Unhooking eels

[slodger]

I've recently had a look at the National Anguilla club site. Their reccomendation is to leave the hook behind in any deep hooking situation and cut the line as close to the eels mouth as is safely possible. Good advice IMO. Eels and disgorgers do not generally mix well. I've found in the past that, despite their tough exteriors, eels are incredibly easily damaged by probing around the throat area with such implements as disgorgers.

 

Anyway, I think I may have come up with a helpful way of lessening the impact of any hooks that have to be left behind, and I thought I'd pass the tip on for consideration by other eel anglers.

 

The simple change I've made is to create my hooklength from a loop. I.e I form a loop of around 6-8" depending on how I'm fishing. By attaching the hook onto the extended loop, in the event of a deeply hooked eel, I can simply snip one side of the loop with scissors and pull ALL of the hooklength material free of the eels mouth/throat, leaving absolutely nothing but the hook behind.

 

Any comments chaps?

 

Regards Chris

[Leon Roskilly]

Excellent idea Chris

 

 

By the way, has anyone tried using small circle hooks for eels?

 

 

They seem to work quite well for perch which suffer similar problems of deep-hooking (but with a very different mouth structure).

 

 

http://www.nationalanguillaclub.co.uk/

 

http://eelnac.freeforums.org/

Edited August 9, 2009 by Leon Roskilly

[benacre]

I have never actually had a deep hooked Eel but would try and remove the hook if possible. I may trial these circle hooks by experimenting with them on another rod. anything to protect our fish stocks.

[Andy Macfarlane]

By the way, has anyone tried using small circle hooks for eels?

 

Is there anything you won't try circle hooks for??

 

What is it with circle hooks you find so fascinating Leon? I'm just asking but it seems to be the only thing you talk about these days, like they're the answer to all your hook problems....whatever they were in the first place.

 

If they were that good, more people than just you and a few others would be using them.

 

Hook patterns are different shapes for a reason (you know that obviously) so why even bother trying circles with eel? What is it you think circles that will solve? I don't think they'll solve deep-hooking eels.

 

A T-bar or an anti-gorge device will serve the purpose perfectly well and has done for years.

 

I can't see how circles could or would do a better job, than a device that prevent them gorging baits in the first place.

 

....andy....

[Leon Roskilly]

Is there anything you won't try circle hooks for??

 

Hi Andy,

 

I certainly wouldn't use circles for trout.

 

The greedy buggers will take a bait straight down, and due to the way their mouth and throat are constructed, delayed hooking with circles is so often way back in the throat, and difficult to unhook with a disgorger.

 

If you are used to rolling out circle hooks, then it is possible using forceps (but difficult).

 

But I now avoid using circles when fishing for (say) perch, where there is a good chance of hooking a trout instead.

 

 

So, certainly not a solution for all problems.

 

 

In fact my initial experiment was to see if these would be usesful for numpties fishing for pike, where often deep-hooking occurs and they don't have the skills to deal with it (nor seem that interested in learning to deal with pike properly).

 

But although I now use circles as a matter of routine for my own piking and perch fishing (and bass), there is a learning curve in both succesful hooking and dealing with a hooked fish, so I wouldn't promote them as a 'cure all' by any means.

 

 

Eels (like perch) have vital organs high up near to their throat, and poking about with instruments such as disgorgers can easily cause fatal damage, even if the fish seems to swim away well after unhooking (thus the advice by the NAC to leave the hook in situ and cut the line, rather than poking around with a disgorger).

 

As circles are designed to avoid hooking down the throat or deeper, and in most cases lead to a lip-hooked fish, I was wondering whether anyone had tried them for eels and if so whether we were looking at beneficial outcomes, or the situation that seems to happen with trout.

 

Angling has changed significantly in the almost 60 years that I've been fishing, with new ideas, techniques, tackle etc not only increasing catch rates, but leading to far safer outcomes for the fish we target.

 

It's not a process that I see ending anytime soon.

 

Circle hooks are just one of the innovations that are proving their potential worth in a variety of fisheries, and for a number of species, and are used by a growing numer of anglers. I want to understand more fully just what benefits they might have for the fishing I do, and where their use might be inappropriate.

Edited August 9, 2009 by Leon Roskilly

[Sportsman]

Intentionally fishing for large eels is one of the few coarse fishing opportunities up here in the frozen North so I have been doing some research before giving it a go.

A lot of authorities suggest that you should always use a wire trace when eel fishing, not only because of the possibility of a pike picking up your bait, but because of the teeth of the eel making short work of mono.

How does this tally with your idea and do others recommend a wire trace?

[chesters1]

I've recently had a look at the National Anguilla club site. Their reccomendation is to leave the hook behind in any deep hooking situation and cut the line as close to the eels mouth as is safely possible. Good advice IMO. Eels and disgorgers do not generally mix well. I've found in the past that, despite their tough exteriors, eels are incredibly easily damaged by probing around the throat area with such implements as disgorgers.

 

Anyway, I think I may have come up with a helpful way of lessening the impact of any hooks that have to be left behind, and I thought I'd pass the tip on for consideration by other eel anglers.

 

The simple change I've made is to create my hooklength from a loop. I.e I form a loop of around 6-8" depending on how I'm fishing. By attaching the hook onto the extended loop, in the event of a deeply hooked eel, I can simply snip one side of the loop with scissors and pull ALL of the hooklength material free of the eels mouth/throat, leaving absolutely nothing but the hook behind.

 

Any comments chaps?

 

Regards Chris

just chop their heads off and split them your hook will be back in a jiffy

or putting a booted foot on their dody and yanking hard will do pretty much the same but with the risk of loosing more hooks

[Dales]

The simple change I've made is to create my hooklength from a loop. I.e I form a loop of around 6-8" depending on how I'm fishing. By attaching the hook onto the extended loop, in the event of a deeply hooked eel, I can simply snip one side of the loop with scissors and pull ALL of the hooklength material free of the eels mouth/throat, leaving absolutely nothing but the hook behind.

 

Any comments chaps?

 

Regards Chris

 

I don't do much eel fishing, but its something to note if I am targeting them. It seems a good way of ensuring that no line is left behind.

[Dick Dastardly]

Im also going to try circles for eels when I get the time. Self hooking rigs may also be worth looking into a bit more as Ive noticed whilst tenching with maggots on method rigs that the bulk of any eels caught have been lip hooked.

[Vagabond]

Self hooking rigs may also be worth looking into a bit more as Ive noticed whilst tenching with maggots on method rigs that the bulk of any eels caught have been lip hooked.

 

Yes - look at the rig Poldark used for his PB eel