SURFRATS.COM ARTICLE SECTION

Now You Know How To Friggin’ Rig
Surfrats Editorial #10
By: Paul Melnyk
12-10-08

Rule of thumb number one- if you want to consistently catch large Stripers in the twenty to thirty pound class, if you are looking for that Trophy slammer for your Den wall, you should be fishing with bait. Don’t take me the wrong way, it is very possible to hook up a cow bass on artificial lures or jigs. Just look at Montauk Pete, he took a fifty on a tin. (I heard he hit it on the head!) This is the exception, not the rule.

Live bait such as a snagged bunker, clam, eel, worm or squid will have you into fish even under conditions that would leave pluggers and jiggers stinky. I will fish with live eels whenever I get the opportunity, but quite often these “eel trips” lead to a bag full of deaders. At $2.00 a pop, I find it difficult to justify tossing away these baits just because of the small technicality of their death. Sooo, the largest of the batch, I will bring back to my lair to rig for silent running.

Or you can kill them! This can be good sport. I find throwing them up against a concrete wall is very effective. A pin through the chin and out the top of the head works too. To be humane, you could put them in the freezer, but what fun is that? You want big eels, but not too big. Three or four ounces is good. This way you will not break your rod until the third cast….

Rigged eels are the oldest trick in the inventory. Fishermen have been sewing these slimers up since the dawn of the last century. There are many differing methods to rigging an eel. All have their merits. The method I have learned is one that has served me well in the past. I hope it will nail you that ever elusive fiddy.

You will need some specialty tools to start with. Most important are a set of upholsterer’s needles and a long sail makers needle. The upholstery needle can be substituted with any large eye needle. You will find one of these in your wife’s sewing box. (“Hey babe, how would I know where that stupid needle went!”) As for the sail-makers needle, this is kinda hard to come by now-a-days. As luck would have it, you can make one!

This needle needs to be at least sixteen inches long, with an eye on one end and a point on the other (Duhh!). Let’s start in her closet where she hangs her frillies. Toss that rag on the floor and confiscate that wire hanger. She got them for free at the cleaners. Now run down to the cellar and cut a straight piece from the bottom that is 16” long. Take it over to your grinder/sander/ pencil sharpener and hone a point onto one end. (Yoo’s guy’s from Brooklyn could use da sidewalk fa diss..) The point should be real sharp cause your gonna shove it up the eel’s ass… Now take a hammer and flatten the other end of the wire for a quarter inch. Now you gotta drill a hole about a sixteenth of an inch into this flat area. (Hey Brooklyn, no drill? Use da ice pick!) Okay! Now we are ready to rig!

Go into your wife’s dresser drawer and steal a roll of dental floss. You can use waxed rigging thread if you want to be fancy. Now it is time to spend some money. Go get some 8-0 or 9-0 straight shanked, straight hooked, (sy-wash?) stainless steel hooks from your friendly neighborhood tackle distributor. You should also get some eighty pound test leader stock, or substitute wire leader stock where there are lots of choppers around. Snell or crimp one end of the leader to the eye of one of the hooks. This leader should be about 3 inches longer than the eel.

Now you shove the wire needle up the eel’s keister until it comes out of his puss. Be careful how you shove or you will find out what Christ felt like. Thread the leader/wire through the hole end of your impaling device. Pull the leader through the poor-dead-thing. This is the tricky part. You must twist the deader into an “S” shape so as to facilitate the fastening of the second hook to the first. A lot of old timers enjoy breaking the vertebrae of their snakes at this point. This makes you feel important, like “Tony Soprano”. If you don’t care for this explanation, Dey say the squirma swims betta afta you break ‘is back a buncha times….

Now pull tight on the leader so that the curve of the hook just sticks out of the eel’s you-know-what. This is the trick. You will have to figure how much of the leader to cut off. The second hook has to disappear into the eels face and come out somewhere around his chest (Like an eel has a chest!). You gotta cut the leader juuuust right! Before you perform the stab-through-the-throat, you must fasten your leader to the eye of this second hook. Get it right. This will be the weakest point should a slammer take that back hook!

It is often useful to add weight to the eels head. A tin eel drail-hook may be used for this front snagger if you prefer. This will make the eel swim a bit, ‘cause the tin is spoon shaped. A piece of soldering lead can be slipped down his throat as a cheap out rig. Hell you are just gonna loose it anyway… This will also make the rig sink to the bottom where the fat bass sup. You will shove this piece of lead into the eels maw along with the second hook.

Now get out the rigging twine. You gotta tie the hooks into the eel so they stay in place. Hopefully, you got the length of the tail hook leader correct, or else the thing will pull out and the eel won’t swim well. So tie the rear hook into the eel’s guts. Try to get the thread through the eye of the hook. Don’t mind the oozin’ blood and guts, unless they’re yours… The head hook is the one which must be tied the best. You will put all the casting force on this hook. Through the chin, out the eyes about 4 times should do it. Don’t forget that piece of lead. The hook should pass through it also or else the eel will crap it out with the first cast! Look, it ain’t pretty, but it should smell and taste like an eel to a stupid fish…

Now take it to your favorite rock and give it a toss. Power cast? Fagetaboutit… You’ll bust your rod unless your tip is as thick as your pencil. Some guys like to go conventional for this reason. A good meat stick will give a longer cast.

Let the eel drift for a while. It should sink. Swim it like a needlefish, only reel slowly. A big jerk will excite a biggun, so keep away from those faggot joints.

So now you know how to do the nasty deed. Give it a try.

Oh, by the way… A live eel on a hook works a lot better, but what the hell. Be traditional!

Next week… How to torture live porgies in the surf…..

Hey Vito! GETOVAHEEAH!
(c)Paul Melnyk 2007, written exclusively for Surfrats.com

Back to Surfrats.com or Striper Message Forum