Dilemma: Do you leave fish to find fish?

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by cheferson

Why would rigged eels cull out the larger fish???

They cast further and get deeper more quickly, which is sometimes the difference between large and larger. You can cover a lot of water efficiently also. Some guys like to make real large(24") riggies too, which are good for real big fish.
The point I failed to make was if you were going dry with plugs or just catching smaller stuff that you should put an eel on before going to another spot.
I will be at that place again tonight, save some room for me.

[steve]

Backbeach is right on!

[shadow]

If your fishing the right spot as in a spot that holds large fish from time to time then don't leave the small fish are in there for a reason the same reason that might bring in a larger fish the spot I'v been at is holding smaller fish in tight and larger fish are out further.

[Clogston29]

in my previous reply I was assuming this is something that has gone on for days and that you've thrown everything you can think of at them to cull out a bigger fish. If I came on to fish like that one night, I wouldn't leave. It would be after 3 or 4 nights of similar action that I would think about leaving.

Backbeach - did anyone try a rubbercore sinker with a live eel in the situation you described by anychance, just curious if that would have taken some of the rigged eel advantage away. Also, were the riggies fished slow or quick. Just curious. I've gotta do up some rigged eels this winter and play around with them. I keep saying I'm gonna do it but just never do.

[steve]

A rubbercore sinker works well on a live eel at times in deep water - current situations for example, but a rigged eel is a different and special animal. Fish it slow to moderate pumping and even sweeping your rod as you reel. The rigged eel sinks like a stone and can be effectively fished in deep, rough and moving water unlike a live snake.

[Back Beach]

The rubbercore helps get a live eel down quick, and I frequently fish them that way. One problem with live eels and rubber cores is that they still don't cast that well into the wind compared to the rigged.
On one of the nights I am referring to, the wind turned and started blowing onshore, which made it difficult to keep a live eel out there.The guys with the rigged were bombing the things out there and were able to stay in the strike zone longer than we were.Our live eels were winding up at our feet after just a few seconds. Still, I've seen a lot of nights when the rigged eels culled out the jumbo fish regardless of the weather. Al B. has a lot of stories like that. I knew his partner John pretty well and witnessed a lot of damage done with the rigged eels through watching John. I still primarily fish the live ones though. When I say rigged eels I mean the type with 2 big siwash hooks sewn into them, not the ones with a wobble head.