What is the Best Rig for drifting EELs from a boat? - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Bob Junior · 06-10-2002, 06:37 PM

3-way/2-way/with a weight/without a weight/egg-sinker/inline-sinker/leader/no-leader/through the head/through the bottom jaw/through the back/through the tail/big eels/medium eels/small eels/bounce the bottom/mid-water/wire-leader/mono-leader/no-leader/circle-hook/small-hook/tru-turn/better at night/better at dawn/anytime?

I have spent most of my life chasing stripers knowing full well (from the advice of my father and others) that one of the few things that a monster striper has a hard time passing up is the immortal eel. But years of loosing them in the rocks, retrieving a green knot, and slime-covered clothes turned me off to them when I was fishing from jetties and other shore based places.

When the loan came through on the boat I thought I would revisit that great American pastime. I stood in front of the alter (the wall of hooks, leaders and sinkers at my local tackle shop) ready to purchase the perfect setup for using eels from my boat and found myself as dumbfounded as when I stood on the rocks at Beavertail straining to jerk an eel from under a rock 100 feet out!

So I humbly put the question to this forum seeking the guidance and wisdom from those who have gone before me;

What is the Best Rig for drifting Eels from a boat?

Thank you for your time and God bless you.

*if this has been asked and answered previously , I appologize. I tried to search the forum but kept getting an error.

Slipknot · 06-10-2002, 06:48 PM

I think three waying is better with a length of lesser strength mono holding the weight in case of hangups you only lose the sinker. That's just my opinion.

capesams · 06-10-2002, 07:31 PM

main line ....rubber core sinker.....swivel....3-4' fl. carb....5/0 c.hook

we don't have any rocks

just sand & sea shells.

any time your in the boat. morning...noon....night , at least here anyway's. cape cod-less

saltydawg · 06-10-2002, 08:03 PM

See previous post on fishing with eels.

We use a fish finder on the main line. Use a rubberband to connect the sinker to the fish finder. 3' to 4' fluro leader. Normally 40 to 50# leader in case a passing blue decides to eat it. Circle hook. We go from bottom up with the hook. Through the bottom jaw and out an eye socket. If you follow the direction in previous post about keeping them in a cooler, normally the are sedated enough to get them hooked and in the water. The fishfinder rig with only the rubberband and sinker gives the eel little to get tangled in.

This has worked very well for us. Hope it works for you. Good Luck!

Bob Junior · 06-13-2002, 08:52 AM

Thanks for the advice, i will try it out this weekend and let you know how it goes.

Thanks again

Bob Junior · 06-20-2002, 10:56 AM

My Father and I went out this saturday and Drifted eels and caught several hundred pounds of Striper. We caught three 38" fish and almost a dozen more between 33" and 37". Thanks for the eel advice.

Scotch Bonnet · 06-20-2002, 11:02 AM

WhereWhereWhere!!!!!!!!!!

Bob Junior · 06-20-2002, 02:03 PM

6 mile reef, LI Sound

capesams · 06-20-2002, 04:39 PM

SOOOOOOOOO! what rig worked the best for ya?

Got Stripers · 06-20-2002, 08:59 PM

When I'm out during the summer, I sometimes have an eel dragging behind my boat. I'll be up front running the trolling motor, while fishing my rubber in 12-30 foot of water around ledges. I run 30# spiderwire, to a barrel swivel, 30# seagar leader and a good size circle hook, no weight just slowly moving forward with the trolling motor. I like the circle hook as it gives me some time to get to the back of the boat and then I just tighten up and fight the fish. If I were drifting, it would be the same deal, but I'd move closer to shore and work over rock kelp beds in 15-20 foot and use the trolling motor just to maintain boat attitude.

Bob Junior · 06-21-2002, 08:39 AM

I used a 3oz egg sinker on the line side then a red plastic bead then tied that to a black swivel. I then tied 3 to 4 feet of 30# flouro leader to a 5/0 circle hook. When the tide really started to rip i doubled up on the sinkers putting a bead in between so they wouldn't slam together and it didn't seem to spook the fish at all. One thing worth mentioning that i learned is when you let out the line to get it to the bottom, take your time and do it slowly so the eel trails down-tide from the sinker or it gets all tangled as it spirals down.

Scotch Bonnet · 06-21-2002, 09:48 AM

I slow trolled the some rig last night in front of Charlestown Breachway but the blues wouldn't leave it alone. Chopped every last eel!

capndave · 06-21-2002, 11:34 AM

S.B.,

Try the stinger as mentioned in the "Trolling eels" thread.

You would think the eel might tangle in the wire, but as long as your moving along, that doesn't happen very often.

Teaches those pesky Blues a lesson and saves on eel$ too...

Dave

Scotch Bonnet · 06-21-2002, 11:55 AM

I'll sting 'em tonight

Bob Junior · 06-21-2002, 04:28 PM

I found that the blues were usually on top of the ridges and if i went out a little deeper i found sripers and no blues. In fact i now start on the high points and then slowly work my drift patterns out to deeper waters where I find the bigger bass.

I went out last night and the blues were on the shallow ridges of long sand shoal and the bass were on the bottom halfway down the slope.