Puget Sound

[Scudley Do Right]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08863BZM8/ref=vp_d_fuw_pd?_encoding=UTF8 like this?

yeah

 

[Stonedfish]

Does anyone still catch big mondo herring in Puget Sound? We used to catch them back in the day and referred to them as horse herring.
SF

 

[VMP]

Great post! Would you mind sharing your herring technique? I'd like to try that. My dad and mom were dutch and we always ate pickled herring

Haha true. What I meant is how do you catch them? Where are you finding them?

I use a sabiki rig, size 10 or 12, six hook rig to catch baitfish. I tried sabiki rods both commercial and DIY with PVC pipes but they feel like a broomstick. I prefer to use a regular casting rod, line counter reel and store it all rigged up inside a large PVC tube to keep hooks out of harm and ready to deploy. You look for bait in your fish finder, or for feeding birds if the bait is shallow. You drop your sabiki at the depth the bait is at, image below shows bait (#2) between 125 and the bottom, #1 shows the sabiki going down. I only jig for the first hookup, then just wait a few seconds for the sabiki to load, wait too long and a dogfish may destroy your sabiki. #3 shows a sabiki loaded with herring, see next picture.




If you want to keep the herring alive, you can unhook them into a live well, bucket with water that you would have to keep on refreshing, etc. If you want to kill them soon, you can put them on ice, slush of icy seawater, etc.
I have not tried pickling them, I either use them for bait or I grill them whole. If fresh and small you can grill them guts and all, if frozen or larger take out the guts. Whatever you do, dry them well so they turn golden and crispy on the grill on high. Salt them generously. Maybe 3-4 mins per side, should be done right before the catch on fire! This batch I basted them on chimichurri and garnished with parsley, they came out great!