Freshwater eels

[Rabid 1,936]

2 hours ago, donnyc said:

Love fishing for them my PB  is 6llbs 12 oz caught on dead gudgeon  there are the small mouths and larger mouths..Caught mine at midnight in a small lake full of them ,We always fished a little bay ..Strange but true a year to the day I caught my PB at around midnight I had a run hooked it and it was stalemate for nearly 10 minutes I got it nearly ready to net it and could not move it just thumping away 15lb braid supple ss hook length then after 10 minutes bang and away it went ...I just stared at my mate not a word said..My brother has caught many this year from the Ouse  ledgering in the daytime on worm he hates them but cannot stop catching them LOL Always return them

Talk about gutted, don't you just hate that feeling, when I was younger and had a temper I smashed my favourite rod into pieces when I lost a huge pike at the net.

Plenty of eels in the Ouse if you know where to look, no surprise your bro catches plenty, not usually so much in daytime though

[tomburras 2,721]

I fish for eels a lot! iv been targeting them in 2 north Yorkshire lakes for the last few years and the bait to use is raw king prawn. A carefully hooked full big king prawn on a size ten on a running rig is the best way iv found. Bites are usually dropbacks. Iv found open areas of the lakes more successful than the margins. Light running leads, light bobbins and delkims on full sensitivity are the Way to go. The first 2 hours of darkness seem to be the best and then nothing afterwards in my experience. Try it - the praw king prawn seems to single them out - I often get asked what iv caught on the lakes and often I'm not believed iv caught an eel by them when I have regularly.  The raw king prawn WILL single them out if there there.

[Rogue2015 185]

Great thanks for the info i will definitely be trying that

[Lenmcharristar 9,172]

13 hours ago, tomburras said:

I fish for eels a lot! iv been targeting them in 2 north Yorkshire lakes for the last few years and the bait to use is raw king prawn. A carefully hooked full big king prawn on a size ten on a running rig is the best way iv found. Bites are usually dropbacks. Iv found open areas of the lakes more successful than the margins. Light running leads, light bobbins and delkims on full sensitivity are the Way to go. The first 2 hours of darkness seem to be the best and then nothing afterwards in my experience. Try it - the praw king prawn seems to single them out - I often get asked what iv caught on the lakes and often I'm not believed iv caught an eel by them when I have regularly.  The raw king prawn WILL single them out if there there.

i could never justify using king prawns for bait, far too nice so id end up eating them myself lol

[tomburras 2,721]

6 hours ago, Lenmcharristar said:

i could never justify using king prawns for bait, far too nice so id end up eating them myself lol

The odd one does accidentally fall into my pan lol.

[two crows 3,342]

when I was a kid we used to put a rod out for them while tenching at night, used dead roach with the hook coming out its mouth, cast out and use a match box as a bit indicator, when you get a run let it stop then when he sets off again strike, had some good fish like that.

[tomburras 2,721]

On 23/09/2018 at 23:30, two crows said:

when I was a kid we used to put a rod out for them while tenching at night, used dead roach with the hook coming out its mouth, cast out and use a match box as a bit indicator, when you get a run let it stop then when he sets off again strike, had some good fish like that.

The buggers drive me mad that's so right! I do that too. I found often there's no second run tho after the a couple of hours of darkness?  I get twitchy runs mainly drop backs and then I Spend a lot of my time outide the bivvy waiting for the second run through the later hours of the night. The first couple of hours of darkness seem to get a better hook up's for some reason?! I'd love to know why! Very interesting to fish for and the mystery of them is half the fun. The stonfo discorger has been a godsend with easy hook removal with line cutting been only occasional since getting one.

[two crows 3,342]

4 hours ago, tomburras said:

The buggers drive me mad that's so right! I do that too. I found often there's no second run tho after the a couple of hours of darkness?  I get twitchy runs mainly drop backs and then I Spend a lot of my time outide the bivvy waiting for the second run through the later hours of the night. The first couple of hours of darkness seem to get a better hook up's for some reason?! I'd love to know why! Very interesting to fish for and the mystery of them is half the fun. The stonfo discorger has been a godsend with easy hook removal with line cutting been only occasional since getting one.

I think when they stop they turn it round and swallow head first, hence hook out the mouth use a baiting needle to thread from the tail end, and burst swim bladder I cant remember missing one.

[tomburras 2,721]

8 hours ago, two crows said:

I think when they stop they turn it round and swallow head first, hence hook out the mouth use a baiting needle to thread from the tail end, and burst swim bladder I cant remember missing one.

That's how I hook my prawns too, and also when using small dead baits (I found gudgeon best) I put them on a hard surface and stand on them slightly as well as hooking like that. Prawn baits have been amazing on the 2 north yorkshire venues i fish and well outfish deads. Iv been putting the dropped runs down to feeling a bit of resistance but the 1st couple of hours their guard is down a bit? On one of the ponds I used to fish in Leeds they just took either baits with screaming runs and no fuss, until a many of them where knocked on the head by complete idiots and now it's not worth targeting them there. It's a shame as they where huge, I met the guy that put them there in the 1970,'s - dropped in after a bootlace fishing session in Tadcaster.

[tomburras 2,721]

On 13/09/2018 at 18:46, Rogue2015 said:

Anybody on here wver fish for freshwater eels in rivers? Says on google that that they are in the rivers by me just never seen one and would like to try and catch one ?

Hi, Iv had trouble with my Internet connection been incredibly slow so Iv not seen this thread from the beginning until today. Have you managed to get yourself out after eels yet? Go give it a try - they make it through most river systems. Even the aire in leeds near me has quite a few in it even with all the barriers it had on it. 

[Deker 3,450]

Never actually gone out to catch eels but have caught at least 2 without trying.

I believe lots of waterways hold them!

[tomburras 2,721]

5 hours ago, Deker said:

Never actually gone out to catch eels but have caught at least 2 without trying.

I believe lots of waterways hold them!

There's a commercial carp fishery nearby and I asked the owner when they drain down and net do you ever find eels?, always find a few he said - and they have never been stocked. The river aire runs nearby 100s of meters away. And I asked that a few years ago before the EA fitted all the aire fish passes. It's amazing how they get themselves about!

This is an interesting watch if your interested in eel fishing.......

https://youtu.be/4oBXgD433fQ

 

https://youtu.be/37WmdXTo56o

 

[Rabid 1,936]

They can travel on land when the ground is wet, I know a farm pond that's never been stocked, but I have caught one in there.

[two crows 3,342]

I have access to a couple of old lakes in a wood, across the road is a disused Methodist chapel and its said the vicar used to fish for eels in there, some years later a mate of the owner was fishing late at night almost dark and an old bloke startled him and asked if he had any eels, he said yes and reached for the keep net, when he turned round the man had gone, I was fishing there one night a couple of years back on about my 10th last cast lol, and someone walked behind my truck and never came past I went to look and saw no one it was after that my mate said did you see the vicar, and told me the other story, the chapel has been empty for fifty years.

[toxo 160]

Many years ago my fishing buddy and I would come out of the pub on a summers night and have a chat before going separate ways home. Many a time one of us would comment on what a nice night it was for fishing. Twenty minutes later we would meet up with the gear and head for part of the Surrey Docks in London, this was before they filled it in and it was full of old cars and such. We both had work in the morning so only had two or three hours. We used big feeders filled with maggots and drew back about a yard after settling. Our best night was forty four. If we only had a few I'd let him take em all because his mum was a fool for an eel. Often he would get up for work and his mum had already found them and was cooking them for breakfast. :)

The same mate was fishing a river one day and on the opposite bank were a couple of urchins who had caught a big eel. they were frightened of it and beat and stomped on it before they dared to remove the hook. They were about to throw it back in the water when my buddy (thinking about his mum) told them to hook it onto his line. he cast a weighted hook over and the kids hooked the eel on to it. They threw the eel into the river whereupon it took off downstream at a rate of knots and smashed him without even thinking about it. :)