How to Site a Weir: A Long Time Ago
Back when I started building weirs, our eyes, ears and nose were our resources. Weirs needed to be in the right spot in order to catch the natural movement of herring. The rule of thumb is that herring move towards the shore on the flood tide in the evening (when the tide comes back in) and move offshore on the ebb tide or sunrise (when the tide moves back out). When I was a young boy I started building weir with my father and uncles, who had done the same with their families before. The first step in the weir fishery is siting a weir - that means finding a site where the herring are going to be.
A good site usually means that fish go in close to the shore in the evening (as we build weir on the shore) and then move in large schools, heading offshore on the ebb tide. The weir must be placed in their way, or natural movement, when the herring are in a panic to find the deep water due to tide's ebb and flow. A skilled ear can hear the herring moving along the surface of the water. The sound resembles a heavy rain. In the night you can see the fluorescence of the fish moving underwater, so bright you can read your watch by it. I swear to you, my nose can even smell them!
Finding the right kind of bottom is also necessary. The current must run the right way and usually you would want a large eddy above the weir site in order to let the herring thicken up over night. Ideally the bottom (ocean floor) would be the right depth (less then 60 feet of water), some current but not a huge amount (nothing over 3 knot), relatively level, and soft enough to drive most stakes. Years ago, before we had divers, we drug rocks along the bottom to feel for catches. We also had a 'sounding pole' which was a 30 foot long pole used to drive a six-foot rod into the ground to see if we could drive a stake. Nowadays, we just hire a diver to check out the bottom for us. They can tell if there's good driving or not. And if there's not we have to build a pier to take the place of stakes. I'll tell you about that later.
Over the years I've spent night after night drifting with the herring to observe their movements. It's still a thrill to me and a skill that I'm passing on to the next generations. I've even seen the herring jump into the boat with me, almost as if the boat is going to fill with herring, due to their panic. I've watched the whales and tuna fish swim through the schools and the herring roll off their back, they were so think. One time I even rowed into a whale sleeping.
A good site usually means that fish go in close to the shore in the evening (as we build weir on the shore) and then move in large schools, heading offshore on the ebb tide. The weir must be placed in their way, or natural movement, when the herring are in a panic to find the deep water due to tide's ebb and flow. A skilled ear can hear the herring moving along the surface of the water. The sound resembles a heavy rain. In the night you can see the fluorescence of the fish moving underwater, so bright you can read your watch by it. I swear to you, my nose can even smell them!
Finding the right kind of bottom is also necessary. The current must run the right way and usually you would want a large eddy above the weir site in order to let the herring thicken up over night. Ideally the bottom (ocean floor) would be the right depth (less then 60 feet of water), some current but not a huge amount (nothing over 3 knot), relatively level, and soft enough to drive most stakes. Years ago, before we had divers, we drug rocks along the bottom to feel for catches. We also had a 'sounding pole' which was a 30 foot long pole used to drive a six-foot rod into the ground to see if we could drive a stake. Nowadays, we just hire a diver to check out the bottom for us. They can tell if there's good driving or not. And if there's not we have to build a pier to take the place of stakes. I'll tell you about that later.
Over the years I've spent night after night drifting with the herring to observe their movements. It's still a thrill to me and a skill that I'm passing on to the next generations. I've even seen the herring jump into the boat with me, almost as if the boat is going to fill with herring, due to their panic. I've watched the whales and tuna fish swim through the schools and the herring roll off their back, they were so think. One time I even rowed into a whale sleeping.
How to Site a Weir: Now
I've seen many changes in the weir fishery over my years and you just know that you have to keep up with the changes. I bought my first fish finder (fathometer) in 1965. It works well but seems impersonal because you don't actually see or feel the fish. You just watch them on the screen. A fathometer translates schools of herring into colors that represent density. This sure saved us a lot of time and increased our catches greatly, and there was no more thumping your feet to scare the fish and make them 'fire' the water (use their fluorescence). Instead of rowing out to the weirs, we now use loud outboard motors to power our skiffs. However, one thing hasn't changed. We still have to turn the kill switch on the motors and row for hours once we get close, using the latest technology above water.
