eel fishing tactics

[Dales]

I just copied this across from the Wingham Borrowing and Lending Thread as I did not want it to get to side tracked to much by me and Dave talking eel fishing. As Dave has posted a few eel topics recently I am sure he wants a good discussion on them. I just did not have enough knowledge to add much on the Fen Drains or Anquillicola crassus but up for a good eel catching thread

 

I also thought it might be interesting to start a general eel chat as some might end up catching an eel at Wingham by design or accident and unhooking techniques etc might be useful to know.

 

So is any one goming to Wingham planning to try for an eel?

 

That will be 3 of us targetting that elusuve 5lb Eel then. I have already bet Budge £5 i get the largest and he has said game on!. We could have a £15 pot here but watch out he may sneak a Greek note in there...

 

I shall be using my new Zandavan roll over arms for the first time. Which will mean i will be up 24/7 fiddling with them and not catch a damn thing!!

 

I am up for the pot as long as you don't class using bolt rigs as cheating for eels I think we should get a few between us, we had them last year to a good average size. The question is how big do they go? Glyn has had a real big one, hopefully one of us can get one near that. My thought are that it is not the sort of water that would produce a real monster but at the same time its fairly virgin territory and the eels receive almost no angling pressure other then accidental captures and so we are rather priveleged to fish for such unpressured fish.

 

Lets hope for wet nets and getting plastered in slime

 

I will have to wander over and take a look at the Zandavans, they look very interesting.

[Dales]

Dave, as you are going to be using the Zandavans, I guess you are thinking of fishing some sort of free running rigs?

 

I was thinking of maybe fishing a method feeder with a short semi fixed bolt rig on one rod. I am sure Den posted about having good results using this method and getting good lip hook ups.

[Guest Chris Perch]

Hi I watched the comlete angler on telly the other day and was most enlightened about handling and unhooking eels.

Aparantly you cover thier eyes which calms them a lot then lay them on the ground / mat etc and stroke thier lateral line in the demonstration they went completely limp and did not struggle at all.

An example here at 1.37 though there was a better example on the full length programme if you can find it.

[Dales]

Thanks Chris, unfortunatly I can not open u-tube links at work but will take a look tonight.

 

Is this the method when they put the eel on it's back? I have often heard conflicting views on whether putting them on the back is bad for them if left to long. I have tried the tactic of stroking them correct way up and it does calm them right up to about a second before the self take photo goes off. Which does lead to some interesting shots, I posted a few professional held shots of eels in last years Wingham catch report . There is one classic one of me holding one upside down tail end up, it shows how thick the fish was but after 3 quick tries of self take on my 10 second delay I gave up and put it back.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Dales

[AddictedToScopex]

Having caught a nice 3.5lb eel last year at wingham on the coarse lake I intend to not exclude them this year. By which I mean that I intent to use worms at night on one rod on the off chance that I am lucky enough to bag a big eel. I am more intent on catching a tench and will have another rod out for that which wont be on an animal bait but I cant resist leaving one rod out with eels half in mind. Using worms last year at night I had both an eel and a pike in one night (the only night I could spend there) and no sign of tench lol. Was glad to avoid the blank though and the eel fought like a thing possessed for its size.

[Steve Burke]

I've put Budgie, Dales and Dave in different areas to spread them out a bit. I've never fished for the eels on the Carp Lake, but intend doing so in about September when the nights are longer. So I'll be particularly interested to see how you get along.

 

The average size on the Carp Lake on last year's Fish-In was extremely high. Budgie, Wyeknot and Dales managed 28 eels between them. Incredibly no less than 24 of the 28 were over 3lbs with a best of 4-13 to Dales. That’s an average size the eel groups would be extremely interested in, especially given that the lake record is 5-08! That was caught by Glyn whilst carping. In fact the eel lads from the NAC are coming down to fish in September as I badly need some data on the eel stocks for fishery management purposes.

 

I did fish a few evenings for eels on the Coarse Lake many years ago and found it great fun. If it didn't mean a poor night's sleep I'd do a lot more eeling. There are lots of eels on the Coarse Lake, and although bootlaces are almost unheard of, the average size is somewhat smaller. In fact in recent years the number of eels has made fishing for bream with animal baits an impossibility.

 

As you see I've no real experience with eels, and the only contribution I can make is that I think undertow may be important, perhaps making scent trails easier to follow. Have others found the same, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

 

Another question - I'm guessing that eels are territorial. Can anyone confirm that?

[Guest Chris Perch]

I watched "the complete angler" programme with great interest and especially the bit on handling eels.

I have always struggled with unhoooking eels

When he landed them he covered thier eyes for a few seconds which calmed them no end then layed them on thier side and stroked thier lateral line.

He did this with half a dozen eels out of the keep net and they all went limp and did not struggle at all.

Geoffrey palmer and the other chap? also tried it and it worked for them too so im thinking thats got to be a good method.

[Dales]

Having caught a nice 3.5lb eel last year at wingham on the coarse lake I intend to not exclude them this year. By which I mean that I intent to use worms at night on one rod on the off chance that I am lucky enough to bag a big eel. I am more intent on catching a tench and will have another rod out for that which wont be on an animal bait but I cant resist leaving one rod out with eels half in mind. Using worms last year at night I had both an eel and a pike in one night (the only night I could spend there) and no sign of tench lol. Was glad to avoid the blank though and the eel fought like a thing possessed for its size.

 

They certainly do put up some fight When targeting the eels on the coarse lake I only ever put out 1 rod for them and have the other rods set up for the Tench. One thing I have noticed is that the eel rod can sometimes catch more Tnch then the dedicated Tench rods I think this shows what good baits worms can be for Tench and that they must like dead maggots.

 

I have a bit of a theory that eels being active in your swim may well attract the Tench. I don't have much data on it other then when I have specificaly targeted the eels and have ended up catching Tench. I think the eels feeding in the swim may stire up the groundbait, particles and dead maggots in to suspention and so release attractors both olfactory and visual. Do Tench see well in the dark, dont know But some times when it is not happening for me with the Tench fishing a change to fishing worms and catching eels has led to a bite from a Tench. Whether I would have had the Tench bite anyway, I don't know. But I am leaning towards the idea that eel feeding activity might attract the Tench. However if you are after the Bream, the commotion of playing and landing eels may well scare off the Bream.

[AddictedToScopex]

They certainly do put up some fight When targeting the eels on the coarse lake I only ever put out 1 rod for them and have the other rods set up for the Tench. One thing I have noticed is that the eel rod can sometimes catch more Tnch then the dedicated Tench rods I think this shows what good baits worms can be for Tench and that they must like dead maggots.

 

I have a bit of a theory that eels being active in your swim may well attract the Tench. I don't have much data on it other then when I have specificaly targeted the eels and have ended up catching Tench. I think the eels feeding in the swim may stire up the groundbait, particles and dead maggots in to suspention and so release attractors both olfactory and visual. Do Tench see well in the dark, dont know But some times when it is not happening for me with the Tench fishing a change to fishing worms and catching eels has led to a bite from a Tench. Whether I would have had the Tench bite anyway, I don't know. But I am leaning towards the idea that eel feeding activity might attract the Tench. However if you are after the Bream, the commotion of playing and landing eels may well scare off the Bream.

 

Well the theory is certainly a sound one. I would imagine you are correct to an extent. Do tench and eels compete though? By which I mean would an eel give a tench a nip if both competing for the same food source? Just a thought but I would imagine eels would be a little more aggressive and try to bully the tench away?

[Errrm]

My only experience catching eels was when half targeting them on a carp syndicate. I found on this lake fishing a standard semi bolt rig with a 3-4in hook length with a large halibut pellet did catch them. I never went all out to catch the eels though depsite wanting to I just never got around to it.

 

Dales mentioning leaving worms out into the night and catching nice eels and tench does sound fun.... maybe I'll see if I can catch some eels on the coarse lake. Damn you Dales..... my car is going to stink if I catch any ;-).