5 Tips for Fishing with Live Eels

As spring hits many anglers along the coast are going to have cobia fishing on their minds. Few fish are as exciting to catch and as tasty to eat. And, few baits are as likely to tempt them as live eels. Fishing live eels, however, has its own set of challenges. These super-slimy critters are hard to get a hold of, hard to keep from tangling your line, and in some cases they’re also hard to keep alive. If you plan on going eeling any time, soon, remember these five tips.

Note the paper towels used for handling the eels – and, the end result.

1. If you don’t have a good livewell (or if you need to keep eels alive overnight at home) put the eels in a plastic container with holes poked into the bottom. The holes allows slime to drain off; otherwise, the eels can drown in their own slime. Then, put the container on top of a layer of ice in a cooler. As long as you make sure the cooler can drain and replace the ice regularly you can keep eels alive for days on end using this method.
2. When you’re ready to put an eel on the hook, use a paper towel to grasp it. Rags work, too, but after baiting up a few times they become so slime-covered that they lose their grip. Also note that if you keep your eels in a livewell they’ll be incredibly hard to control when you try to bait up. Having them chilled into semi-hibernation makes them much easier to handle, and within seconds of hitting warm water they’ll spring right back into high gear.
3. When you need to keep an eel on a hook between casts or as you move, put the rod into a holder and let out just enough line for the eel to hit the deck. Then, place it into a one-gallon bucket. Serious sharpies carry four or five of these little buckets at all times, just for this purpose, because it’s just about the only way you can be sure the eel won’t wriggle around the line and create a knot or tangle. (And sometimes, they still manage to).
4. When you’re sight-fishing and the cobia are right up top, sling the eel a good five to eight feet in front of the fish. If the bait plashes down right on top of the fish, it may spook and dart away.
5. Whenever you have an eel deployed in a chum slick or on a drift, check it at least every half hour. Sometimes they create knots in the leader, sometime they manage to get off the hook, and sometimes bluefish bite them off at the tail. In all these cases your chances of hooking a cobia on that line drop or disappear, so check those baits often.