okguys and girls i had a few people ask me to tell the how i made my ell traps here it is all you need is 3 5gal bucketts wire screen rubber strips wire to tie the nesh 2 eye bolts and rope .first take 1 bucket cut the bottom outabout 6 inch from bottom is good . thencut the top part of the buckett out . cut it at the second rib down.now make sure they fit in side the other bucketts they should slide right in. now take the 2 whole bucketts and drill5/8 inch wholes start 1 inch from bottom. then cut out bottoms.cut right on circles. then take screen lay it over bottom of buck. you want to make a cone shape leading into the buck.with about a 11/2 in whole at the end.now take the rubber place it over the screen on the edge of the bucket.(this is to keep the wire from going threw the screen).now drill some small wholes just above rubber this is so you can tie the screen down.after you drill the wholes take the spool of wire and start weaving the screen on to the bucket.make sure its tight..repeat on other bucket. now take the 1st bucket you cut. slide the bigger end in to one bucket untill the last rib . now screw these two buckets togetherscrew right under the rib.once screwed take the other bucket slide on to the end now when you look at it .you should have screen on both ends that are cone shaped in words . now take the eye hooks screw one were the handles used to be .on one bucket. then put the other one on the other buck(this is so you can put a bungy cord to keep the buckets together.now tie a 2ft peice of rope from one eye to the other. then find the middle of that rope and tie your main line i use 50 ft of rope .all depends were your eeling when you open the buckets tie a small nesh bag in side to put your bait in. good luck its realy not that hard to do. any one who wants help i will help out just let me know

OK now where to find eels. Where's Fish-Eye when you need him. I was fishing in Charlestown pond last June and as we drifted over rocky bottom I looked down and saw LOTS of 3 to 4 foot eels. We went over at least 100 of them and when the bottom changed to sand, no more eels. Are these the same species of eels that we use for bait?

yep///////////////////////////////////////

chubs
Thanks for the post. Couple of questions. Do you weigh down your buckets? Have you found a bait that works better than an another? back to scothes question where do you place the traps jettys,rock piles,the grasses. question for anyone that might know do you need specific licencing? also how long do you leave them out.. and what time of the day do you find that the eels are more activly feeding. I guess the real question is what time of day have you found most productive to catch eels.

Thanks

Chubbs;

Cool Post! Thanks! Can you post a pic of one?

Thanks!
johnny

thanks for the info... a pic would be great.

Thanks for the help on this cubsdad. With this rig if someone takes it I will not have lost much. Now to find a house that is being sheetrocked so I can get the buckets.:)

I'M BACK... and here is a close up look at an eel in a fish trap.

http://fisheye.striped-bass.com/images/march/eeltrap.jpg

These american eels make the opposite run as do herring, the adults go to sea to spawn in the Sargasso Sea, just like the conger eels do http://www.congerclub.org/conger.htm.

The American eel (Anguilla rostrata). Eels are scavengers and eat virtually anything dead or alive. For many years scientists were baffled as to their breeding habits. It was known that females lived for the most part in freshwater and males in brackish or estuarine waters. It was surmised that they bred in the ocean but little more was known.

In the early 1950's, scientists determined that a fish known as "leptocephalus" was not a new species at all but a larval stage of the eel. They then traced the eels' spawning grounds by finding smaller and smaller larvae until they reached an area called the Sargasso Sea. Evidence indicated that mature American eels (between the ages of five and twenty years) make the pilgrimage to the Sargasso Sea, spawn and die. The fact that a spent eel (an eel that has spawned) has never been found supports the theory that the Sargasso Sea is the last stop in the life of the American eel. After the eggs hatch, the clear leptocephalus drift with the Gulf Stream toward shore where eventually they change into elvers or "glass eels" and begin to swim into estuaries or further into lakes and streams depending upon their sex.

yes i do put a rock in the bucket .how heavy depends on where im putting it .you dont need alot of weight. just enough to keep it on the bottom and so it wont float away.as for where i usaly find a creek some ware where the current runs threw but not too strong. look for chubs grass shrimp things like that. thats usaly a good spot to try.what i do is go out around 3-4 pm i find smelt guts frozen work well but any bait will work you onlyleave it in the watter for about 2-4 hr. usaly i pull them by dark .you can do it over night but i find you dont get as many when you leave it too long.i also have better luck when i row out to the middle .it wont matter what tide. you need to just try diff spots. the only other thing youll need is a holding tank at your home to store them.sorry i cant show a picture i dont have a cam.

Chubsdad
Good information, Great post!

If you can find some horseshoe crabs , they work real well crushed......thanx again Chubs

Somebody has to show me a pic! You got me all into making this thing, I gotta see what its supposed to look like.

johnny

GBOUTDOORS
Down in Wareham there is a guy that sells plastic barrels and I think he also has plastic buckets although you can possibly locate "someone" who has sheetrock buckets. You must sell tons of that stuff!

When you get your trap or traps made put a few broken quahogs inside and hang one off the end of one of those barge/piers by the boat ramp on Middle Street and put one under the bridge between FH and Popes Island, let it sit right on the bottom over nite and tend it each day for a few days and you will probably have more than you need.
THEN, you will need a holding pot or pen so you can starve them down to a good castable size and get em down to the right size for skining. When you get ready with the 22 to 28 inch skinny starved ones call me and we can put on a skinning and rigging show. Uncle Joe had tons of copper tubing cut in one inch lengths with swivels inside. You find a bunch of those and away you go!

THanks for the info and its a date! Lets see that would be copper tubing--chain--hook--chain--hook sound like something you have seen before? I believe there are lots of these rigs at the house. I would love to take a few out and catch a few for old time sake. I believe Joe would be happy too.

Ps flared end on tubing to hold the skin on.

Here's the source for Eel trap info. I don't know how to add an old thread to a new post.