The idea of fishing for eels not for all worms, but only on pieces of lollipops or red worms, it dawned in my head because of this, that I have always had a good track record of catching dead fish in pieces. For starters, I experimented a little with my eel in the aquarium. I took a whole red worm and hooked it three times, which i usually use for fish. Then I took it out very carefully anyway, that there were only three small stab marks left on the worm.
To make the "test" more "interesting", I didn't feed the eel for two weeks. The experience began. The eel lay buried in the gravel and only looked outwardly with the very tip of its mouth. I threw the worm farthest from him, as possible. On the surface of the water, where the worm fell, a little one appeared, oily spot. The bite sank to the bottom, and I waited. Five minutes passed, and the eel did not budge in its hiding place. I had already begun to doubt my ingenuity, when suddenly the fish moved unexpectedly. The eel first pushed its entire head out of the ground, and it was visible, that he "sniffs."” in the water, and after a very short while he swallowed the worm.
Incredible speed
You should have seen it. Now I know, why so many eels hook deep, when we catch them with red and white worms or small fish. Speed, with which the fish hit the 'bait”, she was almost unimaginable. He sniffed around the place for a while, in which the worm lay. He could still smell it in the water. Finally, he hid into his hole in the ground. Later I divided the worm in two and threw them into the water. The eel, without hesitation, jumped out of its hiding place and threw itself on the "prey" by the shortest route. In just a few seconds, both halves of the lily of the valley were swallowed. Did the eel see bits of worms falling in the water??
Then I repeated my experiment with pieces of red worms, which I threw into the water behind the eel. Feeling the prey, he turned around quickly and swallowed these "treats" with apparent pleasure. It became clear to me – the eel could sense (found) little pieces much faster, because they gave off a much more intense odor in the water than whole worms.
Clearly more
Will the results of my observations also be confirmed in practice by the water?? I put all the worm on one rod, to the second bits of worms and everything started to play out just like in the fishing "manual". I had many more bites for the worm bits (and fish) than for all the bait. Then I asked my fellow anglers about their results and they confirmed my hypothesis: same as pieces of fish, the pieces of red worms were also noticeably more catchy. This has worked well in stagnant water, and the current one.
When I started learning to catch eels, I almost always used only whole dead fish for bait. As we know, eel in 98% finds its nourishment with the help of an exceptionally good sense of smell. I once conducted an experiment similar to this one in an aquarium, what I did with worms. A whole dead fish, which I pierced with a needle, The eel found it with great difficulty. But when I cut the fish into pieces, to my surprise, the eel found them very quickly and swallowed them quickly. As with worms "tested" in the aquarium, I also did trials with pieces of fish in nature. The results turned out to be exactly the same: pieces of fish were much more catchy than whole fish.
Above the bottom
The eels may have difficulty finding the bait, if it "hides” it is located among the aquatic vegetation or in the muddy bottom of the reservoir. Often times, the line also gets caught on the vegetation, what causes, that the eel senses the resistance and can give up the bite. A simple remedy has been devised for the above-mentioned situations – injecting air into the bait. When fishing with a whole fish, you should not pierce its swim bladder, and air is injected into the abdominal cavity. The bait prepared in this way slowly sinks to the bottom and is placed gently on the silt or aquatic vegetation.
When fishing for pieces of fish, a piece of cork or balsa is placed on the leader. It will, that the lure will sink to the bottom just as lightly, as if it was filled with air.
Muddy ground requires a longer sideline for the sinker. This will prevent the main line carabiner from "dragging into the bottom" (otherwise the taking fish would sense more resistance). Live baits, such as earthworms, worms, white worms due to their tendency to hide, they should float slightly above the soft bottom. The "standing" weight also works very well, similar to "Tyrolean stick", allowing for the correct delivery of the bait on a soft or overgrown bottom.
I have not discussed the method of fishing with livebait here, because I have little experience in this field. It sure is, that really nice eels have already been caught alive. However, you have a lot of empty strikes, Besides, pike and perch are interested in the bait.
The prey is mainly caught on bright nights, when the eels prey on the fry in medium water or below the surface.
I also tried to catch eels using the hair method, as carp hunters do. The use of "Italian” causes, that the fish cannot feel the hook in the bait. But my main motivation was this, that this method prevents deep hooking of an eel that is greedying the bait.
For the "hair" I use a fishing line with a strength of approx. 1 kg or, at very distant places (more than 40 m) stamina kicks 3 Kg (see figure C.). To the end of the fishing line I tie a bead as a stopper and pull it through the bait with a bait needle. "Hair” then I tie a hook to the knee. This method is suitable for catching large eels with wide mouths. However, you should also take into account a large number of empty strikes. especially when the bait arouses interest among small eels.
Picture A: Various ways to put pieces of fish on a hook. The tip should protrude outward and allow for jamming the first time the fish is pulled. Metal leader eliminates weak points in the rig (sprains!).
Picture B: The hook is stuck in the root of the tail and secured by wrapping it with a thin line. In this case, we jam a little later – on the second stroke” by the fish (big bait). The details of the kit are explained in figure A.
Picture C.: Hair method on eels. The bead holds the bait (a piece of fish or worms). It is a particularly good kit for large eels. The author uses the Italian length 6-8 cm and in diameter 0,10 mm while for long casts – diameter approx. 0,18 Mm.
