Circle Hooks for Eels

We’re five years into the mandatory circle hook regulations for striped bass, and some fishermen are still working out their favorites for certain baits.

A natural bait commonly used for striped bass are live eels. They are readily available at tackle shops, easily transportable on boats or from shore, and are a favorite of big stripers wherever they swim.

If you spent all your surfcasting years before 2020 using J-hooks and swinging for the fences when a striper ate your eel, the last few seasons may have been an adjustment. Some anglers have abandoned eels altogether due to circle hook frustration and eel price inflation that has the slimy baits costing as much as $3.50 apiece at some shops. However, eels are too effective not to use, so we polled some of the striper coast’s dedicated eel fishermen on their go-to hooks for this essential striped bass bait.

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For offering up eels to the heavyweight bass of Block Island on three-way rigs or weightless, Captain Joe Diorio ties on the BKK Hybrid Heavy Inline Circle, opting for 7/0 for small eels and 8/0 for large.

Between his home waters off northern New Jersey and the winter big bass haven near Chesapeake Bay, big bass guru Chuck Many puts up hall-of-fame numbers aboard his boat the Tyman thanks to eels. His go-to hook hasn’t changed since he was already using a compliant, inline circle hook before the regulations went into effect. His hook is an 8/0 Gamakatsu Inline Circle, preferably in red. Chuck says he likes a lighter hook so that the eel swims better while slow-trolling or drifting.

Surfcaster, podcaster, and editor in chief of Fishing Tackle Retailer and The Fishing Wire, Toby Lapinski has two go-to circles, depending on whether or not the eel he’s throwing has a pulse. For dead eels, Toby goes with a 10/0 Mustad 39944-bn—the same hook he uses for chunking bunker. For live eels, he likes a smaller 6/0 or 7/0 Gamakatsu Inline Octopus Circle.

Along the Elizabeth Islands of Massachusetts, OTW Publisher Chris Megan has been casting eels to skinny-water stripers since the mid-1990s. Since 2020, he’s been using the VMC 8386 Tournament Circle Hook 3X in the 5/0 size.

Regardless of which circle hook you choose, it’s essential to ensure a bass turns away with the bait before coming tight and that you’ve reeled up all the slack from the line before lifting the rod. A good technique is to keep reeling until the drag begins to slip.