So I have been having some success this year with sabiki rigs in MA9 for herring and anchovies. It works but is not super efficient. I have been trying with a dipnet with zero success. Clearly there is a lot I don't understand about the technique. Would anyone be able to share some wisdom starting with specifics about the net. I have a feeling mine might have holes that are too small, causing too much drag. I've been having trouble sourcing one with bigger holes. The regs say 5/8" is the maximum. I assume castnets are prohibited because of their efficiency.

Thanks for any insight.

The guy I know who has a commercial herring license for dip netting works out of an open aluminum skiff. Since I can't be on the boat with him and haven't hung around long enough to watch him at work I will opine that he waits and watches until a herring ball is pushed to the surface and then moves in to dip. I suspect stealth in approach is important to not scare off whatever is pushing the herring to the surface.

As to cast nets......still illegal inside - probably as you suggest due to efficiency against the daily limit.

only luck I have had with a dip net is huge summer schools balled up tight. like jumping out of the water tight, only in this mass hysteria can you motor close enough for them to not run away in MY experience. in open water they simply dive faster than you can move the net. I haven't seen a ball that tight since the early ninety's. In the 80's we dipped spawners in the spring/winter, Elliot bay under the restaurant in the AM. but that was from the bank so they couldn't dive.

As for the jigs' I was very successful till about 2010 (last time I really worked at it.) by trolling the rip lines at Possession using the jig on a trout pole casting ahead of the boat and reeling in fast. did that at Point no Point also sometimes.
other than that there are many beach and pier locations that you can jig them up in the winter when you are not steelheading. cash and carry sells trays, and a vacuum packer... and frozen bait. a good deep freeze set really cold and they are usually OK if used that summer. I always brine'd with powdered milk and saltwater, as they were thawing.

thats about all I got on the subject. anyone else?

To add a bit more to what I've been doing...

I have as you mentioned found the herring to be very boat shy. I look for a bird event, drive over to it and turn the boat off to drift into it. Then I can usually pull up a few before the scare off. If the balls are tighter which I interpret to them being attacked from above and below it can last a little longer.

Last Monday there was a massive "anchovy event" in Skunk Bay and there were birds everywhere. I tried the same technique and found that the anchovies would often come back to the boat after the initial scare. The water was shimmering with anchovies all over 3 or feet down. Then I was able to pull in one or two at a time. It seemed like you could almost grab them but all attempts with my dipnet turned up nothing. I think it was just pushing them away, hence my curiousness about the proper net.

My interests in these fish are culinary, rather than bait related. I am salt curing the anchovies I did get, but would like to be able to get more...

Google up 'boquerones'.... looks delicious.

Big fan! I'm a Chef by trade and am interested in seeing which classic anchovy preparations apply to herring as well...

Somewhat related.

Some time in the 60's, a bunch of us friends went to West Port on a salmon charter. One of the guys had brought along a can of kippered herring. When he went to sleep, I slipped in a herring out of my bait box.

The look on his face when he bit into it was priceless.