DZ started a good thread on Tim's board about eelbobs. this was my addition
Eels and eel skins and eel rigs are a science of their own. When I was about 12 years old , we used to watch guys skin eels down in Snug Harbor/Jerusalem. They would put a nail in a post on the dock and stick the eel head on the needle and peel the skins down. Those people used their skins almost exclusively on skin plugs like the small atom swimmer with a groove cuts around it. The same skins could be used on jigs but the larger eel skins were used on plugs.
Another interesting eel rig is what I call an eel rack but there may be an official name for it. Ot was made from a stiff piece of wire about 6 inches long. at the beginning and end of the wire were clamps and a hook. The idea was to clamp the eel just behind the head and again abot six inches down its body. The head and tail hooks were inserted and the eel was fished like a rigged eel. The long stiff section of wire would keep the eel stretched out so it couldn't tangle on itself or the line. They allowed you to fish an eel with a tail hook without having to kill the eel running a line inside and without the eel getting all tangled which is what happens if you run string down the outside of the eel to add a tail hook. You still see some of these rigs in the tackle shops on occasion.
Another twist to the eel science is the hooking of the eel by the tail instead of the head while fishing them live. people calim the eel stays alive and swims better this way but I always hook them in the head , not the tail.
Another trick is the sandpapered eel. The belly of a live eel is abraided with sandpaper or on a rock or in the sand. the idea is to get some of that bluish color to come through and to cause some scrapes that ooze eel scent.
I'll tell one of my real secret tricks here in hopes that DZ will follow suit and tell all about rigging the eelbob. Lots of times you get skins that are too skinny and too short to be good for jigs or plugs. What I used a lot was a large jig hook (7/o) with a 90 degree bend. I would put the very undersized skins up the hook and tie them on just above the 90 degree bend, Then (and this is or should I say was a big secret) , I would put them on as a teaser behind a swimming shape like a bomber or a redfin. Extremely deadly where sand eels are around.
I don't mind sharing rigging and fishing techniques at all. Even if the whole internet reads the site. My point of view is that except for spots , we might as well share what we know.
What are some of the eel tricks other people know? I'm sure there are many not mentioned. I've already thought of a couple more since I wrote the stuff above. Time to share your secrets about rigging snakes!
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