Wingham Fish-In dates 2013

[Dave H]

I am still jelous of that Eel. Can you tell me more about it as i am sure dale would like to know as we fished solid for them last year and never got anything bigger than a 2 lb...What's the secret .

[John Weddup]

I am still jelous of that Eel. Can you tell me more about it as i am sure dale would like to know as we fished solid for them last year and never got anything bigger than a 2 lb...What's the secret .

 

Hi Dave the best way to catch a big eel is don't weigh it.

 

Not suggesting the one you refer to is such but most anglers guess the weights of their bigger fish unless they are so called specimen anglers.

 

I lose track of 14inch chub that weigh 6lbs plus or tench and bream that are double figures or 30lb carp that are 2ft long.

 

Big fish not weighed are just big fish.

 

All fish are impossible to guess but some are easier than others. Big eels always get guestimated at much more than they are.

 

John

Edited April 29, 2013 by John Weddup

[Dales]

I am still jelous of that Eel. Can you tell me more about it as i am sure dale would like to know as we fished solid for them last year and never got anything bigger than a 2 lb...What's the secret .

Not sure what we got wrong, maybe swim choice? Starting to think that if you are catching smaller ones, then your chances of a big one on that session is not so great. Just seems when I catch eels they tend to be in the same sort of size class, be that big or small. Maybe we should pay attention to any eel reports at the Fish-In. We should encourage everyone to fish maggot and worm.

 

Damn you Mr H, you have got me thinking about big eels again :-)

[Phone]

John Wed,

 

No truer words were ever spoken. My favorite expression is "A SHADE" as in "I caught a perch a shade under 10 lbs". In this case "a shade" amounted to about eight and a half pounds.

 

I will say, I nearly always UNDERestimate carp caught in powerful rivers. Big river carp are just more solid than normal carp.

 

Phone

[Dave H]

Not sure what we got wrong, maybe swim choice? Starting to think that if you are catching smaller ones, then your chances of a big one on that session is not so great. Just seems when I catch eels they tend to be in the same sort of size class, be that big or small. Maybe we should pay attention to any eel reports at the Fish-In. We should encourage everyone to fish maggot and worm.

 

Damn you Mr H, you have got me thinking about big eels again :-)

 

 

We just don’t have hard evidence enough to know what is really in there. Hopefully Steve can invite the Eel club down again maybe in July or August this or next year and I am sure more will turn up and you and I and Steve could get a better picture. The weather can’t be any worse than it was this year as at -6C you can’t think of a harder fish to catch in those conditions. I felt like Scott of the Antarctic!

I think movement is the only answer but it would have to be roving at night with a big lob and that would rightly not be allowed for many a reason. Or a change in bait to stop the smaller eels and that would not be allowed either but if it were and a select few as a select few carp anglers on the lake were allowed but only to use these tactics in the dark hours and not in the light as this would rule out the Perch for sure we may get a much better picture.

A carp or Tench or Bream angler has 24/7 chance of catching where the eel angler has say 6 hours that’s a huge difference. Many can stick a worm out at midnight and get an eel but how many get deep hooked I bet those who are not fishing for them are around 90%. Not their fault as they are not setting out for them but my point is Dale are the size of eels you caught 3 years ago dead due to this and have not moved at all or the pike are ravenous in the lake and I wonder if they are stopping the growth rate too as the big ones have not moved from the carp lake?

Why would a 4lb Eel from the carp lake stay there and yet one from the coarse lake move away after all there is more food available to them. How many carp anglers must have caught these eels on the carp lake deep hooked them and they still have not died so is the deep hooking theory to be dismissed and the predatory theory right on the coarse as after all there are some big perch in there too.

Interesting to hear Budgie and Steve’s take on this

[Steve Burke]

I don't think there's any doubt that the average size of the eels in the Carp Lake is bigger. Which lake holds the biggest is debatable as the Main Lake is older. However we don't have enough data as so few fish for eels.

 

Indeed, few use worm, the best perch bait at Wingham (despite it being a brilliant tench bait!), so we know all too little about the perch either. The hollow 4lber Dales caught was immediately after spawning so would have been quite a bit bigger a few weeks earlier or later.

[Steve Burke]

Keep a look out for the topic announcing I'm taking bookings. Depending on my work load this is likely to be about the day after tomorrow (Thursday).

[Dales]

Dave, I agree if they are still in the Carp lake then it should follow they are likely to still be in the coarse lake. Maybe the coarse lake has had more smaller eels enter it in the last season or so giving the impression that some of the bigger ones have moved on but it's just a case of the smaller ones getting to the bait first.

 

Does any one now what triggers eels to do the off?

[ayjay]

 

 

Does any one now what triggers eels to do the off?

Is it Budgie; going for a swim?

[AddictedToScopex]

When I had the 2 4lbers (and yes John they were all weighed) I was fishing over a bed of bait designed to try and bring lots of them in. On the 2nd night when I had them I fished with eels in mind. It was a mix of maggots, casters, predator plus and brown crumb along with a fishmeal base. I fished two huge lobs over the top of it on a short hooklink. I cant say for sure that any of what I used contributed to the size of the eels but it certainly did a great job of bringing eels into the swim.

 

This weekend I fished a small pond and had another 4lb eel. To look at the water you would have no idea it could hold them. I had it on double maggot on a waggler set up so worlds apart from what I used at wingham. At the end of the day if the big ones are there and you are using an animal bait there is every chance you will catch one. No need to over think it. Just put the appropriate bait in and off you go.

 

Edit: Using a short hooklink at wingham led to hooking them at the front of the mouth. As I mentioned to steve the day before I had had trouble with one or two taking it down and so made the appropriate changes to the rig. When I fished the float the deep hooking wasnt an issue. I would be tempted to fish a waggler with a starlight at night if I really wanted to avoid deep hooking as much as possible. Lovely way to fish too.

Edited April 30, 2013 by AddictedToScopex