using live bait, never done it...

[JohnR]

Jiaem, yep... The eels actually last a while with a little preparation beforehand. It's not unreasonable to get 4 or 5 decent fish on the same live eel. If an eel has caught a couple decent fish (and I have more in the bucket), I'll pardon his sentence and send him back to see alive. Eels are pretty resilient and the tracheotomy seems to repair fairly quickly...

I use the 6/0 Mustad (forget the number) shorter shank, non-stainless, which I re-sharpen frequently (quick ruster which is good if fish breaks line off). Having learned from the #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& himself (insert bowing here), just run the hook fairly deep into the eel's mouth and out through the bottom.

As far as having the eels last, a couple items of preparation are really in order;

Transporting eels: I use a smaller shiner bucket with a lot of 1/4 holes in the bottom and put a bed of ice down (some use ice and burlap, some use ice and weeds) with the eels on top of the ice. This really slows down there metabolism and actually they can keep for as long as a week with frequent icing and misting from a garden hose... I put the eel bucket inside a 5 gal paint bucket with a couple bricks or rocks on the bottom so that as the ice melts and carries out the eal slime, they won't drown in the resulting, ahh, "juice" ... Some people go as far as a 3 bucket arrangement but I don't...

Hooking up the eels: Because they have been slowed down greatly being on ice, I find it's not necessary to "stun" the eel by wacking hard off rocks to slow them down (sometimes I have to if the ice has melted and they are getting very lively). This seems to make them last longer. After a few casts they warm up a bit and get lively at a very manageable level and seem to maintain that level longer... When hooking the eel, you want to be roughly past the eyes when running the hook down. This get's a deep set and gives you some room for the hole to open... I don't like running through the eye-socket because that seems to put more stress on them (not to mention if you go through the brain :P ). Going through the bottom only sligtly increases snagging and is worth it in my opinion and I know Bill is very convinced of going through the bottom.