PRED-ATOR Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Hi Raiders, Spent the day fishing with Stewy yesterday which was a great experience for me. While is was a tough day out, it was good to pick up a few tips and share plenty of laughs. We fished the entire tide cycle for a few flatties and taylor. We were both quite astonished with how shut down the fish were. Not even the bream were biting lol. Anyway by the arvo, the plan was to pack it up, go home and cry whilst being the fetal position however; I needed to make a stop on the way home. To avoid the traffic i though i would drive over to canada bay and have a flick for bream. It was absolute low tide however i found a pull which the run off tide was draining into. the pool was locked by sand on one side so whatever is in there aint gettin out. (about 2 foot deep) First cast and something slammed my 3B shallow dog in the mongrell colour, took a short run and pulled the hook. I set the drag lighter and made a few more casts then BAM. something grabs and runs in a very odd zig zag motion with unbeleivable weight. I fought this thing for over 20 minutes, i couldnt even move it, it was that heavy. Finally up comes this massive eel! Ive seen some big eels before but this thing was huge! measured 1.2 metres and no joke over 17kg. I can lift over 20kg with 1 arm and i was really struggling with this thing. No picutres do this thing justice it was absolutely massive. I cannot comprehend the girth on this eel which would have been sitting there eating anything that swam past on the run out. It bent and snapped my hooks but i am happy to have landed such a fish on 6lb gear and on a hard body! Firstly, what kind of eel is this? i thought a short finned eel but internet says they dont grow this big? I no its ridiculous but do you thinkg i should submit this in for COTM? also have i broken a lure record with this beast? Lastly, thank you Stewy for a great day out. I had an awesome time and havent laughed that hard in a while even if YOU were a bad luck omen hahaha. Enjoy the pics, i wanted to take more but this thing went harry, lunged at me then swam off lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foolforjesus Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 (edited) That is a beast of an eel mate! Edited November 15, 2012 by foolforjesus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassboy888 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 would have been an interesting battle. have caught some big fresh water ones but never one in the salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjc123 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Massive Eel Stan! Would've been a cracker fight! I caught a 20kg Pike Eel in the hawkesbury a few years ago. Fought it on jew gear and i still thought it was a cracker of a fight. Great work! Cheers, Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRED-ATOR Posted November 16, 2012 Author Share Posted November 16, 2012 Does anyone know what type of eel this is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinsoi Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Great catch Stan That's massive alright Those Berkley 3B lures must be super strong putting up with punishment like that! Put it in for COTM mate and keep up the nice work All the best Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Looks like a conger eel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmak Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 That is one massive eel! Congrats on landing it - must have been very difficult. Things can twist and turn all over the place I'm surprised you got it to 'pose' so elegantly next to your rod and reel. Great pic though - give us a sense of how big it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRED-ATOR Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 Thanks for the comments everyone : ) Can you get conger eel in Australia? I got this thing to pose so well only because it was so exhausted lol. lucky it didnt spin much just took zig zagged runs. I measured it up against my rod then took that measurement home. was 1.2 metres and i would estimate around 17kg. When i went to release it, it lunged at me lol then slithered back into the water the creepy thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Thanks for the comments everyone : ) Can you get conger eel in Australia? Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylo Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 17 kg !? lucky you got your lure back .. i very much dislike hooking eels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsw drifter Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Nice work on light line. Looks a lot like a longfinned eel to me. Anguilla reinhardtii - very similar to the shortfinned eel but generally the shortifin is an even brown colour - whilst the longfin is mottled and green. Can also tell by where the fins start and finish (hence - longfin or shortfin) . More commonly found in the fresh than the salt but they do venture into the salt. Grow quite a bit bigger than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRED-ATOR Posted November 21, 2012 Author Share Posted November 21, 2012 Hi all, Thanks for the replies everyone. After the helpful comments and google lol i think its safe to say this is a long finned eel. I caught it right near a body of fresh water so much have slithered out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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