Silver Eel tactics

I caught a nice silver eel in the shannon estuary around 3lbs on a garden worm the fish was caught near the airport off one of the points in shannon town as I caught them years ago when I was a kid and tried it out for old times sake does anyone have any advise on other tactics in catching these from the shore as I enjoyed catching the eels and flounders that evening which were way out as I was casting out as far as I could into the mud flats at high tide.

That's a fine eel, Neilus. 3lb is the speciemen weight and I haven't managed one yet despite targetting them deliberately over the past couple of years. I use two baits in an estuary, crab and rag. Small, whole peeler are ideal, threaded onto the hooks without thread (theory is that the thread sticks in the small teeth of the eels). Use gears made entirely from mono with blood loops for the snood. Snoods and hooks should be strong. I like amnesia 30lb to a wide gape B980 kamasan hook, sized 2. For rag, I like the kamasan 940 in size one or two. Several small rag can work better than a single large one. Striking the eel can work, missed tugs or a tangled snood being the prompt, especially when using rag. Some anglers use mackerel either on its own or for tipping, however I have never had a lot of success on it. Eels like features and will congregate around rocks or low paches of weed. I haven't fished shannon harbour, if there are no features, they could be holed up in the mud outside of the main tidal flow.

what's the thinking behind using a full mono rig? often eels will spin on retrieve so would swivels to take the snoods not be of benefit?

Trapped swivels should be more resilient to the spinning and twisting of any eel and probably are but my experience is that in estuarine environments, blood loop gears are far superior to trapped swivels in catching of all fish. I do not understand exactly why this is but I can assure you that it has been proven to me repeadly in my own angling.

Eels can be cautious creatures and any advantage should be used. When coarse fishing, the preferred rigs are free running and incorporate swivels merely as a means of quickly changing snoods. My exprience at sea bears this out. The eel will react in direct proportion to the amount of resistance it encounters. The most dramatic of bites will produce no fish and a tangled snood. Full mono gears have a natural softness that does not seem to spook the fish into over reacting. Of course, this is all theorising but I would advise trying it out and judging the results for yourself.

that is a strange one?! i have fished for eels quite a lot but usually in freshwater. i prefer to floatfished for them as i found it more enjoyable. fishing the bait over depthfrom a few inches to a foot or two depending on water movement on lake. even on well loaded wagglers the initial bites were quite subtle so i could well believe they are somewhat cautious in their approach. they say an eel never gets caught twice too!! i did have a nice eel of 3 1/4lb. on Lough Ramor in cavan before. never managed another near as big.

found mackeral worked for eels inside harbours where scraps where thrown, clogher head. friend also had 'em take mackeral on shallow rock mark.

very interested in the pure mono paternoster idea. usually only used 'em on rough ground.

coarse anglers do not use 3 snoods when fishing, and therefore do not need swivels.
personally i would use long 12lb line for snoods, with size 8 or 6 hooks and use small crab baits or garden worms if it has been raining a lot.
coarse anglers also do not use stiff beach casters. i would use a light-tipped rod, and leave the line slack when i have cast out. therefore the eel will feel no resistance.

30lb amnesia is very heavy, perhaps this is why bites are missed. and also the B980 kamasans are a fairly heavy hook with a wide gape, which could be result in a lot of bites being missed. Sure for most of my fishing i use size 4's and 2's and have landed some good unexpected fish (ray of 8lb, bass of almost 9lb) although if i was fishing directly for them of course i would step up a hook size. My point is large eels are not caught frequently and i would say that it would be better to target numbers of eels and hope for a big one rather than target a solitary monster!

Cooke have you ever tried fishing the lagoon on the coast road for eels , i certainly come across lots of them when getting bait here, huge mullet up near the sutton creek side too!

there is a good chance a good eel will bite through a 12lb. snood Flipper, unless lip hooked? i do agree that 12lb. line will get more hook ups being less stiff then 30lb. amnesia. personally i would stick to a heavy snood line but using something softer like 30lb. trilene. works well for flounder too in clear seas.

an eel shouldnt bite through it - unless its a conger! coarse anglers regularly land eels on hooklengths of 1lb or 2lb breaking strain. but then coarse anglers are much more technically minded than the majority of sea anglers, and their tackle and approach reflects that.
you just need to use common sense on the tackle you use. if the snood is showing any signs of wear - change it.
i have to say that in my opinion trilene is one of the toughest lines there is. its great for rough ground fishing but i wouldnt think of using it where presentation is needed. amnesia is a much softer, low memory line. however i still wouldnt go near any 30lb line when fishing for eels

Thanks lads for all your suggestions about the eels i will head out some night and fish it in the dark near where the Bunratty river flows out as there should be some good fishing for flats smelt and eels but its the eels im after and if I get another one of that size ill get a good photo of it and there have been bass caught there with high salinity levels in the summer time by the guys fishing for the salmon with the nets.