Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating - View Single Post

fishweewee · 08-21-2002, 09:38 AM

Wow, thanks again fellas!

John-

I guess it's a thing called habit. Most of the places I have eeled on the shore was with a spinning outfit at night...b/c I was too chicken to try a conventional reel loaded with braid. The thought of powercasting a conventional loaded with braid STILL scares the crap out of me. But, the nice thing about eeling at night is...you don't need to powercast!

Obviously, while drifting eels on a boat or on bridges (Anthiers or "Big" Bridge on the Vineyard is an example), I have always defaulted to conventional.

I'm kind of schizo, b/c on the rare occasion I soak a bait at night I use a non-levelwind (with mono) conventional!

You know...it's scary we are on the same wavelength with the swivels. Because I've been experimenting with those low profile SPRO's too!!! They are great b/c they can pass through your guides w/o chipping them, but, on some of them it's a little harder to tie the mono on the eyes tightly.

Some people I know have strong feelings about eeling with swivels. The major objection I have heard from die-hard eelers is that the swivel causes the eel to rotate, imparting an un-natural and thus un-appealing action in the water.

I suppose, and I'm just guessing at this point, that if you use a slow enough retrieve, you could mitigate the rotation of the eel. But I'll have to experiment in the tub tonight to verify!

I'm hearing wonderful things about the Allstar, Lami XRA's and Rainshadow blanks for eeling. Looks like I'm gonna have to give Saltheart another call for a special purpose stick!

Bassmaster...that stick you have is a classic...does the weight of that blank slow you down after a while?

Thanks again...

WW

08-21-2002, 09:38 AM	#20
fishweewee Registered User iTrader: (0) Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: . Posts: 5,935	Wow, thanks again fellas! John- I guess it's a thing called habit. Most of the places I have eeled on the shore was with a spinning outfit at night...b/c I was too chicken to try a conventional reel loaded with braid. The thought of powercasting a conventional loaded with braid STILL scares the crap out of me. But, the nice thing about eeling at night is...you don't need to powercast! Obviously, while drifting eels on a boat or on bridges (Anthiers or "Big" Bridge on the Vineyard is an example), I have always defaulted to conventional. I'm kind of schizo, b/c on the rare occasion I soak a bait at night I use a non-levelwind (with mono) conventional! You know...it's scary we are on the same wavelength with the swivels. Because I've been experimenting with those low profile SPRO's too!!! They are great b/c they can pass through your guides w/o chipping them, but, on some of them it's a little harder to tie the mono on the eyes tightly. Some people I know have strong feelings about eeling with swivels. The major objection I have heard from die-hard eelers is that the swivel causes the eel to rotate, imparting an un-natural and thus un-appealing action in the water. I suppose, and I'm just guessing at this point, that if you use a slow enough retrieve, you could mitigate the rotation of the eel. But I'll have to experiment in the tub tonight to verify! I'm hearing wonderful things about the Allstar, Lami XRA's and Rainshadow blanks for eeling. Looks like I'm gonna have to give Saltheart another call for a special purpose stick! Bassmaster...that stick you have is a classic...does the weight of that blank slow you down after a while? Thanks again... WW Last edited by fishweewee; 08-21-2002 at 09:42 AM..