Herring Sooke

Mozart

Active Member
last couple of trips out fishing around sooke area there has been groups of bait balls that’s on the surface. Tried jigging for them after trolling for spring but no luck. Has anyone tried to catch some of thos herrings to freeze up for bait? Any luck in getting them on the jig or may be cast net?
 
We saw a very dense bait ball off Sooke a few days back with the small Herring boiling right out of the water an inch or so in about a 5 foot circle and all twinkly and silver. We grabbed the bait net and as we got beside it they went down off the surface but we still filled up the net. They were a bit small for bait as most were three to four inches and rather flat compared to Anchovies so you would need very small hooks and teaser heads. There were a few that made it to 4.5 inches or so. We did not think using them for bait would be all that practical, at least the way we troll bait.

I guess you could rig the larger ones up for live mooching but keeping them alive would be an issue and I think all the small salmon shakers would be likely to hit them before you had a chance to hook up a big one at Sooke. We are just not rigged for that kind of fishing.

Englishman likes trolling with them and I understand has hooked up a few salmon on the little herring.
 
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Forgot to mention just how much bait there is out off Sooke. A couple of days ago I looked up at the sounder screen and the large depth number at the top read 27 feet which caused some confusion and panic for a second given how deep down the rigger balls were until I realized it was reading a very large and very dense bait ball as the bottom. It was so large that it took a while to pass over it and so dense the sounder screen color was all red rather than black dots and went almost to the bottom. First time that has ever happened to us fishing off Sooke.
 
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Forgot to mention just how much bait there is out off Sooke. A couple of days ago I looked up at the sounder screen and the large depth number at the top read 27 feet which caused some confusion and panic for a second given how deep down the rigger balls were until I realized it was reading a very large and very dense bait ball as the bottom. It was so large that it took a while to pass over it and so dense the sounder screen color was all red rather than black dots and went almost to the bottom. First time that has ever happened to us fishing off Sooke.
Were your rods and downrigger lines vibrating like crazy when you went through it? I find that happens when the bait gets really dense.
 
It was probably krill. A week ago Becher Bay was crammed full of it and boiling on the surface. Water looked like polluted by sewage from far. In places the krill was deeper though. Last time I have seen this we had an incredible coho fishery for few weeks after.
 
Guys remember if you scoop bait don't fill your net and waste them. If you get them at the end of your trip and run in right away...get them trayed neatly and in the freezer and after they are hard vacuum pack them they stand up well. If you can't do the above they will belly rot very quickly and you will likely throw them out. If you only take enough to use on the day you catch them they will hold up quite well...how ever they are tricky to rig as they are so fresh they won't hold a shape. ( so your roll is not perfect) If you net them and let them sit on board for hours and then freeze them...the belly's will fall out very quickly when fished,
 
We saw a very dense bait ball off Sooke a few days back with the small Herring boiling right out of the water an inch or so in about a 5 foot circle and all twinkly and silver. We grabbed the bait net and as we got beside it they went down off the surface but we still filled up the net. They were a bit small for bait as most were three to four inches and rather flat compared to Anchovies so you would need very small hooks and teaser heads. There were a few that made it to 4.5 inches or so. We did not think using them for bait would be all that practical, at least the way we troll bait.

I guess you could rig the larger ones up for live mooching but keeping them alive would be an issue and I think all the small salmon shakers would be likely to hit them before you had a chance to hook up a big one at Sooke. We are just not rigged for that kind of fishing.

Englishman likes trolling with them and I understand has hooked up a few salmon on the little herring.

As Rockfish has said we have quite a few herring that we scooped and froze two years ago. Most of them are only 4" long, but they fit quite well in an ordinary teaser head. Getting the roll right is hit and miss but with "free" bait you can easily discard one that is not right and find one that works. Because they are wider and flatter than anchovies they have a sort of fluttery roll but it works for me. I use a size #2 single treble hook. About 60% of my chinook this year have come to these little herring, including my personal best caught two weeks ago of 27lb!!
I also have some very little herring of only about 3" . For these I obtained some tiny teasers which no one stocks but I found on-line at one of those tackle stores in Steveston (I forget the name). The largest fish I have caught with these is only a teener but they are deadly for Coho...right about now!! I use a size #4 single treble for these very small herring.

All herring are soft but I find they last about thirty minutes from fresh frozen. I tried brining but they dry out too much and the belly blows out much more quickly. However, sometimes, if you are careful you can pull out the exposed guts and the herring still works. The fish don't care if the bait is not anatomically correct otherwise plug cut and herring strip would not work!
Anyway, if you prefer your bait to "look right" you can change often with free bait!

How do you guys approach those herrings to scoop them up with net?
Thank you
To catch your herring approach slowly to the side of a ball. One person stands at the side of the boat and stares at the water holding a long handled fine meshed net and when they spot the silvery, glittery ball quickly plunge the net into the ball with a scooping motion. Be careful because if your aim is good the net can scoop a lot fish which when you try and pull it in can drag the net out of your hand, especially if the boat is still moving at 1 knot or so. This nearly happened to us once when we got some 6" herring. Had to use two of us to haul in the net. Most of these we smoked and ate ourselves, but these 6" fish can be used in a larger herring teaser and we have had some success but not as good as the 4" ones in a regular anchovy teaser.
 
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Forgot to mention just how much bait there is out off Sooke. A couple of days ago I looked up at the sounder screen and the large depth number at the top read 27 feet which caused some confusion and panic for a second given how deep down the rigger balls were until I realized it was reading a very large and very dense bait ball as the bottom. It was so large that it took a while to pass over it and so dense the sounder screen color was all red rather than black dots and went almost to the bottom. First time that has ever happened to us fishing off Sooke.

I encountered the same thing near Qualicum last week. Herring so thick my sounder could not shoot through it to show bottom. Very large schools of herring there, very good to see.
 
My technique for scooping herring is different from what Englishman describes. I watch the gulls as I approach at speed for the ones actively diving and keep my eyes on that spot with the fine mesh dipping net in hand. I want to come in fairly quickly because once the gulls spook off you loose your reference point to where the herring ball is located. I want to be on that spot as soon as possible...I aim for the ball to pass down the side of the boat I plan to scoop from. Again I only take what I can handle at that moment...if I'm on my way in and I can freeze some quickly I will take maybe 10 trays worth...if I have hours more fishing ahead of me I may take a couple dozen bigger ones to use for the rest of that trip only. Another tip: if there are as many or more gulls sitting on the water as there are gulls hovering over the ballup and diving the herring will be immature herring anywhere from 2-6 or 7 inches. If all the gulls are hovering above the water from 5 to 15 above and diving down all the while slowly moving ahead...so not staying in one spot...they are going to be big mature herring. The bigger mature herring tend not to ball up in a real tight ball right on the surface ...but instead slowly swim close to the surface (2-4 feet underwater) in a tight school. This is why the gulls stay up in air and slowly move along with the school...they also have to dive from height to get down deeper to get them. In both cases it is usually diving birds that bring them up to the surface and keep them there.
 
Last year I used some of those 3-4" herring in blue/white minnow teasers with small treble or single hook not set into the bait. The fall coho loved them.
 
I have this left over from last fall. Stands up well when caught then trayed and frozen quickly. I get them semi frozen on the tray and then vacuum pack them in a 4mil bag in my chamber machine. You don't want to vacuum pack if they are soft as they will get squished from the suction.bait.jpg
 
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