Then it probably means that they weren’t around. Otherwise it should be one of the easiest fish to catch. Probably the most common rig would be  Float - burley cage – 0.5-1m line and hooks (small). They like prawns, squid and if you get small gang, you can use mullie as well.

as likc said - burley, burley burley.

once you have them burlied up they will grab just about anything.  We usually use just a bit of green tube, topped up with a bit of squid if they are being fussy.  The best bait for herring by far is wogs (maggots) - they just can't help themselves.

any rock groin will do.  Freo moles are usually as good as anywhere - try behind the cafe on the south mole

 Will do man

thanks for your help :)

I have done really well using a 10g Halco Twisty with a slow retrieve but still enogh to keep the lure working. The key is to burley up the spot you are fishing,

I doubt you have a boat, but if you do, they were EVERYWHERE over at Carnac Island on the weekend. The bay was covered in them.

herring are just not around at the moment..

In the 90's when I was fishing heavily and the Herring weren't biting at Hillary's I would dip the bait in this aniseed based liquid my step-father gave me and I would always end up with a couple to put in the pan. They must have been around because my bait got hit almost every time with that stuff on it.

I was checking out tackle in Kmart last week and you can still buy the stuff, but I can't remember what its called.

the last few times i have been out over the last 2 weeks i just havnt been able to get them..normally i just berly up and dont have a problem.but latly nothing..maybe i need to change my ways

 i went to mindarie on the groyne yesterday. burley burley burley woth no luck until all my burley finished :( haha

have been out north of ocean reef in a dinghy twice in 2 weeks,plenty of berly, for a few sandwhiting and a big flattie

They go crazy for live maggots if you can get your hands on some, and burley with some oil.

go to your local fish and chip shop and ask them for the crispy bits and old oil that comes from the fryers, works a treat brings everything in for miles.

 Gday Zikoux,

Go to Woolworths, Coles etc... buy some tins of cat food (the fish variety) the cheaps ones do (shop brand) before you set up, open a tin up dice it up in the tin with a knife and throw the stuff (not the tin) out into the water. I normally do two to start with and I never fish with out the stuff now. I also buy a bag of pollard from City Farmers and mix it with some fish oil (any) & water to get a nice mix to stay on a burley cage and I also use bait chasers from Kmart (3 hooks) with either a burley cage sinker/burley cage and some coral prawns. Never fails. The cat food is dynamite. 

 P.S. 

Nice fish from E-Shed, I myself landed a 19kg croaker from the same spot about 5yrs ago after the winter rains. Keep up the good fishin. 

whatever you do dont try get your own maggots! i tried this not long ago. i burried fish guts out the back in news paper, left it for 4 days and sure i got hundreds of hugeeee maggots but shit! i have never smelt anything more horrible in my life. it was making me gag non stop

You just start them on fish, but you grow them on bran. Doesn't smell then.

After the fly's blow on the heads you hang them or place them on mesh above the pollard.

They drop down into the pollard and fatten and clean them selves.

Put into a container and into the fridge. Will stay good for about 3 months.

Take out of fridge and they start to move an wriggle again. Best herring and gardie bait ever..

Plenty of hezza's around, just not taking the usual baits at the mo.

A well worked soft plastic on the other hand...been getting them the last few nights down Rocko way no probs.

Think its their primal instinct, just can't get out of the habit of chasing down and chomping a fleeing baitfish, but offer em up a stationary bait...just not interested right now.

Must be the spawning thing.

just got back from a boat outing..seems the herring are back on the bite again..got a good feed..

 seems thers plagues of them out near the islands in cockburn sound but scarce along the coast. They were smashing richter plugs yesterday

are they full of eggs yet guys?

I release all of mine, just in it for the fun so unsure on the eggs fishnut, but have noticed when spawning the males tend to leave a bit of white slop down the old shirt...not having that problem right now tho.

Maybe this weather/warm water is holding the spawning off a touch?

Herring are back on the bite!

caught 8 last night, but came home with 5 (used other 3 as live bait!)

With all the mulloway and shark fishing I've been doing lately I haven't had a problem getting plenty of herring to use as bait. I alway use mulie as bait for them and if they won't eat little pieces they normally go a whole mulie with a small treble at the end haven't even needed to use berley in a long time and the ones I've got aren't spawning yet no eggs just healthy little fish.

Easy as pie. Hang a fish frame some distance away from the house (and the neighbours), put a bucket underneath with pollard. The flies blow it and the maggots drop off. With the warm weather the frame actually doesnt pong that badly after a couple of days as it sort off dehydrate. When you wrap it up in anything it forms a lethal broth and I aint ever picking maggots out of that mess.

Havent tried wogs up here in Kcity on the whiting, but just perhaps might give it a go. Feel like some nice fat whiting for a change.

Neels

If there hard on the bite a polard and tuna oil slick is gangbusters. Keep a small container with some in reserve and dip whitebait in it.

Always works for me

You might want to try ASI groyne, cleaned up on herring there a couple of weeks ago. We were fishing about halfway down the northern most groyne on the oceanside.

Took about half an hour of berleying up to get them to come on the bite, but once they came on, we kept em around for ages. Just remember with using berley that you want to release a little berley into the water frequently, rather than dumping in a lot at a time sporadically.

Also, I know alot of people target them with floats, burley floats, burley cages etc, but my fave rig is a little bream rod with an unweighted size 4 Gamakatsu Shiner (possibly with a little split shot for casting distance and a chem-light stick so you can see what you are doing). When the herring respond to the berley and are on the bite, I find they smash small pieces of pillies/bluebait/scalies/slimeys etc pretty much as soon as it hits the water, you dont usually need to cast more than 10-15m. If you can use this rig successfully, I find it much less clumsy than having all those extra bits and pieces hanging off everywhere and a bit more fun/sporting if you're fishing light gear. One word of caution though, often you'll get runs of chopper tailor and pike come through, and whilst fishing a single hook you are fairly likely to get bitten off a few times.

Once they are on the bite try to remember to keep the berley cranking (a little at a time of course) and you'll find you can keep the school around for hours.

Best times at ASI that I've found were late night and earrrrrly early morning.

Hope you hook up!

P.S. Have tried North and South Moles for herring several times lately and they still don't seem to be around...

Herring are the easiest fish to catch just until you want a livebait at which point they mysteriously become more elusive than mulloway.

Make sure that you have decent hooks, the cheap ones seem fine but they don't stay sharp and very quickly you notice the number of successful hook ups you get drops dramatically.

If you're not doing so already, fish with light gear. Some of the rods that I have seen people using for herring are unbelievable, they don't understand how their hooks keep coming back in with no bait on but the hook probably has time to rust out of the fish's mouth before they realise they've had a bite.