Latest eel session

My latest attempt for eels was on a similar stretch as my last session. I arrived at the river for about half 7ish but as I rushed organising my gear I'd forgotten a few bits so had to quickly head back home and pick them up. Eventually by about 2100hrs I was setup and had 4 rods in the river, 1 rod for the pike and 3 for the eels.

Fishing wise things were very slow, a few fish topping but no indications on any of the rods. I noticed a large flash across the sky and straight away thought it was a meteor/shooting star, after a quick check on google confirmed that it was the tail end of the Perseid meteor shower that has been going on for the last few days. Shortly after the meteor a very large bevy of swans (had to look that up as well) went by.

Just before midnight I had my first take on an eel rod. The rod was setup with a 'modified' dyson rig and I was using a small roach head for bait. As soon as I struck I knew it was an eel, it gave a short but very aggressive fight and I could see that it was lip hooked, I managed to net the eel at the first attempt and the hook fell out in the net.

A new p.b - 2lb 15oz

I thought the eel was over 3lb but after a quick weigh the avons fell just short and settled at 2lb 15oz,  a new p.b. I sacked the eel until the morning and whilst I was sorting out the rig I had a take on a JS rigged worm, however the run was missed and I struck into thin air. I had another take on the same rod 15 minutes later and this was also missed. Things went quiet until just after 0300hrs when again I had 3 takes in a half an hour period but again these were all missed. Just after first light I reweighed the eel and managed a couple of photos, the photos didn't turn out that great as I had been playing with the settings on the camera and the eel was very active, twice nearly making it back to the water before I could get a photo.

After I finally managed a self take the eel was returned and it swam off strongly. This eel measured approximately 32" x 7.5".

Time of takes -

2353hrs - eel 2lb 15oz, Dyson rig, roach head
0007hrs - missed run, JS rig, worm
0033hrs - missed run, JS rig, worm

0307hrs - missed run, JS rig, worm
0327hrs - missed run, Dyson rig, roach head
0341hrs - missed run, JS rig, worm

There were two definite feeding spells both lasting half an hour or so each, I am going to keep a record of these and hopefully a pattern will emerge over the coming seasons.

I'm aiming to fit in a couple more eel sessions over the next couple of weeks before concentrating on the pike again.