Eel Advice Needed

[Cowfish13]

About a 50m walk away from my house, there is a small creek and I've noticed alot of big Eels swimming around, or ambushing little fish or shrimp. Some of them would push a metre easyB)

I am interested in trying to catch some (so is a friend;)), but I'm unsure if they'll cope:huh:

Are Fresh Water Eels tough animals? ie, will they cope with being caught on a lure and then released?

And if so, what weight line and leader would be neccesary to stop them busting me off?

And what lures would work best?

I can easily sight cast to some of them. Today I had a look and there was a 1m long one about a couple of metres away from me waiting for food to come down the outlet pipes:cheer:

Thanks

[fishyman]

worm plastics maybe? :S i dunno really

[ellicat]

You could buy one of those fake dog poos from the magic shop and put a hook in it LOL.

Seriously I reckon bait's your best bet for an eel (but I'm mainly a bait fisho). The trusty old garden worm would do the trick.

They're as tough as old nails too, so unless they swallow a lure I think your conscience can be clear. Better still, forget your conscience and keep 'em for shark bait.

[Cowfish13]

That's good to hear that they're tough. I was so tempted to run home and get an SX40 to troll over the eels head today. I just had other stuff to do;)

My mate has been driving me nuts. He really wants to give it a go.

Do they fight hard though? or head for cover?

I really don't wanna lose a lure:)

[faulked]

no ideas on lures types but i can tell you they are very hardy but messy and smelly fairly small mouths so keep lure and hooks relatively small id guess an sx40/48 they seem to catch everything else

jason

[Cowfish13]

Thanks faulked:)

Guess we'll have to have a go soon:cheer:

[pinkey]

does the creek leed to anywhere like the river? yeh id say give it a go, just bring a pair of longnose plires, im 100% sure they would take lures. if they dont take the hbs they certanly wouldnt hesitate a wriggley sp

[Dinodadog]

A small chunk of mums best stesk on a small but strong hook with 20lb mono, when you get a bite wrap the line around your wrist once and walk backwards. Used to catch heaps down in Lismore when I was younger. Good luck Cowfish.

[Cowfish13]

pinkey wrote:

does the creek leed to anywhere like the river? yeh id say give it a go, just bring a pair of longnose plires, im 100% sure they would take lures. if they dont take the hbs they certanly wouldnt hesitate a wriggley sp

I'm not sure on that. It goes pretty far though. However, the section that I would be fishing it has sort of been damned. So there will always be water in there I guess:cheer:

Thanks Dino:)

With the 20lb, is that because they fight pretty hard?

[pinkey]

you should release a few bass into there , or even bream, just catch them from colleges crossing or somthing and they will probly survive.

[Cowfish13]

There are a few turtles in there as well. But there are a lot of Mosquito Fish and Rainbow fish as well. Thoguh not in that section

Beats me why there are Eels that size there:huh:

[shortie]

Cowfish13 wrote:

There are a few turtles in there as well. But there are a lot of Mosquito Fish and Rainbow fish as well. Thoguh not in that section

Beats me why there are Eels that size there:huh:

Ive lost many a jackall to eels at Maroon Dam. They wrap themselves around your line. I wouldnt be using expensive lures

[faulked]

yes eels do put up a strong fight and they love cover and rolling up in the line

[Terry H]

I'd happily show you how to catch them :laugh:

[Biggles]

I have never seen one caught on a lure, in saying that if they do you will probably loose it for sure. I have caught plenty on worms and bread but make sure you have heavy line and leader because they are powerful creatures. If you are going to target the big ones as a first go, make sure you take a camera as it will make for a great story one way or another.

Good luck & have fun

Regards

Al

[obone]

From what I’ve head, eels sound like bloody tough buggers. A family friend has something to do with a horse place near the blue mountains, and they had to dig a big pit, like a massively deep pool to swim the horses through. Because the horses are dirty, they have to drain the pool all the time and have often had eels thrashing around in the bottom of it when they drain it. And the closest water body is a fair way away. :dry:

Joel

[Cowfish13]

Thanks guys. Looks like Ecogear's are out;) I'll probably just use a soft plastic and crush down the barb on the jighead

I'll probably use 16lb fluro leader with 15lb braid when I go for them. Should be soonish as my mate is pretty keen:cheer:

[Dec]

I have caught many at my local creek on unweighted meat.I have even eaten 2 of them smoked them tasted good. But watch out they have teeth.

[Cowfish13]

Really:huh:?

Someone told us that freshies don't have teeth:blink:

Oh well, we've got some lip-grippers so that doesn't matterB)

[Terry H]

yeah mate, the freshies dont have teeth like pike eels. They've got a mouth similar to a catfishs I would say, hard rough sort of thing. I've never been bitten by one, so I can't tell you how hard they bite, but I've always imagined they would be able to bite down hard.

[faulked]

if its a pike eel cut it off or smash its head in dont muck around they have bad teeth that would hurt

[will]

they r a great figt but the only down side to them is as soon as u lift them up out of the water they will knot them selves around ur line.i have seen them get into such a knot they have died

[jeff f]

i think there are 2 sorts of freshie the shortfin and long fin

one has crushing plates and the other has teeth

don't know wich is wich though

[chubbstar]

I was catching Eels the other day using bread un-weighted on a #6 long shanked hook, 6lb braid and 8lb leader. I did get biten off a couple of times and yes mate they take a lot of Killing. Good fun....

Jayson

[Cowfish13]

Do the fresh water eels knot themselves up like the Moray Eels from the salt?

I'm pretty sure that they are Long-finned Eels as well;)

[pinkey]

Hey cowfish, this vid shows you how to catch fresh water eels and has some good info on it

/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCjYiYmxXuw

.

[brisbane_boy]

good video pinkey,

is that wat im doing wrong

[Cowfish13]

pinkey wrote:

Hey cowfish, this vid shows you how to catch fresh water eels and has some good info on it

/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCjYiYmxXuw

.

Thanks for the info mate. So I just gotta get a weird costume and a crappy band to scare them out of the water:D

[benno573]

they'd almost certainly take a lure but bugger that - you'd lose it every time. go with a chunk of meat (doesn't matter what, i used to use steak fat in kununurra WA and even caught barra on it ) unweighted or close to it and i caught them every time. a heavy leader if your keen, you want a challenge, go with about 6 pound line and about 10 leader, definately long shank hook... hang on !!! best thing to do is cut them off close to the water as soon as you have caught them , they will find their way back. unless you want some "unagi" (japanese for eel) for dinner, it's not bad hey.:laugh: no really, it's not bad at all... seriously... not joking for once...:laugh:

[brisbane_boy]

yer i remember my friend tellin me he has eaten eel and says it tasted realy nice, BUT he was in tonga:P might be a bit different from a drain;)

[werewolf]

I've eaten freshwater eel years ago, and I "think" it tasted OK. From memory it was extremely bony though! I do know they make much better shark bait though:laugh:

[James W]

i have had a eel attack a popper in my mums dam..didnt hook up thou..glad cuz might be a bit hard trying to unhook it with out killing it...in my golfball collecting days in nudgee golf course we were always getting nipped by the damn things...more of a fright than anything else...

[Angus]

Mate if your using SX40's mae sure you use some tough leader. Freshwater eels pound for pound are tough as. Catching for shark bait I use 20lb plus and you have to be quicm or their in the weed beds never to be seen again.

Angus

[Dan23]

I used to catch em in my spots down in NSW when I used bait. They'd bite through 6kg line no worries when lifting them up. They are a bit of a pest really. Some as thick as my arm.

[Mack_attack]

we just got back and we've got a bit of a story to tell with some pics

[MichaelJ]

put up report now plz lol

[Mack_attack]

will's working on it.it's going to be intense:P

[shamus]

well?? where is it?

[Mack_attack]

check 'Eelin'

[shamus]

got it...