Has anyone heard if the herring are in at Westport yet?
Thanks Buck

From what I hear they are just outside the marina.Sounds like a couple weeks off before we can go get bait.My wife has an aunt that lives there,as soon as I hear something I'll let you know.

when does westport open for salmon?

There were some in today but not many. Should be lots soon.

Sullie13,
I dont think the dates have been released yet. I think the state is still working on that.

Seasons will be set at North of Falcon meetings in Mid-Arpil.

Just curious if anyone has hear if they are in the marina yet? Thanks
Buck

I jigged some on Saturday from a boat in the marina. There were not many and the ones I got were real small. Is this typical for the first part of the run?

I also fished 'em Saturday from the public dock at the west end, and caught about 14 dozen herring, plus enough smelt for dinner. But the herring were all small, 3 inchers, no good for salmon but great for rockfish, and I've got a freind who will trade me for blue lables to get these little ones, so I vacpacked 'em up.

These "firecracker" herring usually precede the run of spawners, and I'll probably give it a try Friday evening at low tide to see if I can get enough good ones for springer fishing on Saturday - I'll let you know

I've tried freezing fresh herring I've dipped and it doesn't seem to turn out as well as commerically frozen

What do you guys do to keep your herring? Vac-pack & Freeze?

Do you brine them first? How do you prevent Belly burn?

Thanks,

Geoduck

Hey Geo, heres the trick - kill your herring in an iced salt brine as you take them off the jig, take them right out of the brine as soon as you get home and lay them on cookie sheets, freeze them for an hour or two until they are fairly hard, vacpac them, and then freeze them the rest of the way. These baits will outperform all but the best Ballard Bait, and I have kept some for over a year that still worked just fine. The whole trick is to superchill them with the iced brine and never let them get above 32 degrees during the whole processing scenario - that way no belly burn.

Spawnout? So what is your salt brine recepie for freezing herring?? Thanks

Buck

Well, I don't really measure anything, but the technique is a lot like making ice cream the old fashion way. Basically I put 3-4 pounds of ice in a 5 gallon buket, dump in a cup or two of hay salt (cheaper than table salt), and add enough saltwater at the dock to make the bucket weigh about 10 pounds, so as I fill it up with herring I can weight it periodically and quit at about 20 pounds so I don't get a ticket (the limit is 10 pounds). Then I add ice to near the top of the bucket and dump on another cup of salt, mixing it a little with the fish. What this does is supercool the herring, as the addition of salt to ice dramatically lowers the temperature of the water. I leave them in the brine for as long as it takes me to get home, then remove them from the brine, put them on cookie sheets, and freeze them until stiff enough to vacpac them without crushing them. The sooner you do this the better, as the longer you hold them in ice the softer they get. I got lazy one night when I brought my family along and had about 40 pounds to pack up, left some in the ice overnight, and they did not turn out well at all. Hope that helps

ps Don't put your beer in the ice/brine mix. It will freeze.

Hey, I finally hit a few nice blue lable herring today off float 20 at Westport, a couple small schools came by and I caught about a dozen. So they are around, just not very thick. Also caught about 6 dozen 3 inchers, some of which I'm taking rockfish fishing tomorrow. After I'm done doing that I'll stick the jig in the boat basin at high tide and see if it's any better - maybe chase the schools around with the boat a bit to see if I can stay on them.

Did anyone go after herring over the weekend? I want to bring my boy down and give it atry when its good. whats the best way to do it. Sounds like fun and save a $$ come July. Thanks Scott

Herring were all out in the bay on Saturday, nothing inside. I chased them around with my boat but there were so many seals working on them that the schools were scattered and even when I got on some they were running for their lives and wouldn't hit a jig. I bet I saw a school of 100 seals at a time working on them - hope there will be some left to spawn

I'll go out to the dock again Friday - got to catch some for springer fishing Saturday.

Some great suggestions here. I might have to go visit the relatives in Aberdeen this weekend!

So do the herring seem to be a little late? Or are they being kept out of the marina by all the seals? It seems like they were in there pretty thick by this time last year.
Buck

They are late, last year I loaded up on Presidents Day weekend. But the year before - another warm, low water year - they didn't show up in any great numbers until March either. And that year they hung around well into April, whereas last year they were spawned out and gone by March.

Herring are winter spawners, and they probably haven't noticed that it's winter yet, sure doesn't seem like it to me either