hooklength type for eels

[Phone]

All,

 

Question? Do you use slamon eggs for eel. Not caught many but the few I caught were often on salmon eggs.

 

Phone

[Worms]

All,

 

Question? Do you use slamon eggs for eel. Not caught many but the few I caught were often on salmon eggs.

 

Phone

It's illegal to use eggs/roe as bait in the UK Phone!

[Worms]

As a teenager I used to catch eels....shock horror, and sell them as a way of funding my habit (angling and r/c aircraft). I used to catch 2-3 a night at 2-3lb and get £2.50/lb in the mid 70s!...for live eels.

 

I used to use 6lb Winfield (Woolworths) line and long-shanked fine wire size 6 hooks with half fillets of gudgeon as bait......never got bitten off/busted!...either good luck or maybe just paying attention!

 

My biggest was just over 4 1/2lb..still my PB!

[Phone]

Worms,

 

Dam!! - - - - busted again.

 

Phone

[John Weddup]

Thankyou very much

 

Some long and very interesting replies. Thanks for taking the time.

 

Budgie if you say eels don't mind wire then I believe you. Very fussy who I believe about fishing these days. I will get some quicksilver and use that on most waters I am on although have been using fluoro at present. Always have wire with me know so will give it a go when fishing deadbaits. A slight worry is the amount of carp that pick up a deadbait.

 

Dales the maggot feeder rig was fixed I guess. I have been using a lot of pva stocking through the colder weather allowing me to present a small pile of maggots right on my hookbait. I guess a short hooklength to the lead would work the same.

 

When using short hooklengths to fixed lead what happens if you land on soft silt. I can be fishing one particular swim where the silt is in bands and is impossible to tell if you have landed on it antil you pull in and find bomb stuck. With my longer feeder setups it does not matter and I catch on the silt just aswell So I am not keen on trying to avoid silty area's.

 

Dave I don't think big eels are any scarcer than they ever have been. Its the small one that are missing. The broads and fens used to be full of elvers. I remember as a kid, very very long time ago, seeing mle apon mile of black water along the edges of drains about 2ft wide which was elvers. The eels have started to be caught again on the fens and broads but for a few years thhey were completely missing.

 

Obviously long term big eel numbers will reduce but as they live so long it will probably be a while. Chatting to the bailiff on a water I am fishing a lot at present we discussed the local otter situation. He has been on the many islands throughout the winter working and found only the odd small carp but lots of remains of seriously big eels.

 

I shall be dabbling with eels again this summer as several stillwaters I fish have some big ones in but will mix it with my bream and tench fishing. If I get too messy I will be putting a tutti fruity boilie back on. LOL

 

John

[Dales]

John, yeah it was semi-fixed to create the bolt effect. The short hook length can make it problematric on silt and when Tench fishing on deeper silt I also use a lead + longer hooklength. But if fishing in to shallow silt and still wanting to use the shorter hook length, I go for soft braid and hair rig the bait and add PVA nuggets all around the hook, so the feeder should stick in to the silt but the hook length should stay above it. Even if it does get buried the Tench still seem to find it.

 

The general opinion is that eels do not like to dig about for food (I am not totaly convinced they do not) but assuming the theory is right then it would not be good to get your hook bait and feeder lost in the silt. I think Tench, Bream and carp will grub about and still find your hookbait as long as it's not to deeply buried. So the method does have a number of limitations and would be more suited to a fishing a firm bed particularly when traiding a supple soft braid for quicksilver which is a coated style braid. However the lip hook ups make it worthy of further experimentation. Not the best deep silt method, but then again I have not caught many eels from silty areas but my knowledge is skewed by doing almost all my eel fishing on one water and so my methods are highly influenced by what works there. How transferable they are to other waters is open to question.

 

I was using the feeder below at the weekend but the short hook length method should work from any feeder/lead. The hook ups I had at the weekend where extraordinary and has given me plenty to think about as regards a potential eel fishing method.

 

 

http://www.tedcarter.co.uk/drennan/drennan-bolt-rig-inline-maggot-feeders

[Dave H]

John

Not dis believing what has been said to you but it's the first I have heard of an increase of eels but here is hoping you are right.

I am sure Budgie will be along to comment as I had 16 years off and was astounded that some of said a 99% detioration in numbers in that time. So I can't physically give my opinion on it on what I have noticed

Indeed at Wingham the average size on the coarse lake used to be 3lb but only a few years later is below 2lb according again to the guys who have fished it.

I am still not sure whether my theory of a closed bale arm won't work. Indeed in the Video where it is being demonstrated they are closed. All the closed arm does is use a bolt action but you can see the mechanics above the water getting a better idea. The resistance is steady as the line is still coming down from the reel as it would underwater but better consistency as underwater if it snags just for a micro second on a tiny bit of weed it will disrupt the resistant rate but up top nothing can. Then what's the difference between then striking once the line is taken with the line hitting the weak bait runner. In fact the slow consistency of the same pace is better is better than the runner than picking the rod up and if you don't get there quick enough actually strikes for you. In fact I have been thinking of using this for all running rigs as the weight can be adjusted to hold the flow counter reacting too and the distance in which you give the fish to run can be adjusted using the roll over arm. I put this to an eel member and a few do use this system when it suits them especially on a heavy tow. Again surely you can see more on top of the water than below when watching whats going on and then the baitrunner is used as the weight in effect and can be adjusted accordingly. This still depends on the hooklength not snagging on the bottom but there is nothing you can do about that .

Before the baitrunner i can see the open arm theory as it would just stop the fish in its tracks and you would see your rod disappearing across the lake.

I have caught eels in the past on a bolt set up as many a carp angler has on bolt rigs and i think as long as the Eel has enough hook length to feel confident in taking the bait it will take it .

I am happily proved wrong on my theory as that’s why i have started to try to target eels but it was interesting that some very experienced eelers thought and practiced the same thing

With Pike the idea is totally a no go as how can you tell a drop back.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Dave H

[Dick Dastardly]

Definitely no lack of adult eels in still waters (generally) at present. It is definitely the lack of elvers/glass eels making it back to our rivers thats the problem.For what its worth (after reading many reports and theories) I believe the problem is as follows-

 

Adult eels are still returning to the Sargasso and still breeding successfully.Their offspring though are for some reason not getting back to us in the same numbers.These are facts gained by various investigations into the problem (incidentally most financed by the commercial sector) One train of thought thinks the glass eels are not surviving the journey back to our shores (Europe in general) in the numbers they should and many possible reasons are given from Global Warming to pollution.The other theory (and the one I subscribe to myself) is that as glass eels dont actually "swim" back (they are so small they are carried in the currents with many other plankton sized creatures) they are at the mercy of the currents and tides.It has been believed (for several years now) that several of the strongest oceanic currents have changed (along with other natural phenomenon such as the Jet Stream which drastically affected out weather last year!) Hopefully Dave (Vagabond) will see this and contribute as Oceanography is his field. If this is true the currents that have carried the glass eels back to our (Europe) shores could have moved enough to be affecting this return be it simply dumping them else where or just passing them through different areas where the conditions (water temperature most likely) is different enough to affect/kill many. This is certainly where a lot of the research is now looking.

[Dick Dastardly]

Just adding to what Dales says about eels not liking to grub around.Totally agree and thats why (IMO) dead maggots over silt or gravel even beat live maggots as an attractor feed for eels hands down.

[Dave H]

A clip from the Zandavan site showing Eels caught in NZ. Look out for 20lber at the end

 

http://www.zandavan.co.uk/dvds.html

Edited April 18, 2013 by Dave H