Eeelin 101 (Work In Progress)

[Catch0]

Awsome post guys. Cant wait till i get some eels

[reelecstasy]

John, that was a great thread..Lots of good tips...I have had some luck keepin them alive for a few weeks with verylittle maint. I have a "shinner bucket" I throw a layer of seaweed in it along with those slimmy suckers,no water, it just gets toooooo slimmy and they drown in no time. I keep it in my fridge-my bait/beer fridge..They get nice and sllooooowwww. (the beer fridge is chilly)
and then when I head out fishin I put them in a small cooler, like the little igloo sixpack ones..I put a bottle of water that I keep in my freezer and it seems to last the night/morning for me. Again I don't put water, just a likkle weed-moist. The bottle sweats as it melts and keeps everything a little damp. From stayin in the fridge and then sorta on ice the eels are all doped up, and don't seem to wake till they have hit the water a few times and by then they are just squirmin, but unable to swing their tails over their heads to tie a lovely eel know. Just have to always remember after hookin them, line and rod tip have to stay above the eel, never any slack. If they get slack, they be tiein themselves up. Then you might as well cut your line and start again, and who wants to grap thoose suckas more than they have too....

[MotoXcowboy]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Eeling…

He basically said this about eels; fish them slow & deep. And always check to make sure you are fishing slow and deep, then check again and again.

First hooking the eel. As with all hooks, sharpness is the key and easily overlooked – even if you sharpened your hooks, they will dull after hooking several fish or fishing along the bottom – so re-sharpen your hooks!

I like to place the hook into the throat as far back as reasonable (don’t want to hit internal organs), to the back of the jaw and with the point coming through the bottom. This will make the shank of the hook parallel with the bottom jaw and depending on hook model, the eye will just be out of the mouth. Many people are advocated of running the hook inside the mouth and out one of the eyes. It is a good method with some advantages like being less likely to snag on the bottom and a firmer hold to the eel as the hook is held in by some cartilage (or whatever fish have) around the eye socket. It also has some disadvantages that I’ve seen, primarily that you run a good chance of killing the eel much quicker or doing an impromptu lobotomy on the eel. Running your hook thru his brain - that just can’t be good.

Last thing? Eels are VERY resilient creatures. I’ve caught Three high 20#ers and a 30 #er all on the same eel – and it lived. I was so in debt to this eel that I released it knowing that it’s tracheotomy would grow over J …

Good luck & Enjoy Eelin!

John how many snags do you get a night? I've been throwing them this way since reading "eeling 101" and I get hung up like crazy..eel seems to always find a rock and my hook gets snagged. My uncle told me its better to go through the back of the head or eye..He said its much less likely to snag and he says they still stay lively for a quite a while.. once they die you can always put them on a wobble head.

Makes sense..i am sick of snagging and not catching enough..but at the same time i hate popppin' poor eel's eye out when i can use him w/ hook through his trach and i like how the eel slides up the line after the bass is hooked. pretty cool letting a eel go after it has caught you some nice keeers too.

Id like to keep fishing w. hook out trach but snags are driving me insane. Is there a trick or tip you can give me for this trach method before I start ing out?

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by MotoXcowboy

John how many snags do you get a night? I've been throwing them this way since reading "eeling 101" and I get hung up like crazy..eel seems to always find a rock and my hook gets snagged.

Pretty rarely as I try not to cast into excessive weed but to work more around rock and structure. Most of the time when I do get hung up I can get it undone. Very rarely do I get permanently hung up.

If you keep in touch with your line you'll start to notice when you are hitting the snag and can twitch over or around

[ripitsik]

Hey JohnR,
Im a newbie here. That was a great post. I usually like to use eels and I usually put them on the hook and cast and leave them out there like chunk bait. I usually keep keep my dead eels and try to use them dead on my next fishing trip.... I just wanted to know if its worth using them when they are dead or if there is another proper way to using dead eels effectively

thanks

[reelecstasy]

dead eels work.... also do a search on rigging dead eels, they are killer

[ripitsik]

thanks man, I will. I hate throwing eels away because I know if usued correctly they can be effective when they are dead. I just needed from advice. thanks

[ripitsik]

So reel...

I just read the post of rigging dead eels and I think you were the one that wrote it. I should cut the head off the eel and rig it to a jighead? How heavy should the jighead be? Should I still retrieve it slow just like JOHNR talked about or should I bounce it off the bottom like a sluggo? Sorry for so many questions dude, I just want to be sure. I have made so many trips down to the canal this yr and I have only had 3 keepers. I just want to tighten up my game a little bit if you know what I mean

[MotoXcowboy]

More info on eelin' from the EelMaster himself. . .

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...ad.php?t=25061


I'd like to try the hooks Bill uses..Im sure its tried and true..Maybe I will get less snags with the slightly bent, Mustad 94150 6/0 short shank live bait hook.

I rarely sling eels anymore but when I did I was using the Gamagatsu 6/0 - 7/0 Live Bait hooks.

[reelecstasy]

Rigged eels have their heads on
Eel skin jigs/plugs is just the skin wrapped around either a, well , eel skin plug or eel skin jig... PITA, but very worth it...

[stormfish]

Originally Posted by reelecstasy

Rigged eels have their heads on
Eel skin jigs/plugs is just the skin wrapped around either a, well , eel skin plug or eel skin jig... PITA, but very worth it...

Half chomped freakishly twitching eels work well for some reason too...

[Rockfish9]

I use eels both dead and alive, most times i"m in less than 5' of water, the fish are right on top, an eel on the bottom catches no fish..

I combine a technique of slow trolling with an electric motor and casting and retrieving, both live and dead/rigged eels work for this...


Here's a few pics of rigging a dead eel I did for a seminar awhile back,

[Rockfish9]

a few more pics

[Rockfish9]

now with the tail hook in place place your front hook and weight(if desired)