View Full Version : My "eel" gear......The rod story!


eelman
07-31-2001, 02:54 PM
Im sure many inovations have been made in rods,reels,etc.......

Im stubborn as they come and, Im very resistant to any "Change".I have always felt the old addage of,"If it aint broke, dont fix it" Held true in more ways than one!

For years I used a Abu-Garcia 7000. Not the abu 7000C,Not the "CS" Just a plain old red 7000 reel with bushings. I never needed all the toys,Like overhyped and foolish "bearings". I could cast my old red workhorse just as far as the guys using the bearing reel and, caught as many if not,more fish with it. Those bearings never could take the punishment of saltwater surffishing.The smallest amount of salt water entering those bearings and, you were out of buisness for the night.

Anyway, casting eels to stripers is not a "distance" contest,99% of all bass caught are within 20 feet of your cast and some are right at your feet!.More important than distance(and I have ALWAYS said this) Is that you retrieve your eel slow and make sure that eel is in the structure.


The rod I used for about ten years was a lamiglass 3M,10 foot white "spiral" blank.This rod was a behemouth!! I got tierd of the weight and swithed to a kenedy fisher 9 foot grahite,I still used the 7000 with 30lb big game and a shocker of about 6 foot of 50lb test. I hated this rod also.I really like a "slow" action rod,that bends from the tip to the butt! Thats what the lami did and thats what I got used too.Im not knocking the others but, Its what I got comfortable with.I could never find a graphite that simulated the action of the lami, so I went back to a lami 2m stick that I had some of the tip cut off to stifen it up.This rod was lighter and had the action I loved.I like to set the hook an a striper , extemely hard "break there necks" was my moto.So a slow action rod is more forgiving and Im sure that action has prevented me from breaking of the first 6 inches of the rod more than once(Although I have done that).

Im not a finese fisherman, never was, never will be! Eel fishing only needs to be done in the right place and at the right speed! I wanted to stick as many bass as I could because, I was selling the bass and the more I stuck and the faster I got them in the better.

I dont sell bass anymore and I dont apologize for selling all the bass I did so, pleas no arguments! Im just stating the reason I used the rods I did.


After my second "lami" I got a call from bob andrade.He said he found the perfect rod with the action I love in Graphite.It was the sabre 1088 plum colored rod.I was leary but had him make one up for me in 1994.Its still the rod I use today!! I was hard on rods and thought the graphite could not take the punishment I gave out.I was wrong, I set my hooks just as hard as I did with the lami and, no problems!! I absoulutly love the rod! I had a little over six inches cut from the tip so the rod as it is wrapped now is just about 8 and a half feet long.


I also tried the calcutta when it came out and liked the reel.I stoped selling bass and lighter was the way to go.I eventually settled on the penn as my reel of choice.The only reason was the drag, In my opinion, its the best drag out there,even when wet! To me drag is the most important part of your reel and can spell the difference,With a good drag, you can land a monster with thread!!

I now use 20lb bigame clear line.I use ande for my leaders in 40lb test.I hate hardware and never use it,I tie my leader to my main line using an albrite knot. I have never had this knot fail!! ever!! The eel hook I use is a mustad 94150 6/0 live bait hook.

This is the setup I have caught fish from 30lb toys all the way up to my 52lb fish.

I havent changed but im sure there are rods that are better than the old plum 1088.I just getso used to a rod that I cant give it up! Its like a favorite pair of shoes! Anyway thats my rod story.

East Tide
08-01-2001, 03:52 PM
Hey Ol' Man Nolan, Still got your grubby little mits on that Fisher??? I know a cowboy thats looked high and low on the range for one :) Hope your enjoying yourself Bill.
Take Care,
Dave

Sean
08-01-2001, 05:20 PM
#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&,
I'm curious as to why you never used a barrel swivel to connect the lines. Do they bother the bass?
Thanks,
Sean

JohnR
08-01-2001, 08:14 PM
Less Hardware is often better. Swivels tend to collect more weeds and debris. Fishing with a conventional reel, the line is pulled directly onto the reel whereas the eel will twist with spinning...

I do the same when I'm not tired and lazy (need to concentrate for a good knot after being up for 20 hours :o )

Patrick
08-02-2001, 04:42 AM
I use a swivel all the time. No matter what. I'm using a spinning reel. If I could get away without using one, I would.

Swivels do collect weeds if they are too big but if it's a dark night, you have to pay attention because you can reel it up too far and crack your tip top.

Another theory about swivels shared by a lot of people is that bluefish could see the swivel as a morsel of food and might just bite it and sever or weaken your line.

I'm not an expert but that's my opinion. If you can get away with it, go for it, but like John said, on spinning gear, you are better off with one.

Roccus
08-02-2001, 09:12 AM
Nice post, #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&...back in '73 I bought a glass rod that old man Bauknecht at Green Pond tackle built for me...it's 8' 9" and I'm so used to it now that I can't really get comfortable with the newer stuff, glass or graphite...I've got an old Mitchell 406 spinner along with a big, jumbo Mitchell 488 and I tape those on interchangeably depending on whether I'm casting or drifting eels. Both reels sound like like coffee grinders when I retrieve...they're as old & creaky as I am, but we get along together & they haven't failed me yet...I agree with the line-to-hook approach...any hardware I can skip, I do...and I fish way more often often without a mono shock leader than with one...won't use wire leaders, not even for blues...I find the mono usually slides between their teeth and if once in a while I get bitten off it's just the cost-of-doing-business...maybe it's just being lazy but it seems to me that every place an additional piece of hardware gets added on is just another spot likely to fail...
I sold my fish back in the late 70s and I know I could do OK if I went ahead & got a commercial hook & line license these days...but I know a little more now than I did then & I want my grandson to know what it's like to hook a striper. But I don't point fingers at guys who commercial fish these days...it's legal and some of those fellas are better able to feed their families because they fish...more power to them...I dunno, Bill...the older I get, the less I seem to know the answers...sure do seem like an awful lot of questions to struggle with, though...guess that's just life.