What size herring do you "pro" moochers like to use, and I am talking about fishing for 4 salt chinook or better in a marine setting like Alaska or where ever there is a legal opportunity. I have been using green label the past few years but am thinking of moving up to blue label. What say you?

Depends 100% on the area you fish. I have places I fish the smallest herring I can find for kings and a place in BC that I fish the largest I can find. I always find it at local bait shops and almost never use frozen if at all possible.

For really big Chinook in the ocean, I run black label four to a pack herring. These are the biggest I can find. Two years ago my son got a 43# king on my boat and it had 11" Sardines in its belly. so we switched to huge bait and sardine scent. We got a lot of huge kings that year.

When fresh is available I go with that, if not then I alway's go with half green half blue label in a herring brine.I tend to like the blue label size over the rest.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

TK,

Now you tell us! Use fresh, not frozen? And my friend and I are left with the better part of a case of frozen blue label we bought for springer fishing on the LCR, which closed after we fished only 3 days. I suppose they'll work OK for dogfish here in Puget Sound, tho (which I wasn't really planning to fish for).

Salmo g.

Try fresh herring whatever the size is for that time of year. If it's large kings you want, catch and release the small fish.

I used to use fresh herring almost exclusively. I have been using frozen more and more as of late. The fresh I buy at Pt. Defiance boathouse don't have many scales when you get them and sure don't stay on very long, and you don't have the same control over the size as you do with frozen. No matter if it's fresh or frozen it get brined,I love the way it toughens the bait, it also seems to help keep the scales on.

As for size, green is the smallest I would buy. They can always be made to appear smaller.
And I always use larger sizes in estuarys. I also like the Idea of black in the ocean, (mentioned earlier) the extra flash and visisability of large herring should not be discounted in brackish or big water.

I like to check the stomach contents of the catch in the area.
This is what a CR springer eats in tidewater:


Blue label size herring and anchovies.

Salmo,

I use frozen if I cannot find fresh. Frozen work fine for trolling. For long trips away from a source of fresh or frozen I brine them.

Salmo,

The mid-April fish ,with the above stomach contents, was hooked on frozen bait rigged with a tight roll on 5/0 hooks.


Fishinnut,

Yup, late in the season out of Westport they like big baits.