Keepers, both old style (36") and new style (28") coming in on eels on the ebb tide at dawn both days. On Sat. I had 8 eels, know the 1st 2 eels only caught one fish each, and know the last one caught 5. All in all on Sat I think the 8 eels produced 16-20 fish, all at least 24" long, at least 3 over 36" and one which measured about 40" and at least 20 pounds. I was in the water at 4:30 and out of eels at 6:30; had the corner of the jetty to myself for the entire time and was heading back to the dock, satisfied, when the 4th of July hungover crowd was just waking up.
Waquoit outflow was really ripping against a southwest breeze, producing a nice rip line along the edge of the outflow. Tossing an eel into the rip line and letting it drift into the flow produced hit after hit after hit. I was setting the hook fast, perhaps a 2 count, to avoid guthooking; as a result I was missing more strikes than I was hooking up on, but given the productivity of the spot it didn't matter.
Fish after fish would pick up the eel and make a run with it; once in a while I actually had 20-30" fish boiling up on the surface at the eel when I drew it in for another drift. I actually was glad when the last eel finally dissappeared and I could call it a day. My hands were cut up down to the wrists from all the rasping stripers mouths.
Truly a morning to remember for a long time.
So back I went at 4:30 on the 6th, the neighbor following me as did another aquaintance. The spot was quiet till about 5:30; perhaps because the wind was calm and there was no rip till the outflow picked up. I lost 2 eels to toothy critters, bluefish or perhaps even a shark, before I started hooking up. Once the action started it was as furious as the morning before; albeit with a slightly smaller range of fish, ranging from 26-30", a few new style keepers. One of the bigger ones came in bleeding so I kept him for the grill. The rest were nicely lip hooked with that classic look of eel hanging out along the side of the fish.
It was interesting that when I was done I tossed a few jigs at the sam location and didn't even raise a single hit.
I'm going to give it one more try tonight and enjoy it while it lasts.
L.