Fishing With Live Eels

[gymrat987654321]

Summer is pretty much over so let's talk fall stripers. How do you rig your eels when fishing from shore? From boat? What size hook and leader? How big or small are the eels you use? Do you just cast and wait? Or do you cast and retrieve? Any other info you would like to add about fishing eels in the fall?

[Hunter 2]

From the boat I use eels that are usually 9" to 13" long. I keep them in a bucket in the water at the dock with a screw on lid. I paint the inside of the bucket black and drill 3/8 inch holes all over the sides of the bucket. I put a few sinkers in the bucket to keep the bottom submerged. They will stay alive for weeks if you give them some food.
    When fishing I put them in a small cooler with a rag wet with saltwater and a frozen Gatorade bottle or Icepack. This slows them down and makes them easy to handle.
     I fish the with a 5/0 Gamakatsu circle hook. Hook them through the bottom jaw and out the top of the mouth. On a 5 foot leader  tied to a 3 way swivel. I use a 18" to 24" light mono line on the bottom with a sinker. If it gets snagged the mono will break easily. Tie the other loop to your main line and drift over structure.
    This rig is a proven Striper catcher.
   

[Fisherman120]

I haven't fished using eels but John Skinner knows his stuff.

[Ms Fish]

Great ideas Eddie, I know I'll use these this year!

[Bucktail]

Good post Eddie.

Gymrat,

The way you rig them will depend mostly on how and where you fish.

As a general rule, you want to always keep the eel moving.  Anchoring it with a pyramid sinker and the rod in a sand spike is the surest way to wind up with a big, slimy, tangled mess.

In deeper water, from a boat, the 3-way rig is the way to go.

Back in the day I spent many, many long nights in my boat drifting the channels and rips with eels behind the sod banks by Barnegat Light.  My rig was a 48" length of 40 or 50 lb. fluoro leader with a barrel swivel on one end and a 5/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook on the other end. 

For that type of fishing, we would generally use no weight at all.  If the current was particularly strong, we would add a small rubbercore sinker.  Hooked eels will always swim down towards the bottom.  So, where I was fishing (in 30' of water or less), heavy sinkers were not needed. 

I would also use a similar rig for fishing the rips down in Cape May.  Although, instead of the rubbercore sinker, we used a one or two ounce in-line or egg sinker.

However, in the deeper, strong current areas of the Raritan Bay a 3-way swivel and a heavy sinker are a must.

Use these same ideas and apply them to where you fish.  If you are casting from shore use a shorter leader (around 18").  If the water is deep and fast moving you will need some weight to get your eel down quickly before it moves out of the strike zone.  If the water is shallower and slower, try using no weight at all.  Just cast it out and slowly reel it back in.  Remember, hooked eels will always swim down towards the bottom.  So, if you require a sinker, use the lightest one you can get away with.

Lastly, hook your eel from the bottom of its mouth and either out a nostril or an eye socket.  Do not go too far back into its head or you will kill it.

Hope this helps.  Good luck!

Pics below:
1.  Eel rigs
2.  In-line, rubbercore and egg sinkers
3.  A decent, eel caught, striper

[gymrat987654321]

Great posts guys. Thanks!

[Royalstewart]

Hunter 2 has it exactly right!  We just used 6/0 circle hooks in Maine and with nearly the exact rig and caught a ton of Strippers!  We just left the eels in our bait well and the live for a long time without the the water even circulating.  Hardest thing is hooking the wee slimmy things, I would suggest some good fishing gloves.

[Capt. Carl]

I use the 3 way religiously. I will usually start with a 4 ft leader and a 4ft dropper to the sinker. I will adjust the dropper length depending on what depth I am marking fish at.....I want that eel right at eye level when it goes by that bass. 6/0 J hooks seem to be the way to go....you can also use circles but I find the eels can tail hook themselves a lot when trying to squirm off the hook. Some of my best fishing is when the current is flying at 2 knots.....so we have to fish 12 to 24 ounces on the norm

[Ms Fish]

I use the 3 way religiously. I will usually start with a 4 ft leader and a 4ft dropper to the sinker. I will adjust the dropper length depending on what depth I am marking fish at.....I want that eel right at eye level when it goes by that bass. 6/0 J hooks seem to be the way to go....you can also use circles but I find the eels can tail hook themselves a lot when trying to squirm off the hook. Some of my best fishing is when the current is flying at 2 knots.....so we have to fish 12 to 24 ounces on the norm

Not that I don't think Eddie knows his stuff, no doubt he does. But I have had the pleasure of fishing for them with Carl and let me tell you HE KNOWS HIS STUFF!!!! Sometimes one thing works better then the other. Find what works for you and go for it! Good luck!
P.S.See you soon Capt.   

[Spanky]

Last fall I used the gulp eels and they worked very well.

[BigAl13]

when I fish from the surf with eels I use a 4' leader with a wine cork by the hook, on a fish finder rig, with a 4 or 5 circle hook.  To bait the 3 easy steps 1) drop them in the sand (this chicken cutlets them and you can hold them) 2)Take your pliers and 2" up from the tail break its spine(this prevents them from wrapping up) 3) hook them under the lip and through the head close as you can to the edge(this keeps there mouths to be able to open and alive longer)

[Mbailey33]

I use the 3 way religiously. I will usually start with a 4 ft leader and a 4ft dropper to the sinker. I will adjust the dropper length depending on what depth I am marking fish at.....I want that eel right at eye level when it goes by that bass. 6/0 J hooks seem to be the way to go....you can also use circles but I find the eels can tail hook themselves a lot when trying to squirm off the hook. Some of my best fishing is when the current is flying at 2 knots.....so we have to fish 12 to 24 ounces on the norm

Not that I don't think Eddie knows his stuff, no doubt he does. But I have had the pleasure of fishing for them with Carl and let me tell you HE KNOWS HIS STUFF!!!! Sometimes one thing works better then the other. Find what works for you and go for it! Good luck!
P.S.See you soon Capt.   

He wasnt the only one that knew what they were doing.....I got tired watching you....   

[Luna Sea 5]

Fishing eels are good.  Most of the time they slide up your leader when the fish hits it and you can reuse the same eel.  The cons to this though, the bluefish will rip them in half and at the price of the eels, it will get expensive. 

[wimpy]

A nice hunk of burlap helps handling those snotty little bas@$ds when rigging them. And always keep'um cold like mentioned above.

[gymrat987654321]

Great responses. I have a few more questions. What is the smallest striper that you can catch on an average sized eel? What is the ratio of bluefish that actually get hooked as opposed to just bite the tail off? What do you do with the eels that get cut in half by blues? Any tips on catching the eels yourself? I checked the prices at my local shop and at $2 a piece that's kinda pricey. What is the biggest sized eel that you would feel comfortable using from shore? Any tips in fishing an area that is high in snags? Thanks guys. I plan on fishing eels a lot in October and November and every little bit of info helps.

[Capt. Carl]

Yeah....the eels get expensive....no way around it but its a hell of a lot easier than trying to catch what you need...it cuts into your fishing time if you have a limited schedule, but you can get them in most of the rivers using a crab or fish pot lined with fine mesh screening.
If you are surfcasting for them, my first spot would be on the tip of a jetty 2 hrs before and after the ebb tide.
What to do with a half bitten eel?.....throw them out if you want bass....if the blues are thick and that's what you want....change the bait over to bunker or something....eels are too damn expensive to keep losing to bluefish!

[Hotrod]

Joe Maitai make a good rig.. I've sold a good amount of these.

[ChrisL]

I only tried eels once and didn't really know what i was doing at the time.
Planning to give it another try this fall.  Actually may try it tonight or tomorrow night if I get out.  I'll be fishing them in the canal, river and maybe inlet. 

[Luna Sea 5]

Great responses. I have a few more questions. What is the smallest striper that you can catch on an average sized eel? What is the ratio of bluefish that actually get hooked as opposed to just bite the tail off? What do you do with the eels that get cut in half by blues? Any tips on catching the eels yourself? I checked the prices at my local shop and at $2 a piece that's kinda pricey. What is the biggest sized eel that you would feel comfortable using from shore? Any tips in fishing an area that is high in snags? Thanks guys. I plan on fishing eels a lot in October and November and every little bit of info helps.

When using eels, its best for drifting.  When drifting, it keeps the line tight and prevents the eel from knotting.  If you are surf fishing with them, you want to break the back bone first so it still squirms but wont tie itself.  The average size eel will catch any size striper.  Stripers don't bite them, they inhale them.  Actually, they inhale them, then turn them around and swallow them head first.  When they do that the eel usually slides up the line and you can reuse it.  When the bluefish cut them in half, they are garbage.  The bluefish won't take the heads and the stripers won't take them cut in half.  I usually eel fish as late in the season as possible when the bluefish are just about out of site. 

[wimpy]

 When the bluefish cut them in half, they are garbage.  The bluefish won't take the heads and the stripers won't take them cut in half.


What we call "Cigar Butts"