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Fishing eels from beach

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mets41

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1st I would like to say that I have caught my largest bass in the surf on a live eel, about 40lbs. Keep them on ice, this makes them easier to work with, they will recover once in the ocean. A 7/0-9/0 circle hook, 36" leader with a barrel swivel to your main line, a fishfinder setup to get it down to the bottom. A mesh bag for carrying works great. Work them in a current. If you can find some uncrowned beach to walk that would be great. If there are blues around, they will make cigar butts out of your offering. When you feel the hit, lower your rod tip, let the line get tight and start reeling, the circle hook will do its job, then cross his eyes.

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They are a  p.i.t.a. , imo, but obviously catch lots of bass.

Years ago  I caught fish off jetties and sod banks w them,

but on open beaches with any kind of swell, i just ended up

with a big ball of complete mess eel/leader knot. Had a guy tell

me that hooking the eel thru the tail will have it swim out thru

shorebreak. Anyone try this?

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31 minutes ago, mets41 said:

If you use a fishfinder setup, will eel ball up on bottom with weight?  

If you fish it like a lure you won’t have that problem as much. Someone on here gave me the idea of using rubber core sinkers to get it down deeper which is a good idea but most times unless the water is deep they will swim down themselves if you just let it sit out there. I use thicker hooks like love bait hooks and snell my hooks so they don’t have as much to get tangled in and if they do they’ll come out easy. You can use floss to tie them to the hook to keep them on but I don’t find this necessary most of the time. Biggest problem when it comes to eels is bluefish, they will cost you a lot of money in eels If they are around I switch to something else. Just cast out and retrieve super slow, way slower than you would retrieve a lure. Using a fish finder rig from sure is fine but it’s not the most efficient way. The best thing about eels is you can cover a lot of ground with them but you have the advantage of using bait. 

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Eels r where it's at! Be as selective as ya can at the shop you get them from. I like a good medium sized eel. Good for most conditions and stay on hook well. Bayyaker54 covered it really but I will ramble cause I'm bored. Ice is good idea from shop or home to fish spot. I get a dozen or 2 and keep them in a 30gal tote at home and run 1-2 aerators to it. Keep them in a cool dark place if ya can. Clean the tank out every couple of days. Then I use 2 5gal buckets to transport.  One with holes drilled in sides and bottom. Place that in the other and fill with water. Cheap battery aerator keeps them nice and alive till your at the beach. On hot days I add a bit of ice to keep them cool. The mesh bag is good. I use one for my surf belt but if ya don't have one use the bucket with holes used in trasport to carry to beach. Don't let them sit in water that's not aerated. They will die. So....now your at your spot. Slide one of your snakes out of your bucket or bag and chuck in the sand. Not on beach...bring sand with you in a small baggie. The sand helps you grab that slimy fish candy. Now take that eel and wack it against your bucket or side of shoe or a rock. Couple solid wacks should do it. Your not trying to kill it but you want to stun it a bit. Hook that up from underside of its chin and out an eye. Walk to shore and cast out. Not looking for distance yet. Reel it back in fast and repeat this a few times. The eel will tire enough so he won't knot up on ya. It's bound to happen first few times and you won't want it to happen again. Now it's on. Whip that out there and super slow retrieve. Just enough to feel the eel. Be alert cause if they r around they will slam it. Bow to the cow and feel it take it. Fish on! Big ones will rip the pole out of your hands if your not paying attention. They love them. I won't fish with anything else in the mid summer to fall if I can help it. All my 40+ fish have been caught off eels. Just saying

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