BIG Snakes
 

No secret dead eels are deadly....I been potting some sweet eels just a tad bit bigger then I like to throw ..don't get me wrong I'm still tossing the big'ins at this time of year but I was think bout taking some down to size by cuting off a few inchs then fishing then like I normaly would....have you had any success doing that?

Iknow Iknow skinz

Goose ==tha doctor already did that toooooooooooo me //// don,t do it :vamp:

???????

LMAO Mike

make some skins out of them

I dont know if you have heard of this technique, but some guys rip the skin off the eel and wrap them over plugs or jigs.

:hihi:



seriously, how about the Eel bob???

Needle D$#@, the bug F%$#@! :pop:

Goose,

Bob Rocchetta's world record striper ate a LARGE eel -- Bob's preference to this day is large and the blacker the eel the better. If working an anaconda from the surf, it's hard to beat the trust old EelBob rig.

Anyone on this board ever opened a striper and found an eel in its stomach? How often? What's your thoughts on why they're such effective baits?

Mike

I think aside from sand eels, with the larger American Eels, it may be more territorial or just sheer agressive hatred on the Stripers part. Eels are voracious foragers and possible competition for the Stripers for food. I don't know. Just a guess? :huh:

The eels are not found on the beach in the surf but in inlets, ponds, brackish waters.
It is like love at first site and both go their seperate ways to do there own thing. Then one nite they meet unexpectantly in the surf then bam.

big snakes
 

for decades in so.co. big snakes wew the sought after bait for the big mama's. stripers spawn in the bay's ect. where the ells are a primary pretator of their egg's. maybe the bass know this from generations past and react in anger slow eddie.



put them back alive :

I have never found an eel int he belly of a beast, im glad someone asked because ive always wondered. Eels are like crack for stripers but i never see them in the bellies.

I've never found eels in a belly either and wondered why. Maybe they digest faster? :huh:

Tony, try starving them down to size if you have time. But keep them in a black container if you want them black.

Ive found eels completely digested and also freshly killed , when cleaning bass a number of times. Probally so effective because eels and bass both start off their lives in the same areas(rivers, estuaries), its like comfort food to them.

I don't think they start life in the same areas Chef. Aren't these eels from the Sargasso(sp?) Sea?

Why?
 

I've always felt that eels worked so well because (a) they are a live and natural food (reguardless of whether they are typically available to a striper at a given location and time of year) and (b) because they are very easy for stripers to catch and swallow (long and narrow with no spines or defense mechanism). Similar to why arkansas shiners are effective on largemouth bass even when they are not native to a given lake.

I can't see a bass passing up a live herring just because there are not many herring around and the bass are primarily feeding on something else. They are oppurtunists and eels represent an opportunity that is much harder to pass up than a plastic or wooden plug.

Goose, like slipknot said, keep em in a livewell a few weeks and they will slim down quickly. I keep several dozen in my tanks, and found I need to use the medium size ones within the first week, otherwise they get small.

You could cut off a few inches too. I know they'd cast alot better :)

SHortly after they hatch in the saragasso they drift into rivers and estuaries where bass spend there 1st few years.

L yeah Krisp, the best move I did this past off season improve my tank set-up. Its nice have choices to skin, throw big/slim or cut...especialy with eel & gas prices. My die-off ratio has been wicked low compared to the years past.
This heav is nice too.

At the risk of making a shameless plug here...oh and a bad pun too....the Point Jude Wobbleheads are good for rigging a dead eel (I know of one 43 lb er taken on this rig this year) . Zach Harvey did an article on this in the Sept,1 issue of the Fisherman magazine.Also the PJ eel bob is a great way to re-use dead eels and have them ready to go from the frozen brine mix. With the lead head weight and ss hook they are solid and cast where you want them to go.

I love the wobblehead with black rubber curly tail :wave:

-spence