Every angler loves to think that he or she has it all figured out when it comes to predicting just how long the Pacific herring run will last in Crescent City Harbor. So it's hard to believe that the herring run is already a done deal when it just barely got started.

"They just went away," said Loren Taylor of Englund Marine Supply in Crescent City on Wednesday, as a cold front was pummeling the northern California and southern Oregon coastline. "They just spawned out and left."

But the jury's still out on that one.

Frank Galusha, former owner of the famed www.myoutdoorbuddy.com fishing website decided to make the 6-hour drive from his home base in Shasta Lake, California and tripped the baitfish fantastic with a friend on Monday. He brought home with him several hundred of the baitfish which he plans on eating and using for bait.

"We found our herring just outside the harbor where birds were gathering," said Galusha, who caught almost all of his fish on sabiki rigs. "But the guy fishing right next to me caught half a bucketful of herring on just one cast of his throw net," he said.

Galusha said that many of the baitfish, when cut open, looked like they had not yet spawned. So there is a slight possibility that a second wave of fish could be hitting the harbor.

Of note, there is no limit on Pacific herring in California and you do need a California fishing license in order to fish for them.

Larry Ellis, author, writer, columnist and photographer has had a 50-year passion for fishing in California and Oregon's saltwater and freshwater venues. He is a well-known writer for Oregon, Washington and California Fishing and Hunting News, Northwest Sportsman, California Sportsman and Pacific Coast Sportfishing. He currently writes monthly for Salmon Trout Steelheader Magazine, and is the author of two books, "Plug Fishing for Salmon" and "Buoy 10, the World's Largest Salmon Run."  Both books can be bought from Amato Publications (amatobooks.com), Amazon and eBay. Ellis particularly loves living in his hometown of Brookings, Oregon - The heart of salmon country and gateway to fishing paradise.