Hook Placement on live herring???

[BratBonker89]

Where do you guys place your hooks in live herring. I have heard behind the dorsal fin, and in the top of the mouth, which is where i do it. Where do you guys set the hook??

[blacktail519]

Never used it live before, as i dont believe it's legal

[blacktail519]

In fact i know its not legal, at least not in the rivers

[BratBonker89]

I use it for Lingcod in Puget Sound, here it is legal!

[Thumper]

I would think that they would prefer to hold it between their little fins. Otherwise wouldn't it hurt? :whazzup:

[Mark Vickers]

I haven't tried it yet for salmon, but this is what we do for tuna:

Pick out the most lively bait in the livewell, run a live bait hook through their nostrils. Gently toss 'em in and wait for the slam.

[Buck]

I have used live herring for springs in Canada. We used solid tie nickel #4 hooks, one through the top of the mouth (need to allow the herring to open and close its mouth to breathe) and the other very lightly hooked under the skin behind the dorsal fin along the lateral line. This was a finesse outfit that we let down to depth very carefully to keep those hooks in and allow the herring to wiggle and swim as freely as possible. The bites we would get were very subtle and more like a trout pecking at powerbait sometimes. My understanding was that the fish were turning the fish around in their mouths to swallow it head first - hence the benefit of small hooks.

[blacktail519]

aawww hah

[Buck]

I forgot to mention that we found it worked better to attach a dropper (12") for the the herring hooks and then another 24-36" to a weight on the bottom of the rig. That allows to herring to swim around freely, but also struggle a little which salmon and bottomfish key in on. Live bait is really fun. But don't ever try it for hatchery coho in the bay with candlefish with very little weight. It's wayyy too fun! You'll be spoiled for all other forms of salmonid fishing for life.