Sand Eels

[sandfly]

A few sand eels for jersey in late nov. - jan.

 

[JohnnyUtah]

Very nice eels. Do you ever have a short strike issue with these?

 

[sandfly]

never, they engulf the fly..

 

[JohnnyUtah]

Heres the eel pattern I use all the time. Not quite as pretty as yours, but still very effective. I seen the pattern on global fly fisher I believe some time ago.

 

[turkey]

Good lookin' eels Sandy. I tied something similar for steelhead that I "borrowed" from a Popovics pattern...but mine didn't come out too good so I always leave 'em at home.

 

[Fishidiot]

Some nice sand eels.

JohnnyU,
I've never had trouble hooking stripers with flies that have a hook in the very far forward part of the fly. Even small bass, as Sandy pointed out, inhale the fly. Sand eel patterns are small by salt standards and even schoolie bass can get 'em in their mouths. With larger flies, like a Lefty's Deceiver, in my experience bass will still grab the head of the fly as they seem to prefer to swallow larger baits head-first.

Bluefish are another story. Like many toothy critters, they seize their prey mid-body and bite down to kill or sever the fish. I wouldn't throw these sand eels at a school of small bluefish as they'd get shredded.

 

[JohnnyUtah]

Sandy, fishidiot,

Oh I dont doubt that one bit. I'm not much of a bass or salt guy. Just do it occasionally.

 

[trowpa]

Exactly - about bluefish vs. Stripers. The same has been my experience with baitfishing.

Baitfishing from the beach, we use mullet rigs for smaller blues (

 

[jay348]

thanks to sandfly's reminder, i had to take a stab at some eels for my upcoming salt trips. I used white bucktail, white hackle feathers , pearl flash, peacock herls, and epoxy. came out around 3.5"...any suggestions?

 

[Fishidiot]

jay348 wrote:
...any suggestions?

Jay,
Looks good to me. My only suggestion would be to use a smaller eye. Sand eels have very small pointy heads rather than a large bulbous head. It's a minor point really. Your fly will fool 'em.

 

[jay348]

thanks for the tip fishidiot! those were the smallest eyes ive got at the moment; but after takign a second look today, i think a thinner epoxy coat around the head may help with the appearance. that or i could paint the eyes on...

 

[gfen]

Few years back, Frederick sent one out in a swap that's pretty damned fascinating. It was craft fur, pale tan over white, with body braid over the shank and a pair of mylar eyes, coat the whole thing with epoxy.

I had a similar version I made, but way more ghetto. I used some sort of EP Fibers that weren't, pale blue over white. I couldn't work the braid over the body, so I just wrapped it around the shank to the eye, mylar eyes and then covered the whole thing in Hard as Nails. The synthetic fibers seem to take much abuse from toothy fish, whereas buck tail gets shredded pretty quickly.