The best way I've found to fish eels with a manual pick up is, drop the rod on the hit, and if you can do it safely, take 3-4 steps forward, let it come tight, and then hit the fish.
If you can't step forward safely, drop the rod and get the line off the roller. Then, raise the rod with the line loose to throw more slack, and get the line back on the roller with zero tension. Hit the fish when the line tightens.
Also--use mono to fish eels. If you can feel the fish breathe on the eel when you use braid, the fish can also feel every little movement you make
