Photo courtesy of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Species: Clupea harengus pallasi (Valenciennes, 1847); from the Latin word clupea (herring), the Low Latin word harengus, which probably comes from old High German, possibly associated with (das) herr, (army or multitude, in reference to the formation of large schools), and pallasi, honoring the famous Russian naturalist Petrus Simon Pallus that distinguishes this form from the Atlantic form of herring.

Alternate Name: Herring. Called Arenque del Pacifico in Mexico.

Identification: Typical fish shape; last dorsal fin not elongate, and pelvic fin under the dorsal fin. Their coloring is bluish green to olive on the sides and silvery white below. There are no spots on the side, unlike Pacific sardines.

Size: Up to 18 inches, although most caught off piers are under 14 inches.

Herring caught by Dwight in Crescent City

Range: From northern Baja California, to the Bering Sea, and northeast to Bathhurst in the Beaufort Sea; along the Asian coast from the Lena River in the Arctic Ocean, through the Bering Sea to Korea and Ibaraki, central Japan.

Habitat: An inshore schooling species that moves into bays and estuaries during late winter, and spawns inter-tidally until the spring. Their adhesive eggs cling to eelgrass, kelp, and pilings, and attract many fish. Until recently, areas along the Sausalito waterfront were prime locales for herring eggs which in turn attracted egg-slurpin’ sturgeon and anglers seeking the slurpin’ sturgeon. These areas are now closed to sturgeon fishin’ anglers seeking the slurpin’ sturgeon even though the slurpin’ sturgeon and the eggs they’re a slurpin’ are still present.

Piers: Pacific herring are caught on Sabiki-type bait rigs at most piers north of San Francisco (although a few are caught south of this area). Typically, the schools move in with the high tide and it is a hit-or-miss proposition as anglers cast and retrieve from the piers. If the fish are present, you will often get three at a time; if absent, you will get none. Best bets: Santa Cruz Wharf (some years), Fort Point Pier, Elephant Rock Pier, Sausalito Municipal Pier, Fort Baker Pier, Commercial Street Dock (Eureka), Citizens Dock Crescent City) and small piers found in inter-tidal areas in most major rivers (for example, the Municipal Pier in Noyo River at Fort Bragg).

Shoreline: Can be taken by shore anglers in San Francisco Bay when they show in nearshore areas.

Herring fishermen casting Sabikis for herring in Crescent City in 2014

Boats: Rarely taken from boats.

Bait and Tackle: Herring are mainly taken with bait rigs. A person can make their own using small, size 8-12 hooks (light and sharp) or use a commercial rig such as a Sabiki or Lucky Lura. (Remember that in San Francisco Bay you can only use three hooks.)  To the end of the leader is attached either a chrome torpedo sinker or a heavy spoon, just heavy enough to cast out the line. Generally, a long cast is made, the outfit is allowed to sink part way, and a slow retrieve, with an occasional twitch, is made. Fishing is generally best at high tide, especially at night if there are lights on the pier. Check with local tackle shops to see if the herring are running; best times are generally December to February in the San Francisco Bay Area, April to June for most north coast piers (although I had some great fishing in January 2014). In north coast rivers a few are possible almost any time during the summer.

Some anglers use nets, some anglers use Sabikis — Crescent City — 2014

Food Value: Many people like to eat fresh herring, generally baked, broiled, or bar-b-cued. Pickled herring are also considered a delicacy by many. In northern Europe, herring seem to retain an exalted rank somewhere above “normal” foods. In 1996 my wife Pat and I took a trip to Scandinavia to celebrate our 30th anniversary. While in Denmark, my Danish (foreign exchange) son Martin insisted that I try some of the herring that was part of a smørrebrød (open sandwich) lunch. I did try a couple of varieties of the herring and thought they were OK but not great. Then, while in Sweden we went to the Prinsen Restaurant a historic and somewhat famous place that of course had several appetizers featuring herring. I decided to try the recommended dish—“Herring our way ala (Nordin).” Several different forms of herring accompanied by various sauces, creams, etc. Again, I could take it or leave it—but perhaps the problem was that I did not follow the herring with an ice cold drink of aquavit (water of life); it seems aquavit is “de rigueur” with herring. I didn’t have the guts to try one of the Swedish summertime specialties—surströmming—fermented Baltic herring, a dish usually eaten with raw onions and cheese. Smoked herring, yes/ja/ja, fermented herring no/nej/nei. I must admit that I loved the Danish ham and pastries, the Swedish mashed potatoes, and the Finnish char and reindeer. And, we did bring home a couple of bottles of Finnish liqueur — Lakka (cloudberry liqueur) and Puolukka (lingonberry liqueur). But, I think I’ll pass on the more exotic forms of herring. By the way, in regard to food value, Pacific herring is considered slightly inferior to Atlantic herring and to Pacific sardines.

Pacific herring caught at Crescent City in 2014

Comments: In the “More Than You May Want To Know” category, scientists in England report that herring seem to use flatulence, aka raspberry blowing, as a mechanism to form protective schools (shoals) at night. In an article by James Owen in the National Geographic News (November 10, 2003) titled “Herring Break Wind to Communicate,” the scientists reveal that Atlantic and Pacific herring create high-frequency sounds by releasing air from their anuses. ["We know [herring] have excellent hearing but little about what they actually use it for,” said research team leader Ben Wilson, a marine biologist at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre, British Columbia, Canada. “It turns out that herring make unusual farting sounds at night.”  Wilson and his colleagues named the phenomenon Fast Repetitive Tick, which makes for the rather mischievous acronym, FRT. But unlike the human version, these FRTs are thought to bring the fish closer together.  Two teams carried out the research in Canada and Britain. One team studied Pacific herring in Bamfield, British Columbia, while the other focused on Atlantic herring in Oban, Scotland. The fish were caught locally and transferred to large laboratory tanks where their behavior was monitored using hydrophones and infrared video cameras.  The fish were found to produce high-frequency sound bursts up to 22 kilohertz. The noise was always accompanied by a fine stream of bubbles.] Don’t know if other schooling fish also use FRT’s at night to school up but, as said, perhaps more than you may want to know.

Although the main impetus for this trip, as well as most of the trips to the Humboldt-Del Norte coast, has been on fishing—i.e., fishing the piers or helping manage the Trinidad Youth Fishing Derby,  the number of sights along the trail inevitably call for stops to enjoy the nature of the area. This would prove true again this year as redwoods, coastal scenes, elk, and other attractions demanded a stop.

[Warning, this particular blog may be more of a travel log than a simple fishing blog.]

Day 2 — An early morning call came from “Big Rich” a former student and long-time Pier Fishing in California follower. “I’m in Eureka, I came up to help out at the derby.” We decided to meet for breakfast and then he said he would like to fish with me prior to the derby, even if that meant heading up to Crescent City.

Soon after, we were at Trinidad testing out the action. Unfortunately it was slow but I managed a few fish and, as always, I enjoyed the beauty of the pier and its natural environment.

“Big Rich”

It was chilly and a little windy so I brought the sweatshirt and a coat

The pier’s left side is close to a cliff and all rocky

This  rocky area usually produce some greenling, kelp greenling and rock greenling; this trip it produced a kelp greenling.

The tide was a little low

This rock is just out from the pier on the right side and one of my favorite places to fish

A bait dropped down by the rock produced this nice striped perch

After two and a half hours of fishing, and only three fish, two striped perch and the kelp greenling, I decided it was time to move on to Crescent City. We stopped fishing and headed north. I told Rich I would meet up with him at Klamath since I figured I would be stopping a few times  for some pictures.

I stopped in Orick near where there are typically some elk, but I didn’t see the large animals. However, who doesn’t like little old red school houses?

The old Stone Lagoon School House

The next stop was at Stone Lagoon

A beautiful area but Crescent City and its two piers were still beckoning

I met up with Rich at Klamath and he said, “did you see the elk” and I said no. He said they were bedded down left of the school house. Duh! Good thing I’m not a hunter.

At Crescent City we checked into a motel and then headed over to Citizen’s Dock where I almost always catch an interesting mix of fish. It would prove true again.

Looking across the harbor toward the “B” Street Pier and the lighthouse

The marina has been totally rebuilt following the tsunami (tidal wave) of 2011 that destroyed the docks and pilings in the harbor, sank 16 boats, and damaged the breakers around the banks of the basin. In response, it was decided to build the West Coast’s first harbor truly able to withstand severe tsunamis (those expected to hit once every 50 years). A $38.2 million dollar reconstruction ensued and it looks great today.

Another angler was fishing in the area I normally fish but he soon left and soon after, we began to  fish in the same spot.

Over the years this inner section of Citizens Dock has proven to be the best place on the pier for fish. Luckily that proved true once again since new signs indicated that anglers could no longer fish further out on the pier. In years past I had moved around the pier, always being careful to stay out of the way of workers, but apparently those days are over.

As usual there was a steady mix of small fish—different types of rockfish, small cabezon, and one lone greenling.

Brown rockfish

Kelp greenling

A baby cabezon

Interestingly, every few minutes the water would turn almost black and huge shoals of anchovies would barrel their way through the water. Eventually I decided to Sabiki-up a few for fresh bait (or live bait) and pulled in a few. Surprisingly, on the last cast I was intending to make, something looked a little different and it turned out to be a small Pacific mackerel. It was the first of the species I had caught north of San Francisco (though I had seen one the prior year at the Trinidad Kids Derby). I’ve caught them from California’s southernmost pier, the Imperial Beach Pier that sits almost next to the Mexican border, and now at Citizens Dock, roughly 20 miles from the Oregon border.

It was a juvenile mackerel, and pretty small, but it was still a mackerel

Two hours of fishing produced 12 northern anchovies, 6 cabezon, 5 copper rockfish, 3 blue rockfish, 2 brown rockfish, 1 kelp greenling and 1 Pacific mackerel but after two hours the wind had come up and made it nearly impossible to fish. We decided to call it quits, break for a rest, and then head over to the Chart House Restaurant for an early dinner. Hopefully the wind would die down and we could then proceed over to the “B” Street Pier for some night-time fishing. We wanted to see if there were any sharks, rays or skates. But it was not to be. Our dinner was delicious but upon exiting the restaurant we found the wind to be a howling and it obviously would be too windy to fish. Rich headed back to his motel room while I headed over to the pier to take a few late afternoon pictures.

Looking down the Crescent City beach near the restaurant

The “B” Street Pier

I decided to walk out on the jetty to take some pictures of the pier from different angles — but I was careful to watch the waves and where I was walking

The winds didn’t decrease. In fact, they increased to 40-50 miles per hour with occasional gusts topping 60 miles per hour. The Battery Point Lighthouse sits seaward near the entrance to the jetty and is accessible during low tide. This night the wind-churned waves attacked the shore and made access impossible. Then, while walking back on the jetty the winds grabbed and carried away my favorite hat. It was futile to even consider going fishing in such conditions. No, as the sun gently dove into the sea I knew it was time to head back to my motel.

The sharks and rays would have to wait for another night.

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