Dip Netting Pacific Herring Stranded at High Tide in a Shrinking Pool on Crescent Beach in British Columbia. The Herring Spawn in the spring months, usually in March around the full moon. Massive amounts come in close to shore looking for spawning areas. Some of the adults at times get stranded in pools at the very large high tides during the full moon. These pools often shrink as the tide goes down and the water drains off the beach and into the sand. The fish are easily picked off by gulls and animals.
Usually there will be some that even die due to dropping water levels, water temperature rising and depletion of oxygen levels in the water. Since the fate of these fish is not well known and collecting them with a valid Tidal Water fishing license is legal, I say go for it. I believe there are many legal ways to catch these Herring. You can dip net, throw net, use a rod with a sabiki rig. In this pool the fish were spooked and it was shallow, so there was not way to catch them on hook and line. That works much better off piers or boats.
My colleague called me at work after he saw the fish stranded in this pool earlier in the day. He said that they were getting eaten by seagulls until they were too stuffed to eat any more. He went home and grabbed a net and was able to catch some for Chinook Salmon fishing Bait.
He told me where the spot was and I headed home after work, grabbed the family and headed to the beach. The days are still short in early march and the light was fading as soon as we arrived to the beach. So the video isn't that great, but we were able to see the schools of herring swimming around. I scooped up net after net and filled a bucket for eating and bait. The eggs from the females area excellent eating as well. I fried some of the herring up as well. Vacuum packed the rest and used it for halibut, salmon, and northern pike bait for a few year to follow this little event.
You can see my kids had fun even though it was cold. They were even able to grab a few that were stranded in shallow water.
The ocean is an amazing resource and the life that it supports is incredible. Take care of our oceans and they will continue to take care of us.
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