​

          Anyone that fishes for Eel's should have their welfare in mind. They are a very special species having travelled thousands of miles to reach us and have the epic return trip ahead of them..

So please treat them with the respect they deserve and fish for them using a safe eel angling method to prevent deep hooking.

​

How to Lip hook your Eels...

​

​

• It's been proven that the original JS style rig was far too long.. allowing the eel to much free movement without registering a take, this results in deep hooked eels..  Its an out of date practice.. Modern Eel fishing methods now use a short trace.. 5 to 6 inches maximum. The shorter the trace the better the bite indication.

• Fish with a tight line to the baited rig and have sensitive bite indication.. So bobbins with an 6-8" drop. You can fish straight off the baitrunner this way. 

• A heavy maggot or Worm Feeder, fished Semi fixed Bolt Rig Style with a short 4-5" max hooklink will lip hook you Eels. Fish with a tight line and sensitive bite detection.

• A 'twig' on the trace will hugely increase the chances of lip hooking. The effectiveness of the twig varies with size from venue to venue.. A 1mm x 80mm carbon rod through to a clear acrylic rod of 3mm diameter and 100mm long have all proven to be an extremely effective way of preventing deep hooking.

• Use Barbless or crush the barb down.. It makes it so much easier for a fish to shed the hook if you can't safely get it out. 

• Strike as soon as possible... don't delay the strike, if you're missing runs.. reduce bait size.

• If you are unlucky and catch one where the hook is out of sight, do not attempt to remove it, this will undoubtedly do more damage and possible kill the Eel as it's vital organs are just behind it's head. Cut the trace as close to the eel's mouth as possible. They have an excellent ability to shed the hook.