Oh boy, sounds like yer fishing too deep lol. If yer weighting eels, I personally cant help. The only time I have ever bounced eels off the bottom with weight is under and around the General Sullivan bridge, and that was a ways back. Someone else might be able to help with that aspect of eeling.
I prefer to cast and plug them, much like a wood plug, say a needlefish. In shallow water. I hate deep water 90% of the time lol. Anything over 10-15 feet, and I want to go home. I like water that I can walk around in.....shallow. A big misconception about bass is that they dont like shallow water.....ever hear someone say...."it's too hot, the bass left for deeper offshore water". Rubbish. Roc can tell you better than I can. But I can honestly say I have been sweating my ass off at night, sweltering humidity, and landed some mighty fish, in shallow water.
It might take some trial and error, hell I am still learning every time out. There are pictures of bass caught on live eels in the gallery here, most of them caught in water under 4 feet, some of them even landed with the skeg in the mud. Bottomed out
Big bass are NOT afraid of shallow water, you shouldnt be either!
The 4 biggest bass I have ever battled and landed were all caught in water 8' and under.
Leave the sinkers and fishfinder rigs in the trash on your way out if yer fishing with live eels. Try to meet up with some of us on one of our weekly jaunts in Hampton, and we can try to help yas out
