Looking to purchase some big eelskinz to put on cowboy jrs that I am making this winter. Chef Chris pm me if you still have a connection. Charlie king of small bass

Looking to purchase some big eelskinz to put on cowboy jrs that I am making this winter. Chef Chris pm me if you still have a connection. Charlie king of small bass

Choose a different plug. The cowboy is one of the fattest plugs out there. Any skin big enough to fit it would be very rare and way too long.

The Bob Pond's blue and white styrofoam Atom JR makes a great skin plug (a lot better than the BM Jr in my experience) and are easy to find (get the old version). His plastic A40 also makes an excellent skin plug for larger skins. If you want to go deep, find a Capt'n Andy big momma slope head.

I have fished a lot of skin plugs over the years, but in recent years I've found a big skin needle to be more useful than a skin swimmer, probably because I can cast it better and it is much easier to find skins.

ditto on the foam atom Jr. My favorite plug to skin. Thanks to NS's recommendation a few years ago. Thanks George!

Charlie I still can get monster eel skins, but they are crazy expensive as I have to buy the whole eel from my seafood vendor.

Last year a basic skin to fit a jr was about 4 to 6 bucks.

I bought a monster one cause he had it and the eel was 14 bucks. The skin is 24" long and has to be easily big enough for a cowboy or GRS eelskin sand pike.

The issue with monster skins like that is they are crazy long and $$$.

My most productive skin plugs are Don's jr and 7.5" needle from Afterhours. I did really well on em on bright nights.

His jr casts and swims awesome and his needle is great as everyone knows.

I have a skin if you really want it, for a cowboy jr.

I talked with Pete G from the edge about an eel skinning party and them have the skins for sale but it never happened.

The demand is pretty high for em.
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Best thing to do is when you see big ones in your local shops tank... BUY THEM ASAP! I always pick through the tank for skinning size eels every time I go.

I started trapping eels last year with only limited success but the ones I did get were big ones. The two in the pic are in a 5 gallon bucket, they were a little too heavy to fish but they made nice skins for GRS Slims. One thing I found trapping them is that they would gorge themselves on whatever bait I had in the trap and their stomach would expand a lot (not sure if you can pick up in the picture how thick they are). Even if you can get some pretty big eels from the bait and tackle shops they are usually too skinny to skin a big plug. It might be worth buying some and giving them a bunch of food to literally try to fatten them up. The two in the pic made short work of a whole chopped up bunker.

I used one on a jr cowboy and it was killer expecially in heavy water. My other skins beach master dannies, spinns and wadd needles just got tossed arround. I am making a run of Cowboy jrs was wondering if I cut a groove before the fat part of the plug so I would not have to put the skin over the whole body of the plug. Do you think this would work? I got some big eels this year biggest was 24 inches but it was not fat enough. Is it possible to get an eel big enough for the cowboy jr or was the one I found the exception to the rule charlie

It is possible to get skins big enough, but probably not from a tackle bait shop.

Your best bet is a seafood shop or local grocery store in fall river
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Two of the best plugs for rigging with eelskins are the Atom Jr. and the larger plastic Atom swimmer. I replace the trebles with stronger ones and replace the tail treble with a single Siwash.

They can be fished near the surface or with wire down deep. The larger Atom makes a very good skin plug with monel for rip trolling.

Once you obtain a good supply of eelskins, place them in a very thick slurry of water and coarse kosher salt in tight plastic containers. They will last for years.

Another source for quality eelskins is CowHarbor Bait and Tackle in NY., Cow Harbor Tackle - HOME (http://www.cowharbortackle.com). The owner, Mark, is a super nice guy, always cheerful, friendly, and eager to help. The skins come individually packaged in a vacuum sealed bags in a brine solution, and can be stored indefinately, till you're ready to use them. As Chef eluded to, the skins are not cheap, and if i remember, run between $7-10 apeice. But, they are ready to use out of the package and are high quality. I buy my plugs from Salty's and the 2 oz. eel skin plug is a close match to an Atom40 Jr. Talk to Mark if you need them bigger or smaller, as he can tailor them to your needs. The phone # is (631)239-1631 if anyone's interested in contacting him.

You just missed your best shot at a big eelskin. Christmas is the time of the year to get what you're looking for. Talk to all the local seafood places and tell them you'll pay for eelskins they would normally throw away.
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This time of year it can be hard, but during the season, find out when your local B&T gets their eels and there are usually some monsters in the tank.
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Looking to purchase some big eelskinz to put on cowboy jrs that I am making this winter. Chef Chris pm me if you still have a connection. Charlie king of small bass

Charlie! Hey buddy it's TJ. I got some for ya. I think I still have your card. I'll give you a shout.

Iv cought some monster eels fishing for walleye with just a worm on a hook. For a cowboy I could not get a skin fat enough without a really long trail or tail. To much hanging off. If your doing jrs. You should be able to make work but you will need something bigger then you might think larger then anything that a tackle shop would have in a tank.
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They start getting pretty aggressive this size and are really good at using their tail to open the cooler lid. :rotfl:

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You can also try and catch some. I have pulled eels pushing 4 feet out of tidal rivers on seaworms or clams back in the day.

Another thought on large eels is the skin weight. I have a skin from a large eel that is considerably thicker hence heavier than normal. For deep diving eel plug with a diameter that will not be too difficult to obtain, try a Conrad diver. The jr is < 1 1.25" diameter and the Sr is around 1 1/4". If you need them to dive deeper and hold in faster currents go with a hard wood build ( birch/maple). I had the birch go 8' on a test run and snagged the bottom.