Since someone asked Live eels or rigged , which catches more!
 

Now I don't mean you fish 1000 live and 1 rigged. If you got equal numbers of rigged vs live fished , what is deadlier. No doubt in n my mind.

I say rigged , by a large margin.

i use BOTH interchangedly and equally at

a couple of my biggest producers~~~~

until i find which one THEY prefer, then
i pretty much wear that offering out until they stop killin' it!

also, it sort of depends on whether or not the eels i can get are
horsecock, select, wiry mediums, or shoestrang?? if i can't get what i want, LIVE, i'll reach into the fridge for MY best riggies.

for me~~~~ Live ~~~~beats riggies, hands down, in number caught and ALL my pb's have come from live eeeeeeels!!

I would have guessed the opposite, but have insufficient experience with rigged ones to know. I'm curious though as to what you think makes the rigged eel more effective. Any insight?

riggies you control the location / action to a greater extent
could be a factor.... :read:

i've found that live = more numbers, but rigged = more size.

rigged are a ton more fun to fish too. i find fishing live eels to be really boring unless we're really into numbers of fish.

I agree and disagree with that statement. If I'm in a blitz and want to try and cull out the biggest of the fish a huge riggie is a good way to go but I think the best way to get a lazy slob is with live eel.

This is why I fish plugs about 70% of the time. Those nights when your not on fish and im tossing eels half asleep on a rock, the whole time im thinking "just throw that jr. on and &*?$* fan cast".

The second hook near the tail. You can also cast them viciously without cast offs so more ground covered and you fish them like a plug , no drop and wait. Fish hits , you nail it.

However, of all the reasons , the second hook near the tail is why they are so deadly.

Interesting question. I tend to use the most "efficient" method for the set of conditions and location I'm fishing. I use plugs, live eels, dead eels, and three different types of rigged eels. Each has a set of conditions when they work better than the others and PRESENTATION is the key. For example: Trying to present a live eel into a shallow boulder field with a 20 knot wind right in the puss may be futile...but casting a riggie or eelbob in the same conditions rewarding.

A surf fisherman that gives a blanket statement that one method is more effective than the other does not completely understand the other idiosyncrasies of surfcasting stripers.

All that said you must still remember that a live eel is still in fact a "live bait" - and we all know that day in-day out live bait is the most effective way to take almost all fish - including striped bass.

DZ

Now if I started a poll asking what ice cream tastes better and there are only 2 choices in the poll , Chocolate or Vanilla , would you answer that

" I eat Cherries Garcia , Heath Bar Crunch , Maple Walnut and Rockie Road. I much prefer Heath Bar Crunch when I have a Hot Fudge Sunday but I like Cherries Garcia when I have a Banana Split. An ice cream eater who makes a blanket statement that he likes Chocolate better , doesn't understand the idiosyncrasies of eating ice cream" ?

In a two option poll , you don't have the luxury of writing a book. You may prefer Chocolate Chip but you must choose chocolate or vanilla , depending on your own preference and as the old Latin saying goes "de gustibus non est disputandum". :)