Herring Hunters
Pardise Pier, in anticipation of a herring spawn.
Story/Photos/Videos by Marc Owerfeldt

January is herring season in the San Francisco Bay. Last year was a dud. I hadn't netted any herring since 2019 but this year it was herring mayhem all over again.


Posted on January 15, 2021

Koji tipped me off: "They're here. I'm at Paradise, there's only a few other folks, and they're running. It's thick!". Oh man, I was working on a new software module this Friday morning and didn't feel like moving away from my computer. But wait, last year I didn't get any herring at all and it was time to load up on bait again. And let's not forget about pickled herring either, one of my favorite foods on planet earth. I scrambled, threw my gear into a car too nice to be bloodied up with fish guts, and raced over to Paradise.

It took me just 90 minutes to get to the pier which is rather inconveniently located on the opposite side of the bay. Luckily no speeding tickets, it was a fast ride! The word was out but there still weren't a lot of people around. Koji had filled his buckets by the time I arrived and left. I started throwing and immediately got into herring. 3 out of 4 nets were good pulls, the fourth typically came up empty. I realized that I had to switch spots after 3 casts and wait a few minutes for the old spot to fill in again. I fished at a frenetic pace.

Hard at work right next to me was a guy by the name of Benson. "Hurry up, they're coming (not herring but people), soon all of San Francisco will be here!". Benson was practically a local and quite surprised how I got here all the way from the Central Valley. Benson was super welcoming, offered drinks and a wider bucket to empty my net without spill-overs.

I worked up a genuine sweat and filled out my 10 gallon limit (about 500-600 herring) in what seemed to be not much more than 30 minutes. It was time to haul the catch up the steep path towards the parking lot; not an easy task. Benson came to the rescue and gave me his dolly. How awesome was that? As I found out, even with a dolly it still is back breaking-work. Fortunately, I only do it once a year - if that.

While herring fishing can be fast & furious, herring cleaning is a long and arduous task. I tried to flash freeze as many as I could immediately after I came home. The full cleanup, however, played out over the next three days. Pre-freezing, vacuum sealing and prepping bait fish for the season takes a good amount of time. So does pickling.

Strategy talk with Eddie #2 and Koji.
Throwing a cast net.
The calm before the storm.

The bounty.
Eddie #1 laying out his man-sized net.
Beautiful little fish.

Pre-freezing bait herring.
Brining herring.
Herring filets.

Freezer loaded to the brim.
Pickled herring.
Viking lunch.

The astute reader may have noticed that some pictures don't fully align with the story told. Indeed, I went to Paradise twice this January. On January 10, my first trip, I scored just two dozen herring at the end of a longer wait, only a few scouts were coming in, the main school stayed out of range. On January 15, when the spawn was full-on and we all loaded up our coolers, I didn't have time for photography. Herring fever is not that different from salmon fever, it is a terrible disease!

     and now for something completely different
haiku alert to the right -->

herring is running
my bucket is almost full
time to crack a beer

    *) Picture #0252 by Koji