21st February

Social Herring Fishing

Stephen, and his first ever UK sea fish

Took advantage of the current glut of herring to get some new blood into the sport. A friend of mine, Stephen, had shown interest in checking out the fishing when there were fish to be caught. Normally that would be mid April, but with the herring running thick at the moment, what better time to introduce new blood to our amazing sport. And he had a ball, catching a good few of the silver sparklers. Stephens girlfriend was unable to join us at the last minute, but my wife Radka was keen to give it a go.

Radka, with a herring

And, of course, she landed the biggest one of the day. As a result of publishing this day on a forum, the question was raised as to wether the small fish are spratt or immature herring. It is an important point, as there is a minimum landing size, enforced by law and backed up with heavy fines, for taking a fish below the minimum size limit, even for the casual angler. I, and many others, now suspect that they are immature herring, and as such, I will be carrying the measuring stick on furture herring forrays. The MLS is 20cm's, or 8 inches.