Hello Everyone,
I am a new resident to the Mt. Pleasant area, I visited this place about 6 times last year, and finally was able to find employment down here!
So here I am fishing, I no longer have a truck (to pull a boat) so I’m stuck fishing from shore for a while. I was fishing the surf the other day and caught an eel, cut it up, and found it is was a great bait for shark.
So here’s my question, I hear people use them for cobia… so somehow people are catching them! How do I catch live eels around here? I’d like to take 4-5 frozen eels with me while surf fishing as that should last a trip… any place to buy frozen eels around here? Catching lives ones, in my opinion would be better though!
Put a piece of bread in your minnow trap. Put the trap out in a tidal creek near the house where it will still be under water at low. Go home and have a few drinks and totally forget about minnow trap. Wake up the next morning to go fishing and remember oh crap my trap. When you pull the trap up there is a very happy and satisfied eel and maybe one terrified minnow. At least that has worked for me more times than I am proud of.
Seriously, I have never tried to catch eels. It’s only when I leave my minnow trap out too long that I get them. I am sure you could buy them. I find live finger mullet, or larger mullet, cut up, to be great bait, and the mullet are easy to get with a cast net.
Thanks for the welcoming guys! I’m hoping to meet someone of you down the road! This seems to be a really cool and “real” community online (as opposed to those scattered all over the world who you may never encounter). Lots of friendships seem to be formed on here.
So, I’ve heard bacon, cat food etc in minnow traps… I’ve heard of eels being caught in freshwater lakes/ponds around here. Are the tidal streams going to be better?
if this is all about shark bait, it sounds like a heck of a lot of trouble.
live eels for cobia can be bought in beaufort during the right time of year, from what i understand, but you can save that for after your next truck purchase.
a cast net or smaller surf rod setup should supply plenty of any kind of cut fish for shark bait, especially oily ones like menhaden, bluefish or mullet. in addition, stingrays aren’t the least bit protected, and wing meat is among the best shark bait. whiting chunks also perform. the only fish i just mentioned with any kind of limit is the bluefish (15/person/day, no size limit).
save stuff you catch and don’t use one day, and bring it frozen the next. during the day on the beach, you should be able to get more fresh cut or live fish for shark bait again, or at least replenish the freezer. good luck, and see the cooking your catch forum for what to do with your next shark- vinman and others have posted recently with good stuff!
if this is all about shark bait, it sounds like a heck of a lot of trouble.
live eels for cobia can be bought in beaufort during the right time of year, from what i understand, but you can save that for after your next truck purchase.
a cast net or smaller surf rod setup should supply plenty of any kind of cut fish for shark bait, especially oily ones like menhaden, bluefish or mullet. in addition, stingrays aren’t the least bit protected, and wing meat is among the best shark bait. whiting chunks also perform. the only fish i just mentioned with any kind of limit is the bluefish (15/person/day, no size limit).
save stuff you catch and don’t use one day, and bring it frozen the next. during the day on the beach, you should be able to get more fresh cut or live fish for shark bait again, or at least replenish the freezer. good luck, and see the cooking your catch forum for what to do with your next shark- vinman and others have posted recently with good stuff!
Ohio…yes I’m one of those dreaded transplants from Ohio… but I love it down here! Menhaden are a bait of choice…but they only run past the shore on a rare occasion. Today in the boat, I netted about 300 of them! But most of the sharks I caught (north of IOP in the deep hole) were those pup sharks… which are annoying. Still hoping to get into a bigger species soon! I would just like to find a place to catch a few more eels as they seem to not get eaten off the line… and attracted sharks well…
