I've been shirking this thread, too much fishing... things slowed down last night so I had time to think...
Todays topic.. Battle eel at fishing stadium....
I've said before, and it bears repeating, eels are probaly the most versatile bait on the planet....Fished from a boat or the beach, live lined, cast and retrieved, slow trolled or 3 wayed eels will do buisness day or night....
Keeping eels: if your only concern is keeping them alive for a short outing, a few (12-15) can be kept in a bucket with NO WATER for the lenth of the trip, either mist them or dunk them in water to keep them from drying out too much...
If the weather is hot, a bag of ice or a few ice packs in with the eels will keep them from over heating( if you use ice be sure the melted water and slime can drain out or the eels will drown in their own slime), it also has the added bonus of slowing them down for hooking.... I keep mine in a "double" bucket, it consists of a bucket, witha cut off bucket liner, the liner has 1/4" holes in the bottom to drain out the slime or allow me to take out the insert, dunk in water and return to the bucket...
A small quantity of eels can be held over for a few weeks in a large cooler withan aquarium pump and air stone, 10% of the water should be changed daily and the air stones should be scraped witha dull knife to clean the pores, eels tend to ball up on the stone thus reducing it's effectivness.
I keep my eels under the dock in an old olive jar "keeper" with a screw top, it is weighted with a flat rock to keep it down in the cooler water and out of the eyes of thieves... yes people steal eels when they know you have a supply.
Trapping:
Eels can be trapped (check your local laws) using minnow traps or eel traps, clams and horseshoe crabs are a favored bait ( again check your local laws before using horshoe crabs) but any fish bait will catch eels, but the fish deteriotes rapidly...
Look for eels in deep water holes close to shore, around pilings and docks, holes next to rock piles seem to hold a special attractant...
Fishing the fun part....
In water less than 25-30' that is not a raging torrent, I dont use any weight, a lively fresh eel will head for the bottom.. after all, the bottom is their home.
deeper than that and the need for weight comes into play, if the water is running hard, a weight may also be needed here, dont be afraid to experiment... you might teach me something!
When I fish the "offshore" rips or the river mouth during a hard run, I employ a fishfinder with a twist, I tie a 18" lenght of light mono to the fish finder and attach the needed size bell sinker to that, the leader holding the bait is short12" max, this keeps the eel away from the line with the sinker... if the tide is running hard, there are usaly no problem...Egg sinkers and rubber cores can be used but they tend to cause problems, the biggest one being line fray....Sand often clogs the holes in the egg sinker, thus allowing the bass to feel the extra weight and drop the bait... sometimes they will carry off a sash weight and could care less...I prefer to be prepared for the pickey eater.
Shallow water... this is where IMHO, eels are at their deadliest, they can be slowtrolled withan electric motor or cast while you drift....
For trolling, I use a pair of 7' Shimano beastmasters paired with Penn GTI 320 lever drags, I love this combo, they are leval wind so anyone on board can use them, the lever drag keep would be tinkerers from screwing with my preset drag..set it and forget it...These are spooled with 60lb Power pro, I run a 10' lenghts of #40 mono shock leader, this keeps the braid away from the mussel beds and rocks as most of my fish come from less than 3' of water, the bottom constanly changes where I fish and at the start of each day, it's cheaper and alot more practical to change 10' of frayed mono than cut off 10 or 15' of braid... to the shock leader, I tie 18" of 20 or 25lb mono, it all depends on how nasty the bottom is... to the buisness end I tie a 4/0 Gamagatsu Octopuss style hook, these hooks are sharp and strong... I always snell the hook, it is my belief that it makes for a truer running more naturaly presented bait...For swivel, which serves three funtions,I use the smallest that is practical, seeing as each manufacturer has different size for thier own breaking srtrength, It is hard to recomend an exact size, the spro HD 220lb swivels are small, stainless but are a little pricey..The first funtion is of coarse, the connection from leader to shock or main line,the second is to help eliminate any possible twists, but the most important funtion is to keep the ell from sliding up the line and wrapping around the rod tip as you try to land a large fish, any one who has been "there" know exactly what I mean.
My casting outfit is light by most standards and I woudnt recomend this outfit for beginners,it consist of a custom 6.5' lamiglass blank and a Quantum Cabo PT 40 reel loaded with 15lb Ande Tournoment line, it is light and I can cast it all night with minumum fatigue,yet it cas the backbone to put a hurting on the biggest bass i can find, the Cabo is an exellent reel witha first class drag, set at 4lb of drag, I've taken fish to 49lbs and everything in between, so far.... no contest.
I would normaly recoment a 6'5-7' rod with a medium- soft tip but a strong back bone, the rod needs to flex evenly from tip to butt, having a soft tip and strong range on the rod will keep you from launching too many eels seward, sans the hook...
When casting and retrieving,keep the rod at the 1:00 (or 11:00) position, reel slowly, with an ocasional stop, give the bait a twitch every so often and then let the bait rest...it's amazing how many hits occur right at the rest/twitch... and for heavans sakes, fish the dam thing all the way to your feet or to the boat..... If I had a dollar for every fish I've hooked up at my boot tops or as the eel was being lifted into the boat...I'd retire today and go fishing...when you feel the tell tale tap, drop the rod tip and wait for the line to come tight, then hit 'em hard! Treat every tap, no matter how faint like it's a monster, often times(big) bass will barely nudge the eel. even though they are 30lb class fish (last night was one of those nights) Big bass normaly ( not always) stun the eels and swallow it head first, small bass usualy ( not always) peck at the eels and try and swallow it tail first... they aint learned yet.. that's why their in schools ( OK bad joke, lack of sleep)
Hooking live eels...This is the hard part for most people.... most people use a rag, grab a bait and the fight begins.... I use a different approach although I sometimes use a rag, most of the time I grab them with my bare hands... here;s the trick, I apply the "Roc" stunner, I seek out my bait (usaly the largest serpant in the bucket) I then scoop it up and posistion it in my hand, to get the belly up,if you handle them gently, they dont seem to go ballistic,once I get my eels posistioned, belly up, I jam my thumb into the base of the skull HARD,this makes them go limp, the tail may twitch a little, but 99 out of 100 will allow you to hook them without a fight... In my picture the eel you see is very much alive... and as the picture shows... no rag...once hooked( ever try and hold an eel and operate a camera, I may be the first on earth to do it), toss the eel over the side, because once you release the "stunner" it will be some pissed off!
Hook placement, it's a matter of prefferance, I like to hook up through both jaws, dead center, it goes along with my belief that a straight swimming bait is a natural looking bait... it also keeps the eel from spinnig when retrieved or trolled... some prefer to hook through the lower jaw and out the eye socket...
Eel Stunner
Leader
Eel Bucket