Eels over land?

S

Stu Black

Guest
I've always thought that nobody has ever proved that eels travel over land on their journey to the Sargasso sea, or even seen eels crossing land between waterways. 2 friends have tried to convince me tonight that they've both seen it happen but in different places, they also reckon they've seen eels sunbathing(?) on rocks. I think they were mistaken and that these were snakes they saw.

Have any of you ever seen an eel cross land?
 
J

Jason Lennon

Guest
Have seen it happening mate. Not in real life though, saw it on a tv program, cant remember whos program it was though, either Hatt Mayes or Wohn Jilson.

I know it does happen, as I found one near my local pond, theres no eels in it, but there was almost one in the pond. Poor thing must have come from the tees, all the way to 200yds from the pond and gave up & died. Either that or it did make it to the pond and some ignorant angler caught it and callously killed it & threw it.
 
T

Tony Jolley

Guest
Never seen it my self, But I was told by a angling friend that when he once fished a golf coarse water after a few blank sessions the green keeper asked how he was getting on, And advised him to place his baits on the grass at the edge of the pond, as he said the eels were always coming out the water to feed on the worms and slugs around the edges. I dont think he ever caught a eel that way but he did seen were they had moved in the dew in the morning.
My brother saw an eel "climb "out of a pond once that was suddenly hit by pollution / effluant,
There was once a documented case of a 4lb+ eel being "found" alive in damp grass against a boarding wall about 150 meters away from its nearest water, the report was in the Wigan observer a good while back.
as for eels sun bathing, I think you are right that they may have been grass snakes or Adders.












n
 
T

Tony Jolley

Guest
Never seen it my self, But I was told by a angling friend that when he once fished a golf coarse water after a few blank sessions the green keeper asked how he was getting on, And advised him to place his baits on the grass at the edge of the pond, as he said the eels were always coming out the water to feed on the worms and slugs around the edges. I dont think he ever caught a eel that way but he did seen were they had moved in the dew in the morning.
My brother saw an eel "climb "out of a pond once that was suddenly hit by pollution / effluant,
There was once a documented case of a 4lb+ eel being "found" alive in damp grass against a boarding wall about 150 meters away from its nearest water, the report was in the Wigan observer a good while back.
as for eels sun bathing, I think you are right that they may have been grass snakes or Adders.
 
T

Tony Jolley

Guest
sorry about that I dont know what happened there.????
 
R

Ron Clay

Guest
I think they were definitely snakes. I don't believe for one minute that eels cross land at night.

What they do do is go on a walk-about (sorry swim about) during times of flood when they will leave the river and enter a nearby still water where they become stranded when the waters recede.

They are then left there to grown very big.

Also, some of them might not feel randy and stay put, eating lots of food and growing big as a result.

Canals and gravel pits near rivers are perfect places for whopping great snigs.
 
I

Ian Whittaker

Guest
I have watched herons successfully hunting for eels in a wet field by the river ribble - not flooded just wet. Also when we used to holiday in Scotland we used to set lines at night to catch eels for bait. One particular line was found in the morning with the eel having buried through grass and taken refuge under a cowpat
 
T

Tony Jolley

Guest
Intreasting Ian.
I tend to lean towards Rons thinking. Also a lot of eels over the years have been moved by anglers, either as bait or for stocking waters.

I`m not 100% convinced that large eels say over 3lb will climb out of a land locked still water and move miles over damp grass, Only because I haven`t witnessed it.
But I have heard from anglers who have known nets men who have, through experiance, found that they can actually net eels on land, were the eels can leave the water to cross into drainage ditches very close to were they are leaving from.
How true this is I don`t know, I`d love to see it my self.

Eels!. An amazing fish don`t you think?.
 
Mark Wintle

Mark Wintle

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 10, 2002
Messages
4,479
Reaction score
841
Location
Azide the Stour
There is a Dorset clay mine/pit with a shallow pool at the bottom. There are no inlet or outlet streams. The pool is about 100 feet below the rim of the pit. There are no ditches or brooks within 200 yards which is how eels get into other pools. I watched a heron fly in one day and thought he must be hopeful. Took it less than a minute to get an eel. Somehow those elvers must find a way in. There is no flooding.
 
T

Tony Jolley

Guest
Hi Mark.
Are the waters spring fed do you know?,
As I have thought it could be possible that the elvers reach these "prison waters" through the under ground river / spring systems.Some old mines and the like could be resulted in flooding by such things as springs.
I remember talking to a guy who worked for the gas board in the Wigan area he told me that on a few occasions the under ground gas mains / man hole covers have resulted in flooding in heavy rains and burst sewers. When the work men have returned overnight they have found eels in the water at the bottom of the inspection chambers.
 
K

Kevin Cox

Guest
There was a very good tv series called " Tales of the river bank " or something like that, ( no not hammy hampster, showing my age now !)that had an episode devoted to eels.
I can clearly remember seeing two eels being filmed making there way across wet grass,& a statement that eels can travel quite a distance over land to find a river or stream back to the Sargaso sea.
Now whether these eels were actualy filmed leaving water under natural circomstances or whether it was a set up for the camara, i dont know.
 
GrahamM

GrahamM

Managing Editor
Joined
Feb 23, 1999
Messages
9,773
Reaction score
1
When I used to do a lot of eel fishing we did a few experiments by taking eels to varying distances away from the water, sometimes as much as 200yds, and then lay them on the grass facing away from the water. Every time, without fail, they turned and headed back towards the water.

This doesn't prove anything except that they seem to have an uncanny sense of direction to find water.

The next time you catch an eel try it for yourself. You'll be amazed.
 
T

Tony Jolley

Guest
Hi Kevin,
The programme was indeed the "Tales from the river bank" The B,B,C approached me at the time of filming the tv show to see if it was possible to film anglers catching eels, I arranged for the film crew to join myself and other members of the National Anguilla Club on a club fishin, were they filmed Kieth Bradbury with an eel of 3lb9oz.
I can tell you the eels were released close to were they were filmed for the "Eels over land bit".
the best bit of the programe is the bit were they show you a eel takeing bits of beef burger thrown in after a bar-b-que.
 
T

Tony Jolley

Guest
Thats so true Graham,
We have even tried it with the eel facing down a hill away from the water they all turned uphill to get back in.
Brilliant sight to see.
Can I just say that if anyone does try this out only do it when the grass is wet, the eel can soon dry out and suffer, also make sure the grass is not too long as you wont see what happens as the eel can soon disapear in the thick grass.
 
K

Kevin Cox

Guest
I've seen adders before & i think you would have to have pretty bad eyesight to mistake one for an eel, unless it was dark.
But i suppose grass snakes or slow worms could easily be mistaken for an eel?
I have to agree with you Tony, they are a fascinating & certainly mysterious species of fish.
 
S

Stu Black

Guest
Graham, did you try spinning them round to make them dizzy?
 
J

jason fisher

Guest
i've seen bootlace eels moving up concrete steps with a very small ammount of water running down them, less than 1/4 of an inch.
That was in the out flow of langold lake round by the paddling pool. ( Ron will know where i mean)
 
R

Ron Troversial Clay

Guest
I know where you mean Jason but I have never seen any eels there.
 
T

The Monk

Guest
I was also at the National Anguilla Club BBC fish in, a really well organised event, thats to the efforts of Tony Jolley and the NAC, members came from literally all over the country, it was like a united nations meeting!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top