Herring Techniques

With springer season just kicking off, it's a good time to work on your herring skills.  If you're looking for some black belt training in using herring for bait, pick up a copy of the "Successful Plug Cutting Techniques" DVD by Phil Pirone.
Phil is the owner of Pro-Cure and while he's obviously pitching his products throughout, the information he shares is invaluable, regardless of what products you're using.

I had the pleasure of meeting Phil at a Fall Chinook seminar I gave last year.  At the end of the seminar, he shared some of the secrets from this DVD with the attendees and I found it immediately useful (as in, it put salmon in my kayak the very next weekend). 

The topics he covers are:
Selecting herring
Dry brining, Wet brining
Adding colors, UV and brighteners
Tying mooching rigs
Hook Placement (Single, Double, Triple and treble)
Multiple ways to change roll
and lots more...

The DVD is available at Amazon or in most local tackle shops.       

-Spot-

He has some good clips on YouTube too.
T2

I bought the book and DVD at the Sportsmans Show this year.  Best $25 I've spend it a long time.  The book is good, but the videos of the bait in action, in the water, show you exactly what the rigging and roll should look like, otherwise, you aren't fishing.

I know people who swear a herring had to "roll".  I know people who say the herring has to "spin" not roll.  One of the fishiest people it know, purposely rigs bait so it neither rolls or spins.  They ALL hammer fish. 

I rig my herring so it spins.  But that's because it's easy and I don't need a helmet.

I will say if you cut plug herring, save the heads.  When fish are aggressive, especially the cohos, you can rig the head by running the hook as close as possible through the snout sideways, then turning and burying the hook through the head or back of the gill plate on the other side.  It causes the head to spin like a spinner.  Often out fishes the whole herring.  Works great mooching as well.

The vid.