Your Ultimate Guide On How To Catch Eels
Fishing for eel can be exciting and at the same time frustrating depending on various factors. Given that eels are mostly found in different water bodies that have muddy bottom surfaces, you have to be skillful to get the ideal catch.
Interestingly, many anglers tend to pursue other types of fishes as critical targets and in some instances end up with a few or more eels. This breed is not glamorous, and many fishermen often classify it as among the undesirable type of fish around. In fact, some people use it as baits. How to catch eels is thus essential to the anglers that need this fish as main target any moment they are out fishing.
Overview Of Eels
Before we even get to know best ways of catching eels, it is imperative to understand some of the necessary information regarding eels. This is a type of fish that resembles a snake, which is elongated and tapers to a point at the tail.
It is relatively slim and appears scale-free, but in a real sense, the scales are deeply embedded in particular sections of the skin. In most cases, they like breeding in freshwater bodies and vary in color from dark brown to olive green.
It is often rare to find male eels that are longer than 0.5 meters. However, female eels are ordinarily common especially those that are one meter long, and some go even to about 1.5 meters. The weight varies depending on the length where some would weigh up to four kilograms, with a few exceptions that can grow to a weight of eight kilograms.
Catching Eels
Several ways can be used to capture eels. The major problem that you might encounter is that eels are often slippery, swift and difficult to hold even after catching. The best time to find them is at night.
However, you may also choose to pursue them during the day since some of them also feed during such times. You’ll need to get too muddy bottom places; fresh water empties into salty water and brackist water areas.
One way is that you may choose to use worms, minnows and loach gudgeon among others to catch them. This method is somewhat tedious and unpredictable especially in areas where there are several types of fishes. You can never be sure of whether it is the eel that will be caught on the bait or any other type of fish.
It happens that an angler baits a small hook and using a worm or minnow or any other preferred one and presenting it at the end of the entrance of the hole.
The eel then takes the bait while the angler is still holding the line taut until when the prey is finally caught. With time, you will feel that the eel is biting and it is when you are supposed to react gently but quickly by lifting it from the water to the ground or into a basket.
A compelling aspect to take note of is when you realize that the fails to bite the bait for around two minutes or so then choose to reel the line in and cast it out once more.
It is a somewhat traditional method that may end up consuming much of your time, but if you are doing for fun, then it becomes a more interesting approach to take.
The other way is using night lines. Such night lines have several many hooks attached to them and are pushed to the water using a relatively heavy brick or stone or any other substance that has appropriate weight on one side.
The other side of the nightline is tied on the branch of a tree or fastened into the river bank or better still, tied on a bunch of weeds that are on the water side. This method is somewhat easy and relatively better than using bait since you’re confident of catching most if not all eels by the end of the exercise.
In most cases, eels are caught in rivers. Nonetheless, the ideal time for finding them is when they are moving towards the sea. It is also a sign that they have indeed attained the right size for the catch, ideal fat content as well as best possible condition.
Still, you can capture eels that move upstream primarily for purposes of direct food or better yet for transferring them to other waters. In this case, you need to ensure that you use the safest means possible to prevent injuring some of the tissues of these fishes.
Tools And Apparatuses
What you have to know is that there are specific tools that you need when fishing for eels. It does not, therefore, imply that the gears are expensive or relatively complicated. No! For instance, when you’re pursuing silver eels that migrate you need to have reasonably large and robust pieces of equipment.
Yellow eels, on the other hand, can be captured using baited traps, eel spears, long lines, shore seines and fyke nets for eels among others. However, the most efficient of all of these depends on what is stipulated in the regulations that govern the fishing in that particular locality.
Overall, some of the preferred equipment are those that do not cause harm to or interfere with the other untargeted species. It is thus proper to ensure that you become conscious of the fact that the conservation of other types of fishes that you do not necessarily need is an important aspect when dealing with particular tools for capturing eels.
Conclusion
From the pots, it seems apparent that catching eel can be easy and also difficult depending on your approach and the types of tools that you use.
The most important thing, however, is to make sure that you understand how and when to catch this kind of fish. You also need to be patient because they are unpredictable and tend to mingle easily with other types of fish hence making it rather tricky to define their dominant base entirely.
Sources:
https://www.trails.com/how_1933_catch-eels-river.html
http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Boys_Own_Book_of_Outdoor_Sports/eelfishin_dd.html
