On the last trip to the cabin the Herring were plentiful but the spinners I had we just a bit too large for them to hook up well. They'd hit and one hook might find meat but it would just pull out. Normally I'd have a couple spinners with heavy bodies for casting but with smaller blades and hooks, but apparently I'd lost all of them. Lake Trout love the spinners and also love to snap lines..
When we returned home I took a morning and made up some spinners pretty much dedicated to Herring but still capable of handling a Lake Trout or a Salmon.
These are made using everything Do-It but the clevises and blade tape and the red plastic beads. Herring love flash. They love gold and orange. So these cater to them. While Herring are primarily bug feeders they will certainly chow down on a minnow of the right size and the length of these spinners fits that size range wonderfully.
The #3 French blades got the lure tape on both sides. The segmented bodies got a dip in fire red powder paint on the large segment end. They were assembled by slipping the red bead on the wire then the body followed by a 7/32 solid brass bead then a 1/8 solid brass bead. The blade was hung on a folded clevis and slipped down on the shaft and followed by another 1/8" bead. Then the tie on loop was formed using a round nosed jeweler's plier and the excess wire snipped tight to the shaft. These five took less than a half hour.
On light line, 6 pound mono, I can wing one of these spinners maybe 100 feet. Leave the bail open and let the spinner free fall for a 15 count and retrieve at a moderately slow rate and if there's a Herring around, hang on. Herring tend to school and at times schools of maybe 100 can be seen slowly working along at about 12-15 feet. They're easy to recognize by the bright red looking lateral line under a dark green back. Retrieving a spinner thru a school will most often result in several followers and a couple taking swipes at the bait. Hooked up they fight like a salmon, just not as long. In the net the bright lateral line is done....the red line while in the water is a reflection off the fat layer under the skin. They're a nice silver fish with a smallish, soft mouth.
All along the North Shore of Lake Superior restaurants offer fresh, batter-fried Herring a local delicacy and for good reason. On the plate they'll put walleye to shame. Another local treat is a fish boil where Herring is usually the featured fish. A fish boil is something that a person has to try at least once, from start to finish. Its a pretty interesting process/show.
