Herring. The Pacific herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, is very similar to sardines as bait and used in the same manner. However, herring are primarily used as salmon bait in the north and will often cost more in a store than sardines if both are available. Locals who know what they are doing wait for the herring runs that occur most years in places like San Francisco Bay, Humboldt Bay and the harbor at Crescent City. San Francisco Bay often means large crowds on piers, people primarily netting the herring, and sometimes too many keeping more than their ten-gallon limits. It’s less crowded to the north. Some herring are eaten (they’re good) but most are stored for later use as bait. I’ve always taken them by using a Sabiki-type bait rig and have taken them from as far south as the Santa Cruz Wharf and north to Citizens Dock in Crescent City. For years, when I lived in Mendocino County, I would visit the pier in Noyo Harbor by Fort Bragg and catch them there. Surprisingly the best runs at Noyo were generally in May while San Francisco Bay and Crescent City typically see them during winter runs. Unfortunately that pier is now closed.
Sometimes people mistake Pacific herring for Pacific sardines but it’s easy to tell them apart. The herring lack the ridges downward on the gill cover that are seen in sardines and there are no black spots as there are on sardines.
Herring as bait are tougher than anchovies and don’t soften quite as quickly when set out. They can be used for striped bass but are especially good for fish seeking out strong smelling, oily bait such as sharays—sharks and rays. They are a top bait and should be used when anchovies and mackerel are unavailable.
Frozen herring as used from piers in the north for bait would be primarily targeting sharays and possibly rockfish or lingcod although not the preferred bait for either. In San Francisco Bay they can be used whole for species like striped bass or the sharays or cut into chunks or strips. I prefer strip bait where I will cut a fillet off one side of a herring, cut it diagonally from the bottom to the top (with the size dependent upon the bait). Generally I can get two strips from a side and the hook, size 4 or 2 up to 2/0 is inserted into and out the bloody side of the fish. The size of the hook depends upon the fish being sought. I like to cast out the strip bait and then slowly reel it in. Although I am bait fishing, I rarely use a “cast and wait” strategy unless I am fishing for sharks and rays. I think most other fish like moving bait.
Sometimes people mistake Pacific herring for Pacific sardines but it’s easy to tell them apart. The herring lack the ridges downward on the gill cover that are seen in sardines and there are no black spots as there are on sardines.
Herring as bait are tougher than anchovies and don’t soften quite as quickly when set out. They can be used for striped bass but are especially good for fish seeking out strong smelling, oily bait such as sharays—sharks and rays. They are a top bait and should be used when anchovies and mackerel are unavailable.
Frozen herring as used from piers in the north for bait would be primarily targeting sharays and possibly rockfish or lingcod although not the preferred bait for either. In San Francisco Bay they can be used whole for species like striped bass or the sharays or cut into chunks or strips. I prefer strip bait where I will cut a fillet off one side of a herring, cut it diagonally from the bottom to the top (with the size dependent upon the bait). Generally I can get two strips from a side and the hook, size 4 or 2 up to 2/0 is inserted into and out the bloody side of the fish. The size of the hook depends upon the fish being sought. I like to cast out the strip bait and then slowly reel it in. Although I am bait fishing, I rarely use a “cast and wait” strategy unless I am fishing for sharks and rays. I think most other fish like moving bait.