Eels tricks.

[Saltheart]

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!

[JohnR]

Hey Saltheart, Happy New Year to ya... May you get your fifty the day after I get mine :-D ...

The way I prepare and rig an eel is to ice it down or whack it across a rock and put it on to my 6/0 highly SHARPENED Mustad hook... Then I cast it. Then I get a large bass on the other end... [img=http://striped-bass.com/Images/evil.gif]

Actually, I like what you've stated here now and in the past about rigging eels and I'm going to dig much deeper into it this coming year. You will be my teacher should you choose to accept that mission :P . My limited experience with skin plugs has been further hampered by the fact that I have not skinned my own, properly sized, dead eels for use of the skins. When I pick up someone elses skins from a shop, they are usually of the lesser quality out there as not many local shops deal in skins (although I never really asked Mike if he has them)

I personally am not a fan or the "Reversed Eel" or "Tailhooked Eel" as a lively eel seems less controllable and more likely to wind itself. But I only tried it a few times...

The biggest mistakes I've seen (and done) with live eel fishing are:
Too many people reel far TOO fast
Alot of people hook the eel through the eel socket, slightly less likely to toss off the eel during the cast, FAR more likely to kill the eel quicker (not to mention when one misses the eye socket and connects with brain :P )
Alot of people use hooks that are too large of too small. I like the 5/0 6/0 size live bait hooks.

Again Saltheart, on the various rigged eel methods, I am going to be your willing student this summer, pretty please...

[Saltheart]

I know you guys got some more eel tricks. Here are a couple more . To get an eel down in a current , you can shove a rubber core sinker or a couple of small egg sinkers down its throat.
Stick an eel on a jig head just like you would a plastic curltail grub.
Put an eel on the buisiness end of a three way rig for boat trolling.

There are still more. Come on you guys lets part with those eeling secrets!

[Slipknot]

I have a special training technique which trains my eels to swim into large striped basses mouthes. I have perfected it over this cold winter.

either that or I've been breathing to many laquer fumes.

[Clammer]

Saltheart// best of luck to you,its been a long time since ive seen or heard a real fisherperson give up fishing knowledge they paid their dues to learn. Sorry that I cant ad to your tricks but I am limited in the use of eels fishing them alive Im from the old school that spent countless hours perfecting the use of live and dead menheden,some time I may be able to help you or someone else on this board Again thankyou

[JohnR]

One eel trick that I've been doing alot more of lately is to try to keep the eels well iced down to keep them manageable as opposed to beating them senseless against a rock before hooking them. I'm still doing my own little informal study but I'm strongly leaning towards icing eels instead of stunning them. Being well iced down slows the eel's metabolism (at least that's what it acts like) down to a very manageable level where "stunning" against a rock would not be necessary. These eels also stay lively enough with a curl in their tail longer than by stunning them.

Teasers -n- eels? Maybe

[Saltheart]

Teasers and rigged eels....definitely

How about using those Cape Cod Shoestring Eels as teasers. Sort of like a redgil?


How about using those thinner wire "sandeel" hooks on those shoestring eels?

[Slipknot]

John, I've always used ice on eels and it does work great, but once you put the hook in their mouth they come alive . They will calm a little by the second cast and are still plenty alive after a while. You are right about beating them into submission if you ice them they have that curl alot longer.

I put them in a 5 gal. pail with small holes drilled in bottom with some ice then put that pail in another pail to keep the truck from getting slimed and so they won't drown. I hook them in the throat far back and out the bottom that also keeps them living longer.

This year I hope to rig some eels RI style.

[Saltheart]

I'll do a post on rigging eels soon. To me a second hook more than makes up for the fact that its dead. After getting some pretty good fish by foul hooking them with the tail hook (which you don't get often with a single hooked live one) , you guys will be big rigged eel fans!

[Chunker of Death]

Hey Amigo, hope yah had a nice trip to Mexico. Me thinks you should come up to Vacationland this summer and show me all of those eel skin tricks. We'll go surprise the LARGE at Moody Point!

[nor-easter]

Years ago, when I was pre-teen a local fisherman would carry me over to Barrington, R. I. to "the Eel Man", Bob Bryden...He had only one leg but could hop around the shore and in and out of his boats and tend to the eel cars, wow..It gave me a great respect for the adaptiveness of the handicapped, at a young age...but, I waver from my course,....
I started skinning eels when I was in the single numbers....would skin a nail keg of em at an afternoon....as noted above...take a nail and grind the head off to a point and then stick the nail in a fence post....stick the eels by the head, take a razor blade or sharp knife and just cut the skin, all around, just behind the eyes, peal the skin off, being careful at the vent..you have to cut the intestine at the vent or the skin will split and be no good.....place the inside out skin in rock salt without cleaning.....keep in rock salt till ready to rig....We used what Bob Bryden called "Cuttyhunk Eels". All 24 to 28 inch, starved down to the diameter of your thumb, or less.... The gold bellies worked at certain times and the silver bellies worked at other times better....We used Copper Tubing in the early days, I use pvc tubing now..about 1/2 to 5/8 O.D. is best...cut the tube so that its only about 3/4 inch long, so that the ends of a barrel swivel are out the ends. Drill a hole through the barrel swivel, and drill a hole through the tubing. Put the barrel swivel inside the tube, pin it with a brad or small nail. Years ago we would solder the pin in place. With the pvc I use epoxy glue to keep the pin in place. Put a 5/0 or 6/0 hook to one end of the swivel and if you want to rig the skin with two hooks then take a piece of 80# Dacron and tie it to the swivel.....Take an eelskin out of the salt and into a bucket of salt water...fresh water will make the skin to turn to jelly and is unusable...Rinse the skin off in salt water till it is clean, still inside out....now, turn the skin right side out and clean the slime off between your fingers...wet a piece of board and lay the eel skin on to the board. Be careful to get the skin exactly sideways on the board. You should be looking at the side of the eelskin.. smoothly laid out on the board. Take your razor blade or very sharp knife and at the head end, cut the skin square at the fins...lay the tube and hooks alongside the skin with the tube end right at the end of the skin. Set the hooks out then make a little cut in the belly of the eel where the round of the hook starts, so that when you next push the hooks down inside the skin the hook point can be led out of the cut you made and the hook will hang down and not hamper the skin from filling up with water....With the skin pulled down on the rig and the hooks sticking out of the skin you now manuver the tube inside the head end of the skin. Get it lined up so the hooks are on the belly side and the tube is just at the cut head end of the skin..now gather the skin around the tube so every thing hangs equal and wrap the skin to the tube with black thread, like you would wrap a bucktail to a jig, only you don't want the thread to show, that's why you use black thread...wrap it tight, a couple layers thick and then tie the thread off, keeping the thread tight.
Wash it off in salt water, put your snap swivel through the front of the barrel swivel inside the tube and troll it alongside to see how it looks...If you did it right you will see what looks like a 'live eel' and by the gentle twitching of your rod tip you can make the skin "swim" just like a live one. You may adjust the movement of the tail by taking the tail and pull the two sides apart for an inch or two, by trial and error you will see the eel suddenly start to twist and swim like it was alive.
This is a trolling bait..It cannot be cast couse it gets all buggered up. The Blue Fish will chop it to pieces so move away from the blues, or fish deeper, under the blues.
The big difference is that you as an individual have now skinned and rigged a bait that if you 'fish it right' will catch Striped Bass in a true Sporting way....
Good Luck..
Chet

[Clammer]

Nor-Easter, Great piece on skinned eels a real how to//. but what really caught my attention was the name of Bob Bryden, he was much more adapt on the water than most. people with both legs,i too met him when I was young, any fisherman that really used eels knew Bob,we fished them live in the usual spots in the bay and just outside of it . they other well known family were (and still) the Bettencourts I fished with them and also knew of their talant. I am still amazed of some of the places and t.ricks they had for getting bait.They dont call Paul the Baitman for nothing, thanks for bringing back fond memories//

[nor-easter]

Hey Clamdigger....Do you know if there is anyone in the Bryden line still eeling over there?
I am going to be in need of a source for special eels and would be grateful for help in finding a source of supply for live eels, sorted and starved in length between 24 and 28 inches.
Thanks for any help...
If you don't want to post a source you can e-mail me at
nor-easter@mediaone.net
Thanks,,chet

[JohnR]

Wow,

That was great info from "The Old Days". Also goes to show that our passion for these fish is far from new. Thanks Nor-easter, that one certainly goes into the saved file as well!!

[Saltheart]

Great Post Nor easter. Thanks for sharing that experience with us. I don't know anyone who sorts out the bigger eels and starves them down for skinning and then sells them. periodically someone will post about doing it but they are doing it themselves for the skins. Its even hard to find good size eels on a consistant basis lately. Quaker Lane on RT 2 carries a zillion eels in season and usually they will let you pick your own. You might try culling out some big ones there and starving them down for yourself. The other option is to set you own traps.
One last resort you could try. Go to this web site. http://www.flyfishsaltwaters.com/
Click on the Bulletin Board option. Then go to Tony Stetzko's forum. Ask him about the eels. I believe that question was asked before and he might know someone who will sell eels like you want. That site is under repair right now but should be back up in a few days.

[nor-easter]

Chuckle Chuckle....Saltheart, that was me that asked The Ton about eels....I ended up driving to the cape and got some good ones....I'm looking for a source a little closer to New Bedford......
Thanks for any help/ideas!!
I'll keep that rte 2 guy in mind....
Where can I contact Paul Bettencourt aka Baitman!

[Saltheart]

That is funny nor-easter. Oh well , I knew it had come up before. I'll keep my eyes and ears open and If i learn of a source I'll let you know.