Newport Bay herring???????????

[danthefishman]

is there any reports of herring in the bay??

was down their 2 weeks ago and it was great
was wondering if they are still in their

and hows the bottom fishing and the mouth?

Any help would be great

[Pilar]

DantheFishman, oh yeah, get all you want. They are big 7 to 10 inches and prime. I put up 14 dozen this weekend.

Plan on the 2 hours before high tide and through the high slack. Follow the foamy plankton line that forms on the incoming tide. Start by the Coast Guard boathouse and drift with the tide up the bay. They were everywhere from the bottom at 40+ feet to the surface by the boat. A bucket with a few inches of water in it will keep the bait from getting too beat up while it dies. Flipping around in a dry cooler removes scales and some of the shine.

If you tie two jig rigs on back to back it takes the guesswork out of finding the right depth. 10 on at once is kind of tricky but you can do it.

I tried a new freezing method and I think it will work better than what I used to do. Go to Albertsons, Freddie Meyers or Safeway and check out the meat department. They have meat trays made of styrofoam. A little sweet talking to the butcher and you can walk out the door with a fist full of meat trays. I used the white, shallow, 7" x 10" as these fit in the wide Tilia vacuum bags.

Lay out your bait on the trays just like you see the commercial bait you can't find anymore. Wear latex rubber gloves and try really hard not to lose any scales. I put a dozen on each tray. Put these flat in a freezer overnight to harden.

Then just bag the tray, fish and all and vacuum seal it. I added 2 drops of Cravex laced herring oil, a little non iodized salt (1 tsp) and a few drops of laundry blue to each tray. Date the bag with a sharpy for scientific purposes.

When it thaws for use, pop the bag first so the vacuum does not thrash the bait. The adders will marinate while the bait thaws. The blue will make it shine, The salt will brine it and who knows what the cravex + will do.

[Trolleytrout2]

Here's a good tip, not sure if I read it here or not. Put the live herring in a 5 gal. bucket of water with non iodized salt and add a cup or two of powdered milk. This helps keep the scales on and bright. It did it last year with alewives and it does work.

[AngleThis]

Pilar told me today that they are in big time. Heading there, probably, Friday night. Will probably camp in the boat. U?

[danthefishman]

i will be down their sunday and monday
my dad will have the boat in hood canel
on saterday for shrimping

[STGRule]

Don't know about Newport, but there were herring in the bay at Reedsport last week.