The Outdoor Line Forum

This is Jake Moore with Harbor Marine chiming in with a few tips and start up knowledge for what is going to be an outstanding upcoming season!
With blackmouth fishing in full swing and springers around the corner I figured it might be a good time to take a look at some modern herring fishing tactics! There seems to be a lot of fishermen that are hesitant to brine there own herring. Though extremely easy and devilishly effective, people are still hesitant. I want to change that! Here are some simple tips to get you started!
My first tip for beginners fishing herring, is keep it simple! There are hundreds of brine recipes out there on the internet, as well as scent additives, and bite stimulants on the market. For your first time brining herring I will always recommend Pro-Cure's "Brine and Bite" whether you want a wet brine already made for you in a handy 16oz bottle or a 20oz powder bait brine that will do 12 dozen herring these brine's are simple and effective and all you have to do is follow directions on the bottle.
My second simple tip is to allow your herring to fully thaw in its tray before placing in your brine solution. I have seen way to many people ruin there expensive herring by breaking apart the frozen herring and causing massive scale loss. Keep those scales intact! Once thawed, carefully open your herring package all the way up and slide your herring into the readied brine.
My final brining tip is that you allow your bait enough time to properly soak up the brine. I prefer to brine my bait overnight. I also brine my herring in plastic containers. This helps to protect the bait, and my fridge! I place the container in the refrigerator to keep the bait cool while it cures. I also have specific containers reserved for fishing that are marked BAIT, I do not cure bait in plastic containers that I have used, or are planning to use, for food. I hope these simple steps will spark curiosity, and reduce your reluctance to use these battle tested techniques.

All that being said staying simple can and will become boring... If you would like to receive further tips on maximizing your fishing fun, and harvest potential, feel free to stop in any time at Harbor Marine open at 5am for bait and breakfast! We are located on 10th st. (just in sight of the boat launch) and I will personally go over any brine's as well as some sneaky stinky tips you wont get anywhere else!
Happy fishing!
Jake Moore

Good suggestions!

I agree that simple brines will more than do the job. In reality all that is really needed is a basic rock salt brine. Though I usually supplement the rock salt with some power milk and laundry bluing.


I like to place my frozen herring directly into the brine (in a smallish ice chest) in the morning. Once the frozen herring thaws enough to separate I like to make them into cut baits. The cut plugs go back into the brine and kept cold all day with a frozen container of salt water small enough to fit into the bait ice chest.

I also like to use fresh herring which I jig as I fish. The fresh herring is cut immediately and them placed into the brine along with the frozen herring. If possible I like to jig a dozen or two extra herring which once the day is over I remove from the brine, allow them to drain and them roll in borax placing a dozen or so in a zip lock bag. If I'm going to fish within a few days just refrigerate them, if it will be longer I'll freeze them. As they thawed no need to re-brine them; just keep them cool and they will fish well for you.

Curt

Great suggestions
For Halibut bait we mix fine seafood processing salt in a cooler until it is fully saturated. (There will be some undissolved salt in the bottom at this point) We then add a couple skeins of eggs that I just squish as they are added to the solution. Then add the chunks of pink, chum and the large herring out of the bulk herring box and let it set over night. The frozen bait is packed 15 pieces to a vacuum bag so it makes it easy to just pull 2 bags of bait to soak for the skate. We don't pre soak the halibut bait before it's frozen. The frozen bait is added to the mix when we get back in.
For Silvers we buy the bulk boxes of bait from Cold Storage. I think it's 25 lbs to a box and is all sizes and condition, not the best quality of bait. Let the herring thaw overnight and then plug cut it and put it in just the standard salt, powdered milk and bluing brine. It is then vacuum packed 12 to a bag and refrozen. The silver fishing is pretty fast and furious and doesn't really require the expensive bait. The super or horse sized herring are saved for halibut.
Bait is probably the smallest cost of the trip, so choose the quality of the bait for what you are targeting. Save the expensive factory packed bait for Kings and for the rest use whats appropriate. We caught a couple silvers at Tranquil Point last summer that were full of plug cut Heads. The last run of the season is usually out to our smorgasbord hole to get a variety of different flavored fish for winter. The fishing isn't very good as it's mostly just catching and hauling a bunch of ling, yellow eye, china, copper, black bass and some chickens up. It's hard to get a bait to the bottom without a fish. It takes longer to run out than it does to fill the fish box with limits, so we usually just hang out in the Maurelle's watching whales and having a boat picnic. Life was good and then it got better.

Gary