Anyone fish for these?  My local river has them but I haven't heard of anyone catching one in a long time.   I think they can get into the 5lb range.   If so, what do you use?  Will they hit plastics?

We have caught lots of eels in brackish rivers while fishing for reds and trout. They are the slimest things ever. I do not know why anyone would target these things intentionally unless you are gonna use them for cobia bait.

Just wondering what they'd hit, if they're that nasty I won't bother.  Don't have a boat so figured if I can't find the bass or pike in my local body of water where there's shore access then I might try for something else.  There's carp and small brown bullheads (hornpout) as well but I'm not much for using bait and hook.

Stay away from the eels haha. They're terrible. I've never seen em' hit a plastic either, but they WILL hit anything a catfish will. They are SUPER slimy and twist up your line. They also have very sharp teeth. Put it this way..I get MAD when I pull an eel up. Go for the carp man, they're an incredible fight.  EELS=

They make great blue catfish bait.