Fished the incoming floating mac chunks on the bottom and caught the biggest freakin eel I've ever seen. The rod bent and peeled a little line like a schoolie. When I saw the thing I freaked a little and laughed. I took the weight off my 3 way and tossed him back in with the hook in its mouth and tried to live line him. The thing must have been 2 ft and my guess 3-5lbs but I could be way off on that. I fished him for an hour and nothing. Did I waste an hour trying to fish an eel that big? My first experience eel fishing. Anybody ever catch one in that fashion? I was going to take a pic but on my 5th cast with him the leader broke off.

oh.. i thought you were gonna say you caught someone in the bushes using credit card reciepts as tp :)

Probably too big of an eel - might be more trouble for a bass than its worth...

But as long as the world wasn't ending and Ernie wasn't around...

:rotf2::rotf2::rotf2: I just spit my coffee up laughing so hard. Thanks for the visuals....Again!!!

When i was a kid it was always fun to go down to the swimming beach @ night
where we had our own jetty and even a home made diving board just to shine a flashlight in the water
to see big crabs, flounder and schools
of mini bluefish all swimming in unison. Well, this one night i go down there and not much was happening
then i see this big shape slowly gyrating back and forth. It was an eel but it was a huge four footer +
bigger around than a base ball.... i was shocked and ran back lickity split....
to the storgae shed to grab the long handled net to catchem.

Didn't really have a plan if i succeeded however... :o) so i get back and it's still there nice and docile
....so i tried scooping it up from the tail end and no luck so i tried the head end no luck.....
it was just too big to get in the net... way too much eel for that net. Then it
sorta woke up from it's slumber and slowly headed out to deeper water. Never saw another eel that big.

There's a guy on the Island I know that only fishes huge eels. He has 6 fish that I've seen pics of over 50. He doesn't say much but he says he never has to worry about small fish an when he gets one on it's a very nice one so it does work. Ron

At Cutty, Kevin and I saw some monster eels like the one you describe under the lights in the harbor. I can totally see a huge bass taking one, but it would have to be a real cow.

I caught a HUGE eel in a local River bout 6 years ago on a piece of squid we were drifting from my friends canoe at night.Tthought it was a schoolie when I was bringin it up, when we shined the light thing scared the crap out of me. We drifted it for a while but didnt get anything. I think it was eating the stripers lol

Had the same exact thing happen to me in the south river last season, was sitting on a dock and the rod started tapping a little, pulled it up and it was about 2-3 feet. Long enough that it wrapped around my forearm 4 times over and slimed the hell out of me while I was taking the hook out. One of my favorite things about fishing, the oddities that happen a couple of times a season.

caught a big one bottom fishing years ago. a bit over 3'. i just cut the line close to hook, wanted nothing to do with that thing.

we used to catch big ones in the canals in delware while blue crabbing with chicken necks. they'd hold on and fight until you pulled them out of the water, then let go.

Got a monster January 28th this year cod fishing. I mean this thing was HUGE cod rod doubled over, line cutting he hypalon fore grip. Mate sees the rod bent like says hey man you ok? #^&#^&#^&#^&ing things got me in the fetal position. He asks me to hand him the rod, he says hey you're on a fish not bottom... Yeah no #^&#^&#^&#^& Sherlock! Finally get this thug up and boat side and I'm not squeamish but there was absolutely no #^&#^&#^&#^&ing way I was going to grab this thing. Mate grabs it it wrapped itself around his arm.. All the way to the back of his neck... Unhooked it.. It swims away meanwhile homeboy was completely covered in slime if I could have felt my fingers and if it was 4-6's all day I probably should have taken a picture. I could have won the pool with half of this thing! Hell I think I saw a few barnacles on its head.
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wow! i didn't know they'd wrap ya up like a snake.

When i'm on nantucket and don't want to buy eels, I go down to little ponds that are connected by tidal streams and fish regular worms on a little rod under the road bridges. I've gotten a few over 4 feet and they do wrap up all around your arm and you neck when you try to get them off the hook. They peel drag nice on a little LMB rod.

I like fishing eels that take drag.
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Once when I fished Lake Champlain when I was a kid. I left a rod out over night. In the morning I pick it up and could feel something on the end bring it in and it's a 3' long eel. I didn't even know what to do with it.

I am glad that my life is still givin' ya laughs...better than fiction I tell ya!!!:rotf2:

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Probably too big of an eel - might be more trouble for a bass than its worth...

Last October I picked up a 20+# fish with a 34in eel in its stomach. When catching the fish I knew there was something big in there. That was mainly the reason for keeping it to see the contents in the stomach. At first thought my guess would have been lobsters. Ive caught big fish there in the past with lobsters in their bellies but little did I know when I cut that stomach open that king sized eel came pouring out. Most amazing thing Ive seen in years. I still don't know how that fish managed to scarf that down his throat. Point being, if you think your eel is to big, think again, sling it out there you never know with the ocean its full of surprises.

when i had the bait shop, when we could sell out back in the 70's, i had a customer who just wanted the largest eels i had when the truck came in.
fished nights, from a boat for bass. he did very well.....

i would definitely vote to keep fishing it... ya really just never know what could eat that thing. its pretty crazy to catch that when youre expecting something COMPLETELY different... good work!!

Should have thrown him on the grill......good eatin'

I am not sure if you have ever eaten Eel before but they are delish! I would have chopped that bastard's head off,iced him, and taken him home to eat.You skin them then pan fry or like TDF suggested the grill would have worked too.

Got a monster January 28th this year cod fishing. I mean this thing was HUGE cod rod doubled over, line cutting he hypalon fore grip. Mate sees the rod bent like says hey man you ok? #^&#^&#^&#^&ing things got me in the fetal position. He asks me to hand him the rod, he says hey you're on a fish not bottom... Yeah no #^&#^&#^&#^& Sherlock! Finally get this thug up and boat side and I'm not squeamish but there was absolutely no #^&#^&#^&#^&ing way I was going to grab this thing. Mate grabs it it wrapped itself around his arm.. All the way to the back of his neck... Unhooked it.. It swims away meanwhile homeboy was completely covered in slime if I could have felt my fingers and if it was 4-6's all day I probably should have taken a picture. I could have won the pool with half of this thing! Hell I think I saw a few barnacles on its head.
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You sure it wasn't a conger eel?
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I was pulling a fish off the rocks at the mouth of the Annisquam where it empties into Gloucester Harbor last year in the summer around 2am. When I bent over to take the hook out, I looked down at my feet and about a foot away was a huge 3ft greyish/blue eel looking back at my hand like it wanted one of my fingers. I didn't seem afraid of my head lamp either. Scared the crap out of me as I wasn't expecting it. It was creepy, they kind of have a evil looking grin about them.

I bet you guys are tangling with conger eels up north there.

Check the teeth. ;-))
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