eels

[hotrodmarlin]

Anyone know the best way to get my hands on some eels in southern NC? Best way to catch them or a place I can buy them near Ocean Isle Beach?

[mtecu]

I have caught them in minnow traps in the head of muddy canals that dont have much tide and the Neuse sports shop also has them.

[Dink Bait]

Box used to buy them here in eastern NC.

Maybe he will remember. Hmmm that reminds me of "eel boy"
and "new guy".

[hotrodmarlin]

I'm a couple hours south of Morehead near the SC line and I don't know of anyone that sells them this far down. Really looking for a trick to catching a few.

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Put meat in a minnow trap. Sometimes they will get in the minnow trap full of crushed fresh blue crab but Fresh cutmullet or Bunker in a minnow trap set just before dark is best. That's when you'll load up. Make sure you place the trap in an area where there is lots of structure. If you can find freshwater flowing into the salt start there. I catch em real good around old fallen bridges or docks. They always seem to raid my minnow trap in the summer if left out overnight and a minnow trap with one FAT eel in it at Daybreak before a Flounder trip is not a welcome sight! Like I said...Fresh meat at dusk left out till just before daylight is the best way to catch more than one at a time. Another thing, they will escape if left in the trap long after daylight so try to pull the trap before the sun comes back up. Good luck.

HOLWACHAGOT

I will bring some to Moorehead Monday if you need some. They are storebought right now though. Let me know if you want me to bring a dozen or ten to you Monday.

[captcl]

Guys, with all due respect, up here in Md. we have this thing called an eel pot. I used to run about 50 or so starting about this time of year for salting trotline bait. I know some guys up on the Chesapeake are still eeling and maybe there is a someone closer to you in the commercial eel biz. The pots are not hard to come by, the round ones are smaller and cheaper and we used to use horseshoe crabs from Del. for bait when the biz was really cranking and the DEl. Bay guys had crabs.(no not those crabs) Also baited them with dog food. I feel like I'm going over something that you already know and there sure is someone out there who has spent more time eeling than me so I'll shut up.
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PS. if I had a peeler or shedded out soft crab in one of my crab pots chances were that when I pulled it there would be an eel eating the crab!

[Capt_John]

Neuse Sport Shop in Kinston sells them. They live for a long time refrigerated in a box with wet towels.

I used to cast net them with a 6' small mesh net. I would go flounder gigging at night. When I saw the eels near the marsh grass on the shallow bottom, I just threw on them.

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Guys, with all due respect, up here in Md. we have this thing called an eel pot. I used to run about 50 or so starting about this time of year for salting trotline bait.

No respect due, Anybody too sheltered in life to know what this thing called an eel pot is has got to be dumber than dirt. By the way man...Have you got any pictures of one? I'd love to see what they look like...What are they made of? How about some more pointers. What kind of Dog food works best for bait? Seriously, do your traps fill up better at night or in the daytime? Are they like a minnow trap?

HOLWACHAGOT

[Proheat]

The eel traps that I have seen kinda look like a minnow trap, but it is held straight up and down(standing on end) and the holes are in the sides.

I will try to find some pictures.

[Nanjemoycat]

Here's the cheaper ones with cloth funnels. Horseshoe crabs are great bait, but hard to come by here. We also use razor clams, mud shad bellies, herring and alewives.