone era.

 

[getbent]

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.

Great post CL

 

[profisher]

Another old timer who used his own home cut herring strip almost exclusively and who I learned how to cut it from was Jumbo Davies. His Gordon's beach cabin was just down from ours and I remember watching him cut bait a few times. Jumbo and his sons would jig a seasons worth of herring out of the Gorge each spring. He always cut the days bait supply the night before. It started with a very, very sharp knife which he spent lots of time putting an edge on with a wet stone before beginning. I learned you want to start with bait that was frozen as straight as possible and in bundles small enough to cut before they thaw to much. To prevent scale loss and rough edges you want the bait to be quite frozen...just starting to soften ever so slightly when you cut it. Once cut and shaped he sprinkled coarse rock salt over it and put it in a container in the fridge. He was another of the Otter Point high liners who inspired me to keep learning and get to his level of consistency., especially with bigger fish.

 

[spoiler]

Another old timer who used his own home cut herring strip almost exclusively and who I learned how to cut it from was Jumbo Davies. His Gordon's beach cabin was just down from ours and I remember watching him cut bait a few times. Jumbo and his sons would jig a seasons worth of herring out of the Gorge each spring. He always cut the days bait supply the night before. It started with a very, very sharp knife which he spent lots of time putting an edge on with a wet stone before beginning. I learned you want to start with bait that was frozen as straight as possible and in bundles small enough to cut before they thaw to much. To prevent scale loss and rough edges you want the bait to be quite frozen...just starting to soften ever so slightly when you cut it. Once cut and shaped he sprinkled coarse rock salt over it and put it in a container in the fridge. He was another of the Otter Point high liners who inspired me to keep learning and get to his level of consistency., especially with bigger fish.

Otter Point has so many great memories for me! One time while out with my uncle we were watching two young guys casting off the point for salmon. All of a sudden one of them hooked a big Spring and the battle was on! The fellow that was hooked up was putting so much pressure on the fish that eventually his rod broke just above the handle. His buddy came over to help and was holding the top part of the rod while he was operating the reel. Eventually the big fish broke the line but it was one of the most entertaining fish battles I ever saw!

 

[Dogbreath]

One place where Strip isn't forgotten is the Great Lakes Salmon fishery a number of companies offer all kinds of flashy custom made heads under various names.

https://www.mistinger.com/cut-bait---meat-rigs

http://shop.bigweeniebrand.com/cate...E5E5EFAE6E39A12.p3plqscsfapp003?categoryId=75

You might not like the way these are rigged but that's easy to change-watch the terminology some 'cut bait' rigs seem to be for strip and others for plug cut.

 

[Bordeau]

Herring Strip - The Forgotten Bait

http://www.bcoutdoorsmagazine.com/Herring_Strip_The_Forgotten_Bait

Awesome article on the history and use of Herring Strip. .

Many thanks BigGuy for this great article. I was wondering how to cut the strips and now I can give it a try.
Are the strips used as is or brined (covered in salt)?

 

[TheBigGuy]

Many thanks BigGuy for this great article. I was wondering how to cut the strips and now I can give it a try.
Are the strips used as is or brined (covered in salt)?

Generally they are used unbrined. You can brine them, as they store longer, and it does toughen them up. However, my own personal opinion is it reduces the scent trail the strip produces when trolled, and reduces it's effectiveness. If you store them in a very lightly salted brine it doesn't seem to affect the productivity as much.

 

[advTHXance]

Tried my hand running some strip this weekend, with mixed success. Going to require some practice to get things to a level I can feel confident in the bait. Anyways, also threw down a Rhys Davis bigbite on one side for a bit, but probably spent more time trying to get a good roll on it than having it in the water. Anybody used these? I tried snugging the hook right up to the teaser head, and trailing it far behind the strip, and everything in between. I even switched to a smaller hook, and tried manually bending the blade of the teaser head. I was thinking maybe a herring teaser head might make it spin better than a large strip teaser head. Didnt wanna mess around with it too much though, as its easier to just chuck a spoon out and relax.