With the New Ban on River Herring what is your top lure for stripers?

[fisher16]

With the New Ban on River Herring what is your top lure for stripers?

Here are a couple of my favorite that produce,
Mambo Minnows, Tube and Worm, Knucklehead, Finese Fish with a lead head,

[JayW]

I second Mambo Minnows along with Gags Slammers, Bombers, and sluggos.
I imagine you can still buy frozen herring to use if you want to go chunking but its not the same as live.

[theothereric]

x2 on the slammers black and purple

[fisher16]

The frozen herring aren't the same but occansionally they will take one. I've had more luck trolling the mambo minnows at night than with frozen herring. I sure there are some people upset with this new regulation, but hopefully it will help the population in the long run. Its going to be a wait and see.

[JayW]

The bubble gum colored Houdini Shad which came out last year work pretty good too. You can take off a part of the tail and modify it to your use.

[Bill S]

I agree with the other listed lures for stripers, but on the herring ( frozen or otherwise), I would check regs.. I think that if you get caught with herring you are going to have problems. I don;t think that an Econ officer is going to listen to a story on how you caught the herring last year and froze it. The ban will help, but I think we will see a bunch out there that will still use them for bait.

[arlow]

Dont forget topwaters. I use a small, 4", atom popper.

I don't think the new regs will help the herring very much at all. Compared to the amount of herring the stripers eat, the amount taken by fishermen pales in comparison.

[big big rdg]

I thought the ban was only on River Herring?? You can still use "Fresh" herring (not river herring) correct?Question1 Anyone know?

[fisher16]

Three-Year River Herring Moratorium on Harvest, Possession, & Sale (322 CMR 6.17):

In response to recent drastic declines of many river herring spawning runs, the harvest, possession or sale of river herring in the Commonwealth or in the waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth by any person is prohibited through 2008. To accommodate the bait harvesting fisheries, the MFAC approved a slight tolerance (up to 5%, by count, of a batch of fish may be comprised of river herring species).

[roncarr]

I know IM stupid but in english what does that mean that those dam net boats can have 5% herring in there nets its there falt this is like this mid water trawlersMachineGun MachineGun MachineGun MachineGun MachineGun MachineGun MachineGun MachineGun MachineGun MachineGun MachineGun MachineGun MachineGun Swear1 Swear1 Swear1 Swear1 Swear1 Swear1 Swear1 Swear1 Mad1 Mad1 Mad1 Mad1 Mad1 Mad1 Mad1 Mad1 Mad1 Mad1 Mad1

[fisher16]

yup Bash1 Smashhead

[Bob D]

Don't forget those big Storm Wildeye shad. They work great in deep water and current.

[Muskie Matt]

Atlantic Herring are still legal (frozen) but I still love top water!

[sunchaser]

It means that blueback herring can't be used for bait. The herring that the bait shops sell is Atlantic herring, two different fish. The Atlantic herring is legal to use. Another great bait is live xlarge shiners. Thats my bait of choice for this year. The other bait that may sound strang to you is crayfish. Last year the few fish I did keep for the dinner table had loads of crayfish in their stomach. These are bass, and they do eat what bass eat.

[fisher16]

Speaking of crayfish, I have seen one pound lobsters in the stomach of some stripers that have been caught in LIS. I also hear that Dace work well on stripers. Have yet to try them.

[noresman]

Fisher, I know where i can catch a bunch of dace and crawfish. If you want to try them for bait let me know. My weekends are going to be pretty shot for a while (I'm remodeling my sisters house) but I'm home from work by 3:00 pm and can be at the Chicopee launch by 4:15 - 4:30 pretty much any day.

[fisher16]

Noresman I keep that you in mind in the coming weeks. My weekends are always shot. Only get to fish Monday and Tuesdays most of the time. But when its hot I'll play hooky from work by taking a comp day, vacation day to catch a couple.

[ZIPPY]

Ocean herring are fine.. as far as last years frozen river herring are a no no you can't be in possession of river herring.

[sunchaser]

Just left Fish-On in Holyoke. He has a posting of the herring regs which has pictures and decriptions of the different herring. The posting also has the American Shad which can be used for bait. Mass division of Marine fisheries has the info.