Does anyone use trebles when fishing with live eels? Kinda like with live bunker.

Just curious. It seems like it would increase the hook-ups to drop fished ratio.

I've never tried,if you tried that in the Canal your hook up on the bottom will increas:wave:
I kinda like the 5/0 live bait H/D:hihi:

5/0

no

never tried it....dont think I would want to......also kind of funny coming from someone named circlehook!!!:smash:

Huge eel ball mess waiting to happen.

Huge eel ball mess waiting to happen.

right...and no chance of untangleing that mess :smash:

And MUCH tougher on gut hooked bass... besides, I loose VERY few fish on the hook up on eels.

When we used to commercial fish for bass back in the old days we used 2/0 bronze trebles on eels. They work especially well from a drifting boat over sand or shell bottoms. At Monomoy they were deadly and we used them drifting eels at night in the canal. No run just tight and hit em. Soon as you got the tap.

Bronze hooks rot out in days if deeply hooked then again most everything that came over the rail went to market back then so mortality wasn't a big issue with us then.

We used the same rig for live lining herring as well, worked great and not that many were swallowed.

Does anyone use trebles when fishing with live eels? Kinda like with live bunker.

Just curious. It seems like it would increase the hook-ups to drop fished ratio.

If you seem to be having trouble with not hooking or dropping fish, try letting them have it for just a couple more seconds before setting up.

Imo, not a good idea. You wanna keep your eel down,, having a treble you'd get hung up on the bottom more often. Some nights bass are sensitive to what they feel in their mouths they'll hit'm just for the sake of hitting them but won't take it down so if they feel anything unatural they'll spit it out. On the nights they crunching every eel your better off with a single hook, less time unhooking and killing bass.

Do any of you guys use circles when slinging eels or stick to j-hooks?

Brad

Personally I prefer to set-up on my fish, rather than let the circle do it for me. Its a personal preference thing.

Got to love the circle hooks , just remember dont set the hook!!!!
When you first start using them you want to set the hook. If
you do it will come out of the bass mouth.
Here is a 30 pounder I took last year using a eel on a circle hook.

Plane old hooks for eels. lately i've been using big 8/0 94150 I think. I used smaller in the past .

Trebles are completely unnecessary. Use a good 5/0 to 8/0 single.
Plenty of good choices available. Just make sure whatever you choose is sharp as a mofo.

Isnt one of the biggest advantages to fishing eels, the use of a single hook?? A treble would give the fish more leverage to bend a hook, no?

Isnt one of the biggest advantages to fishing eels, the use of a single hook?? A treble would give the fish more leverage to bend a hook, no?

Chef,
I'd think w/o the plug attached for leverage, this wouldn't really be an issue, especially since most would have the hook solidly inside the mouth with 2 points embedded...

Do any of you guys use circles when slinging eels or stick to j-hooks?

Brad

If I'm just casting eels up tight I'll fish a j-style hook. (live bait style)

If I'm drifting an eel further than casting range I'll go with a circle. There's current and if I hook a good fish in current its going to fight me hard, I'll go with a circle hook. There's less wear on the fish and once that circle finds home I can put the boots to it in short order without fear of pulling the hook on the fish. Not worrying about popping the hook comes in handy if the strike zone is 200-250 yds off the beach.

never... like someone else said, just the let the fish take the eel, then set (j) hook.