So we all know that using lobster and bunker as bait goes all the way back to the native americans, but who thought of using an eel as bait? Who were the pioneer eel slingers? :confused:

Any one have any info? All the striper books I have read have never shed any light on the subject.

Good question. I imagine it was probably the local Indians that had first hand knowledge of everything. I was reading somewhere recently that the american eel was so commonplace 150+ years ago that not only was it a major staple of food but it was also used in the traps and nets of the day. I wonder where I saw that and I wish I was able to give it back verbatim...

Now I have also caught bass before with eels in them (no hooks), I guess anyone seeing what they ate would know that too...

one of the fisherman talks about how they started using eels on the Vinyard in the book "Reading the Water". They use to always use them on the bottom like chunks...There was one guy who started retrieving them like lures...I'll go back tonight and find out his name...

dont they come from their mommies and daddies ?

Early fishermen probably were bait slingers and sandworms were the bait of choice.They had no superbraids or juiced up conventionals, probably just hand lines which they fished in the shallows.And I bet they caught a bunch of eels and thought they were great table fare, clearly they were twisted, they used lobster for bait and fertilizer. So Joe early american settler is sitting back on his rock enjoying a cold one and his hand line goes tap, tap, ah another eel or one of those tasty searobins and he starts winding it up when BAM, the line stretches out and tears into his hands, Joe nearly looses it, but manages to hang on, the blood pouring out of his hands makes the crude hemp line a slippery mess, he's screaming in pain, but manages to land the beast, a huge striper - and get this - it was an eel that took his worm, BUT THE STRIPER TOOK THE EEL!
And thus, livelining eels was born.
And not only that, but nearby a group of settlers were building a still - Al Penn, John Mitchell, Igor VanStall, and Abu Garcia - needless to say, this experience wasn't wasted on them.

They (Indians/Settlers) probably opened up fish and saw eels in it, so they started throwing eels.

Billybob - that was classic! :btu:

I can imagine Alphonus Penn 200 years ago "Squidding" his handline then sitting down with a first generation Samuel Adams - unfiltered, unpastureized, with just a hint of wooden barrel taste. Rolling a stick of home dried Thurman, fresh from the Carolinas while line tied off to Alph's big toe nearly shears the digit clear off and the battle is joined... :laughs:

This is a great question and a great excuse to blow off work and search the net for an answer. There's plenty to be said out there about the Wampaunoag's making their own hooks and line and spears and traps and the various methods of catching eels which they appear to have enjoyed as a regular part of their diet, but nothing on if they used them for bait. Then again, with tribes that were spread out from Maine to Rhode Island and Martha's Vinyard and Nantucket and spending their summers near the shore expressly for the fishing, I would have to imagine, as someone else surmised, except that maybe it was William Wampanaog instead of Alphonso Penn who said to himself, "Self, that last fish was fat with eels, now suppose I hook one of those small eels through the snout that I trapped, on this hook that I made and toss it out into the waves off Corn Hill. Don't you think that big fish would go after the eel first before it would go after the empty hook? Hey self, when I'm right, I'm right"
My money is with the Native Americans as the "eel as bait discoverers".

year 1888

This thread reminds me of a funny story. My dad was always reading early American history, and he read that the settlers used seagulls as lobster bait.Well of course we couldn't kill seagulls, so he takes me down to the market, and we pick out a live chicken and he tells the guy to kill it but don't clean it.The guy breaks it's neck and we put it in the pot feathers and all.Dad is all pumped up thinking that we are on to something big here. Well, I'll tell you, you have never seen anything so disgusting in your life.That pot never caught a lobster, or even a crab - just a bunch of underwater maggot-like bugs.And Dad was stubborn too, he just said give it time it's gotta work.So I pulled it every day, and nearly hurled from the stench - still nothing. And the thought of pulling that putrid, bloated bird out of the trap didn't sit too well. I think I ended up cutting the pot off one day after a storm and telling Dad it got blown away - but it's one of those childhood memories you never forget.
So I guess the old ways aren't always the best, no matter what Dad says. It really pissed him off when I came up with putting a sardine can in there with a few holes punched in it.That was the best bait. The lobsters would bend it all up with their claws.Pretty funny.

Some pretty good ideas fellas.

Looks like the fine art of eel slinging has been around since day one of surf fishing.

Striped Bass Surf Casting
A Brief History
Long before the Europeans set foot in America, the striped bass was the most prolific fish on the Atlantic seacoast. Upon entering Chesapeake Bay in the early 1600's Capt. John Smith noted their abundance, stating that "one could walk drishod across the bay upon their backs". The Pilgrims found striped bass to be a great resource and used funds generated from the sale of striped bass to England to build the first school in New England. The Pilgrims were also the first to use the now famous method of surf casting from beaches to catch them. The size, abundance, availability, and close proximity to the shore inspired fishermen from all walks of life to pursue this beautiful yet elusive fish. The striped bass was so popular it was introduced to many freshwater lakes and in the 1800's transported to the Pacific coast where it thrives today.

Mr. Macey,

Where did that excerpt come from?

I have an old article about striped bass fishing from the early 1900's, be damned if I can find it!:smash:

Roger Williams wrote of the Narragansett Indians using nets to catch stripers, mostly in shallow coves inside the bay on the outgoing tide. While fishing with an angle (rod and line) or hand line, was in practice during colonial times, stripers were so plentiful that a hook and line was a very inefficient method of harvesting them.
The notion of doing anything for sport was only for the wealthy. People tended to try and get the most value for their time. It made more sense to buy or barter for fish - using goods or money from your primary occupation - than to spend time fishing.
In his 1954 book, Salt Water Fishing Is Easy, Jerry Sylvester describes a beaded eel rig for casting wigglies to the surf. I have not read about any of the late 19th century striper clubs using eels. I don't know if they did, or did not.
While I would not be surprised to find that eels have been used as bait for some time, I’m pretty sure that the local method of casting and retrieving them is a post-WWII development. With the advent of spinning reels, synthetic line, and glass rods, using lighter lures became less of a headache. I don't think an eel would have cast very well using one of those pool-cue cane rods.

http://home.earthlink.net/~fishplumi/surfcasting.html talks all about stripers and how to! just keep scrolling down for more links!