Eels make an excellent and versatile bait for catfishing, and are sometimes the only bait that will get any action when the bite gets slow. Especially during the hot summer months. Some fishermen are put off from using eels because of having had the experience of catching one on rod and reel and between the slime, and an eels tendency to wrap around the line, have had to cut the line or kill the eel to remove it. Nobody wants to use a bait that fights back, but with few tricks they can be easily handled.
Many area bait shops carry eels since they are such a popular bait around here for catfish, as well as striper, so finding them is normally not a problem. Sizes sold range from small 6 inch "pencil" eels on up to eels appraching 3 feet long. Smaller eels up to about 12 inches are used whole and sometimes live. Bigger ones can be cut up into sections as cut bait. They cost anywhere from $2 each for small ones up to $5 or more each for the jumbos. My preference is an eel about 12 inches long and as big around as a thumb. I buy mine a dozen or so at a time and keep them in an aerated and filtered tank in my garage until time to hit the river. Depending on how many people are fishing I will take anywhere from 4 to 12 on an outing. Short lengths of PVC pipe lying on the bottom of my bait tank make it easy to retrieve the eels. The eels hide inside the pipes and by covering both ends with my hands as I pick the pipes up I can tranfer the eels into a bucket with ease. Once in the bucket a small battery powered air pump and stone will keep them alive for a long time. It may be nessesary to change out the water in the bucket every few hours in hot weather.
(Above) An eel held in a towel and and looped for hooking in the back, and an eel in the bait net.
A small net is required to extract an eel from the bucket or livewell on the boat to be put on the hook. Once netted drop the eel into a small towel held open in the palm of your hand and quickly cover the eel and get a grip on it. The towel will remove the eels slime coat to allow easier handling. Some like to hook them in the tail, but I prefer hooking them in the center of the back right above the anal opening. Either way is fine. To hook them in the back I manuver the eel so that a loop of it sticks up out of the towel and hook into the meat on it's back deep enough to hold, but not so deep as to inflict lethal injury to the eel. Tail hooking is accomplished the same way. Just let a length of the eels tail hang free from the towel and hook it right through the center about 2 inches up from the end. Now the important part...DO NOT let go of the eel until you are dropping it into the water! If you do it will wrap around the leader and make a tangled mess. I pull out enough line to reach the water with the rod still in the rodholder while I hook the eel, then just drop it over the side after I hook it. 99% of the time they ignore the hook and just try to swim down. You can cast by flipping the eel out of the water and away from the boat, or get a longer cast by whipping it up from the water as you cast to the opposite side or the rear of the boat.
An eel can survive many hits by a fish, and are rarely stolen off the hook due to their tough skin. They can be used once dead by slicing the belly open to expose the internal organs, or jumbo eels can be cut into sections 6-12 inches long instead of using them alive. Catfish will sometimes hit an eel many times before swallowing it and swimming off, perhaps trying to kill or stun it enough to be easily swallowed. Be patient and wait for the fish to take it. Unfortunately little catfish will attack an eel almost as big as they are as well. This can get annoying as they will eventually kill the eel with repeated attacks and never get hooked. Any eels left in my bucket at the end of the fishing trip get brought home and go back into my tank. At $2 or more each I'm not about to waste any.
Eels, like other live baits, work best as a summer time bait when the cats are more aggressive in their feeding.
