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Full herring guide
How to spot it, where it lives, how it is caught and how to cook it — the complete guide, in one easy read.
Herring never travels alone. Find one and you have found a few thousand, sweeping the coast in shoals that scatter the light like loose change spilled across the surface. It is an oily fish with proper backbone on the plate, the sort our grandparents ate by the barrelful, and it will hang itself on a string of feathers without much persuasion. For all its history, it remains one of the most rewarding fish you can land from the shore.
How to spot it
Picture a compact, streamlined fish with flanks and belly of clean silver and a back washed greeny-blue, the head and gills running noticeably darker. What settles it is the scaling. Herring carry large, loosely-set scales that come away at the lightest touch and leave your fingers glittering, so a fish that has already shed half its silver onto the deck is almost always a herring. Most run 20-30cm. Put that size together with the silver-and-blue colouring and those shedding scales and you can pick it out from the other small shoaling fish that turn up on the same rig.
Where it lives
Herring crowd the whole of our coast and they are rarely solitary, shoaling in their thousands wherever the water runs thick with plankton. Their timetable is worth learning. After dark they lift towards the surface to feed, then sink back into deeper water as the light builds through the day, so where the shoal sits depends on the hour you fish. The shore angler's window opens in the warmer months, roughly June to September, when the fish push in close enough to reach from the rocks and piers.
Catching it
Forget bait for herring; a rig of small bright feathers does the job far better. Cast a herring rig out, count it down through the water, and keep changing the depth until you connect, because the shoal might be hard on the surface or four fathoms under it. Once you find the level, stay on it. The feeding clock favours an evening or night session, since that is when the fish rise to hunt. From the shore, pick marks that drop quickly into deeper water. As for what you keep: herring stocks have been hammered before and only recovered through careful management, so take a handful for the table, slip the rest back, and leave the shoal to thicken for the next tide.
In the kitchen
This is a fish that wants boldness, not restraint. Start by getting it on the day it lands; that oily flesh turns fast. For a quick supper, grill it hard with a fistful of coarse salt so the skin blisters and the oil renders. But herring really earns its place in the larder once you cure it. Bone and fillet the fish, roll each one around a sliver of raw onion, then steep them in vinegar spiced with peppercorns, bay and a little sugar for a week: that is a rollmop, sharp and bracing and good for a fortnight in the fridge. Smoking is the other classic, turning herring into kippers that need nothing but a hot pan and a poached egg.
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FAQs
Quick fish questions
Short answers for the questions families and coastal readers often ask first.
Is herring good for you?
It is one of the best things you can eat from the sea. Herring is an oily fish, which means it is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids that support heart and brain health, alongside protein, vitamin D and B12. Its oiliness also makes it hard to overcook.
When is the best time to catch herring in the UK?
The shore window runs through the warmer months, roughly June to September, when shoals push in close. Herring rise to feed after dark and drop deeper by day, so an evening or night session will usually out-fish the middle of the day.
How do you make rollmops?
Fillet and bone the herring, roll each fillet around a sliver of raw onion, then pack them into vinegar spiced with peppercorns, bay and a pinch of sugar. Leave them a week before eating. They keep around a fortnight and only sharpen with age.
Is herring sustainable?
It can be, with care. North Sea herring stocks collapsed in the 1970s and recovered only through strict quotas, so check the fish you buy carries MSC certification or comes from a well-managed fishery. If you are catching your own, take a few and return the rest.
Where can I buy fresh herring?
A good fishmonger will have it through the summer, though it sells fast. Buy it whole or filleted while the shoals are in, ready for the grill or for curing into rollmops at home, and look for bright, firm, glossy fish.
What bait do you use for herring?
Honestly, forget bait. Herring come to a herring rig, a string of small bright feathers worked through the shoal to mimic a scatter of fleeing baitfish. Count it down to find the feeding depth, then stay on that level once you connect.