We’re 5 years into the obligatory circle hook rules for striped bass, and a few fishermen are nonetheless figuring out their favorites for sure baits.
A pure bait generally used for striped bass are stay eels. They’re available at deal with retailers, simply transportable on boats or from shore, and are a favourite of huge stripers wherever they swim.
For those who spent all of your surfcasting years earlier than 2020 utilizing J-hooks and swinging for the fences when a striper ate your eel, the previous couple of seasons might have been an adjustment. Some anglers have deserted eels altogether as a result of circle hook frustration and eel worth inflation that has the slimy baits costing as a lot as $3.50 apiece at some retailers. Nevertheless, eels are too efficient to not use, so we polled among the striper coast’s devoted eel fishermen on their go-to hooks for this important striped bass bait.
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For providing up eels to the heavyweight bass of Block Island on three-way rigs or weightless, Captain Joe Diorio ties on the BKK Hybrid Heavy Inline Circle, choosing 7/0 for small eels and eight/0 for giant.
Between his house waters off northern New Jersey and the winter large bass haven close to Chesapeake Bay, large bass guru Chuck Many places up hall-of-fame numbers aboard his boat the Tyman due to eels. His go-to hook hasn’t modified since he was already utilizing a compliant, inline circle hook earlier than the rules went into impact. His hook is an 8/0 Gamakatsu Inline Circle, ideally in crimson. Chuck says he likes a lighter hook in order that the eel swims higher whereas slow-trolling or drifting.
Surfcaster, podcaster, and editor in chief of Fishing Deal with Retailer and The Fishing Wire, Toby Lapinski has two go-to circles, relying on whether or not or not the eel he’s throwing has a pulse. For lifeless eels, Toby goes with a ten/0 Mustad 39944-bn—the identical hook he makes use of for chunking bunker. For stay eels, he likes a smaller 6/0 or 7/0 Gamakatsu Inline Octopus Circle.
Alongside the Elizabeth Islands of Massachusetts, OTW Writer Chris Megan has been casting eels to skinny-water stripers for the reason that mid-Nineties. Since 2020, he’s been utilizing the VMC 8386 Match Circle Hook 3X within the 5/0 measurement.
No matter which circle hook you select, it’s important to make sure a bass turns away with the bait earlier than coming tight and that you simply’ve reeled up all of the slack from the road earlier than lifting the rod. A very good approach is to maintain reeling till the drag begins to slide.
Associated Content material
Circle Hook Information for Striper Fishing
Trolling Eels for Trophy Striped Bass
Striper Fishing Backwaters with Stay Eels
