HERRING: Jigging Method

[John Pierce]

FISHING - PIER/DOCK: If fishing from a pier, simply cast and work the line back with a steady, smooth retrieve. There's no need to bother with a yo-yo jigging motion as you might for bass and blues, but a gentle lifting action with an occasional subtle shake does help. Think of it as being akin to teasing short-biting fluke. The idea is to make the Sabiki Rig appear to be a small school of bait dancing lightly in the current.

FISHING - BOAT: Boaters can use their fishfinders to locate the herring schools before dropping their lines. Keep in mind, however, that herring are not necessarily on the bottom, so you'll have to watch all water depths for signs of schooling fish and then get your rigs to the appropriate depth. Don't drop to the bottom if the fish are suspended at 20 feet. You want your rig to be in right in the zone where you find the fish - it's as simple as that.

FISHING - STRIKES: Usually gentle pecks, or a bit of extra weight followed by a sensation of light head-shaking.

FISHING - RETRIEVING: To increase your productivity, don't quickly reel in the first fish that bites. Rather, allow it to struggle a bit at the end of the line as you continue to slowly retrieve the rig. Allow that first fish to keep dancing and more will jump on the free hooks. Take your time with this and you'll have a ball pulling up full double-, triple- and quadruple-headers.

FISHING - DEHOOKING: Bring rags or Baby Wipes to clean your hands as herring will cover just about anything they touch with tiny, slimy, silver scales. Using an inexpensive hook-out on the fish you catch helps reduce the mess and makes it easy to deposit your quarry in a bucket. Spawned out vs full of roe.

FISHING - STORING: Store in bucket of water, with a bunch of herring they'll suffocate shortly and keep they're scales intact vs if you put them into something dry they'll thrash around and lose their scales.

FISHING - CATCH LIMIT: BC Allowance = 20 kg per day

FISHING - SEASON: Late January to end March.
Getting closer to spawning but the percentage mature is still low.. A good time to get some as they are not super sloppy yet

FISHING - TIDE: Bite on the ebb (receding or outgoing) tide

FISHING - WHEN: Best is after dark.