Hate to say it, but we covered this before. Herring scaled, split, salted and dried turns red. Keeps forever, so available for such wasteful practices as dragging on ground to divert the hound. I used to enjoy chomping small ones vigorously with lots of beer many long years ago.

Red Herring.

Drawing a red herring across the path. Trying to divert attention from the main question by
some side-issue. A red herring drawn across a fox’s path destroys the scent and sets the dogs at
fault.
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Neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring. Something insipid and not good eating. Neither one
thing nor another.