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The eel

Used to catch lots of Eels on the float on the Nene whlst trying to put a net of Roach together to try and win a section/match in the late 70s early 80's as a Junior. Every one of them ( a lot) were deep hooked and this was on float rigs designed to show the slightest dip from Roach on hot windless summer days.
Move on 10 or more years , Herts/Cambs/Bucks gravel pits after Tench , short hook link heavy feeder over dead maggots etc, maggots on a size 10 to 15lb braid,1.25lb t.c. rods. Lots of Eels to 5lb + every one lip hooked, released unharmed. They don't fight as hard as some would have you believe , they are rare creatures ,don't mess around and kill a few for the sake of it.
 
Can't answer definitively, Stuart. I've only seen one eel caught on a float. My mate fished a quill + maggots for tench after a thunderstorm, we saw a trail of single bubbles making towards it, the float twitched and dipped, he struck and after a spirited fight pulled in the biggest eel I've seen in the flesh.

Unfortunately, it escaped from my grip and got back in the lake while he was getting his weighing gear together and we never did find out what it went. With a bit of experience under my belt since, I'd guesstimate between 5 and 6lb.

A year or so later I lost a very big eel on the "pit" three times in two weeks. Each time I stepped up the tackle it broke me by fraying the trace on its "teeth". The size of it was such that I never got it up off the lake bottom (8 ft), which was snag-free and is my archetype "Lost Monster" for the many years that the fish has haunted me.

The thing with eels is to have tackle strong enough to get them immediately away from anything they can snag you up on, bearing in mind they swim backwards as well as forwards.

I guess a lot depends on the eel population where you're fishing. If you're after specimen eels in a big pit, the blanks are likely to be many. If it's a smaller lake, you might get a few quite quickly before they wise up. Why not try one rod traditional JS style and fish a float on the other?
 
Stuart, the "usual" eel rigs are self hooking setups, intended to avoid deep hooking whilst the angler is sleeping etc. There seems to be a general feeling that eels are nocturnal, quite why that is ,I don,t know, I think its wrong, I,ve caught many more big eels during daylight than at night, both intentionally and by accident whist piking/barbelling/salmon fishing! Other anglers fishing for them on a pit found that all the big fish were caught during daylight, especially PM, whereas nights tended to produce mainly smaller samples!
There,s no reason not to use float gear, apart from range, free running leger rigs with light bobbins on a long drop work just fine, balance the .weight of the bobbin to combat drift.
peter
 
David Will said:
Every one of them (a lot) were deep hooked and this was on float rigs designed to show the slightest dip from Roach on hot windless summer days.
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That's the sort of food for thought that I was expecting, David. Thanks. I certainly don't want to be using any methods that have an increased chance of causing harm to anything I catch.

I've caught quite a few eels on the W. Avon when fishing hair-rigged meat either with a lead or feeder (at all times of the day) and they have always been lip hooked too. However, what it doesn't tell you is how many fish have picked it up and dropped it again on feeling the resistance (especially with hair-rigged baits).

Anyway, I will be sure to let you know how I get on after my session proper session on Saturday night. Thanks for your thoughts.

Stu
 
Peter self hooking rigs for eels ?. I use the J/S rig like most eel anglers do and I can tell its not self hooking mate .With eel fishing its hitting them runs you could have 10 runs a night if you hit half of them you done well. Im been using the dyson rig for eels but not caught on this set up so cant really comment about the runs and hit ratio. I know a water where the eels get caught during the day very little in the night. I was talking to Barry MaConnell about same thing he told me of a water he use to fish where they was also blanking on there during the night but he having the eels during the day .I use Rollover Indicators for my eel fishing have a look at them
 
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I've had plenty of eels from 6" to over 6lbs on float fished worms from Redmire, especially when fished over a bed of dead maggots.
 
Hi Nigel,

Have you been intentionally fishing for the eels on the float gear when you've caught them? Any cases of the deep hooking that David mentioned?

Stu
 
Hi Stu

I'm happy catching either and the carp and eels are clearly competing together in the same swim. I've hooked and landed eels, dropped the float straight back in to see it fly away as a carp powers off. I've had no problems whatsoever with deep hooking the eels but I am fishing the margins and hit any bites straight away. Even when maggot fishing there for gudgeon I have invariably picked up eels but they too have been caught from almost under the rod tip and are invariably lip hooked.
 
Think I,ll try an experiment on a "virgin" eel water, they are certainly in there, a pest whilst piking in the autumn, Circle hooks,fished on a backstop type boltrig setup, might take a bit of adjusting the setup to get it right, but could work, nothing ventured etc!!!!!
peter
 
Afternoon all,

The first eel session only produced bream and tench, but the conditions weren't ideal, so I'm not too concerned.

Ended up fishing the JS rig on one rod and float fished on a second in the margin with a night light insert. Both fish fell to the float rod!

Will keep you posted on progress.

Stu
 
I was on worm baits Steve as that is what the eels have fallen to before on this particular water, so I've assumed that I'm dealing with a population of 'narrow heads' and that fish baits might not be as effective. Would you agree with that?
 
What size do the eels go to Stuart?

I've never fully subscribed to the theory that only one 'type' of eel eats one type of food source.
At the end of the day they are predators and I'm sure they don't ignore any opportunity to take an easy meal.

It would be a real shame if one of the big fish had a taste for fish and you only gave it worm's.......

Plus, you wouldn't have had to suffer 'Bream' net the next morning.....

Steve
 
Steve Williams said:
Plus, you wouldn't have had to suffer 'Bream' net the next morning.....
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True but I might end up suffering 'bone dry net' the next morning, which would be equally as bad! :D

I think you're right though, I think I'll fish one rod on worm next time and one rod with a very small deadbait.

The eels that I know were caught last year by tench anglers varied in size but there were a couple of 5lb+ fish, which was more than enough to whet my appetite.
 
Last season I landed a good sized eel on a dry fly from a local stillwater.

Not reccomending it as a tactic to adopt mind. :D
 
I agree with Steve on the "Narrow" & "Wide" mouth debate. I don't think any eel will pass up any edible offering, whatever it is.

Friend of mine had a 7.11 P.B. a few days ago after a carp angler told him he'd seen it whilst up a tree fish-spotting.

45" long and 10"+ girth. (The eel, that is.)
 
Simon King said:
I agree with Steve on the "Narrow" & "Wide" mouth debate. I don't think any eel will pass up any edible offering, whatever it is.

Friend of mine had a 7.11 P.B. a few days ago after a carp angler told him he'd seen it whilst up a tree fish-spotting.

45" long and 10"+ girth. (The eel, that is.)
Click to expand...

Just seen photos of this eel :D amazing and also another very big eel got caught the weekend .Just hope its the stat of things to come
 
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