I never plug cut mine first anymore - tried it a couple of times and they simply don't work, probably because they lose that fresh scent and also because they crush when you vappac them and don't spin properly.

I should have made it more obvious that what I am preserving is SPAWNING herring. Like salmon or steelhead, spawners quit eating, likely because they can't as their belly cavity is too full of eggs and sperm and their stomach shrinks to compensate. Therefore they are already "starved". You all are right, freezing feeder herring or anchovies (which I've also tried) doesn't work as they belly burn, but freezing spawners certainly does. I've even got herring left from 2001 that I just thawed out and used down at B10, 3 hooked, 2 to the boat, 8 lb marked silver and 24 pound hen king. Yeah man, they work