Got to see herring (Alewife) spawning runs on cape cod

[schreckstoff]

pics are from Brewster Mass. It was awesome to see how many people were visiting to just watch the herring run upstream. Super cool old fish ladders.

[Gill-T]

After you just completed your alewife trawls, aren’t you sick of staring at herring??  

[jk1]

Bring a fishing rod with 20 pound test, I used to live there for a year and the stripers will follow and they fight good too.    Right from the rocks you can get 20pound fish easily.  Not fussy about lures or bait and they are delicious fish, you will see them swirl, cast to the fish.  Of course that was 40 or more years ago.  But if you have bait like that something is there to eat it.......jk

[Gill-T]

I think I saw this property featured on a show about herring. I think it was a Wildfed episode. 

Edited April 30 by Gill-T

[TyeeTanic]

Mmmmmm .... reminds me of pickled herring. First time I had that, I knew what I've been missing all my life.

[rolmops]

They sell the herring by the scoop. You can stand in line with your bucket. As for the stripers, it is still  bit early . Besides with the compliments of the Virginia commercial catfood fishery industry the stripers have become scarce. Virginia allows the catfood fleet to destroy the baitfish  off their coast.

Edited April 30 by rolmops

[Scalloper 1]

They are running thick here right now in the East Machias, Dennysville River, as well as a dozen others. Some areas are black with alewives.

[chowder]

On 4/30/2024 at 10:48 AM, TyeeTanic said:

Mmmmmm .... reminds me of pickled herring. First time I had that, I knew what I've been missing all my life.

I eat it every morning. We used to fish the Hudson out of Kingston In May. First we’d use Sabiki rigs on ultralights to catch Herring up in the Cree and then use them to target stripers in the main stem. If a herring kicked the bucket we used it for cut bait or, often enough, they went home to get filleted and pickled 

[Scalloper 1]

River herring aka alewives, have a completely different flavor then sea herring. Sea herring are full of fat and are far better eating.

[TyeeTanic]

2 hours ago, Scalloper 1 said:

River herring aka alewives, have a completely different flavor then sea herring. Sea herring are full of fat and are far better eating.

ooooooh this is the alewive run?? So freshwater to freshwater.

[Scalloper 1]

3 hours ago, TyeeTanic said:

ooooooh this is the alewive run?? So freshwater to freshwater.

No, saltwater to freshwater to spawn.