Day Time Herring
The spring herring run heralds the start of the fishing season. Herring arrive in the spring to migrate into the fresh water to create the next yearling fry. The mass of herring is followed by stripers feeding on them on their way northward to the spawning waters.
Over the years I developed both a daytime and nighttime version of herring. Having both is key to fishing the run in the spring. During the tides most herring hold back before getting onto the ladder until it’s near full tide. The water level makes the ladder more accessible to the fish. Nighttime flies are suited for high tides at night. Daytime herring have features that make it “stand-out” in the school of herring. The color scheme allows the daytime her- ring not only to mimic the colors but have the attractiveness to lure the striper to feed. The daytime herring pattern must stand out against all the other herring. Not only are the colors crucial, but size replication is also key to get- ting hook ups. Another technique is to use a larger pattern and make the fly appear to be injured or slow moving.
Typically, the larger older, 5-year-old alewife herring making their last spawning run move slower. Most die during or shortly after spawning season in freshwater. Also, the Atlantic herring, the pelagic family of herring can live up to 20 years and spawn in 50-150 feet of saltwater from Nova scotia to Gulf of Maine from March to June. River blue back herring and alewives are important to the ecosystem of the rivers and coastal estuaries.
If you’re planning on fishing the herring runs along the coast of New England in the spring you Can’t go wrong with a flatwing herring pattern.