eels

[riverman]

forgot to mention i caught an eel at the mushroom ponds yesterday.i once caught 4 in one session on worms on the river nidd at knaresborough a few years back.the biggest eel i saw was on loch ness when my golden retriever millie spotted what we thought was a twig or branch off dores beach.that dog could retrieve and brought a pretty big dying eel in.when she dropped it on the beach at my feet the wife said 'see she doesnt need a rod and reel. .i was just wondering what all your thoughts are about eels?

 

[@Clive]

My old spaniel fled back to the tent when I lifted an eel's head up prior to netting it at Houghton Mill. That was about twenty years ago and I've only caught one since, from the River Dearne just after an old bloke told me that he'd caught just about every species from the river exept eels.

When I was young we caught them regularly locally and loads on the Yorkshire rivers too. They were a nuisance in matches. Also on the Norfolk Broads I used to catch some good size ones. They are rare in France and now are protected.

 

[no-one in particular]

I don't like catching them, plenty of big ones in the past but certainly declining over the last 2 or 3 years, I seem to catch less than I did. I could only use bread and sweetcorn as anything meaty I would hook quite a few on the rivers, maggots luncheon meat etc. Still caught a few on bread and sweetcorn but not as many, don't see as many now though on any bait. However, oddly I saw one in a park ;lake the other day, I was feeding some sausage roll to some carp and roach in a non fishing lake as I do occasionally on my way home and a large eel suddenly appeared and took a bit of sausage roll. Never seen one before in this lake. But I don't like catching them, respect them but something non fish and ugly about them and they just make a mess of the line and clothes if they get on them. Give me a nice pretty roach or rudd any day.

 

[John Aston]

I've seen a few more in the last five seasons or so than I did the decade before . I pick up a few when barbel fishing on the Yorkshire Ouse system and my syndicate pit has produced some nice ones. I devoted a lazy afternoon late last summer to fishing for them and had four 2lb plus fish. Little ones are a PITA but the larger ones are more docile, and in Fred J Taylor's words (or was it Peter Stone?) - "They don't 'alf 'ang on" .

A fascinating fish which has already swum 4500 miles across the Atlantic , crossed weirs and wriggled across the wet grass between tiny beck and pit to even to find their home . Now I just need to get the twig rig to work better !

 

[no-one in particular]

I've seen a few more in the last five seasons or so than I did the decade before . I pick up a few when barbel fishing on the Yorkshire Ouse system and my syndicate pit has produced some nice ones. I devoted a lazy afternoon late last summer to fishing for them and had four 2lb plus fish. Little ones are a PITA but the larger ones are more docile, and in Fred J Taylor's words (or was it Peter Stone?) - "They don't 'alf 'ang on" .

A fascinating fish which has already swum 4500 miles across the Atlantic , crossed weirs and wriggled across the wet grass between tiny beck and pit to even to find their home . Now I just need to get the twig rig to work better !

There must be regional differences, I remember when they were saying for years that eels were in decline and just not getting it because i found it hard to avoid catching them but, that has changed in the last 2 or 3 years. However, the save the eel measures must be having some impact and maybe I will notice that as well soon.

 

[nottskev]

My first fish was a 12" eel caught on a cane rod with a bit of line tied to the tip ring when some big kids took me fishing. The local canal teemed with them, as did the river. Along with flounder, they were the mainstay of sport on the tidal. Where a pipe flowed from the upper to lower tier where the canal joined the river, you could see, at the right time, an endless stream of tiny elvers exiting. I had no idea then where they came from or how they got, well, everywhere.

It's a good thing that the routine atrocities committed on eels by anglers angry about small eels swallowing baits, sliming the line and tying everything in knots are in the past. I went about 15 years without catching an eel before catch a couple around 2lbs in each of the last few years on meat baits intended for barbel. They are a fascinating fish, and it's good to see them around - it's sobering to think how a species so prolific can disappear -but I'm happy not to catch them. When you realise you've hooked one, you have to hope it's lip-hooked and not too hard to deal with, which dampens the pleasure of playing such a hard-fighting fish.

 

[Badgerale]

There must be regional differences, I remember when they were saying for years that eels were in decline and just not getting it because i found it hard to avoid catching them but, that has changed in the last 2 or 3 years. However, the save the eel measures must be having some impact and maybe I will notice that as well soon.

Loads of places near the sussex coast are crawling with them. I imagine having some floodplains and quite an extensive system of drainage canals helps them a lot.

I'm happy to see them doing well, but from a fishing perspective, they are a pain to handle and unhook and I'd rather avoid them. At least they don't like sweetcorn.

I had an especially big one one from a lake close to a brackish river. I didn't have any scales but I'd guess maybe 4 to 5lb.

 

[mikench]

Never seen one alive in the flesh nor caught one. I can’t say I’m sorry. Eaten them here in France and they are delicious particularly when smoked.

 

[peterjg]

I haven't caught an eel for about 15 years. The biggest I ever caught was 5lbs 3ozs on a lobworm though I have caught several gooduns on bits of garlic sausage. They fight well and can swim backwards when you are trying to net them.

 

[ian g]

I used to fish for them as a kid , and have to fight my sister to get to eat them . They are good eating . I don't fish for them now and wouldn't take one now though I did catch 2 or 3 during the winter on the Severn . Fascinating life cycle but as others said the small ones are a pita . My sister still asks for them when we meet up

 

[Philip]

I dont like small ones but big ones are very welcome. Amazing fish. ...the journey of the Salmon pales into insignificance when you compare it to the Eel.

One of the rivers I fish I have caught I think 1 Eel in literally 20 years, it would be easy to think they are rare in there, however a few years ago
I was fishing one night and suddenly by the light of street lamps I could see literally dozens and dozens of Eels in the margins making their way upstream, there were so many I even netted one up in my landing net...for maybe an hour or more it was like a conveyer belt of Eels all swimming in the same direction...& this was just what I could see in the margins, I have no idea what was happening further out in the river. I have never seen anything like it before or since.

A day or so later reports came out that there had been a pollution incident at a water treatment plant just upstream of where I was fishing and many fish had been lost as a result. Clearly the Eels knew something was up. It was also interesting that they were swimming towards the source if the pollution, not as i would have expected away from it. Maybe they somehow knew if they got upstream of it they would be alright. I have no idea but it was a very vivid memory of all those Eels that I will never forget.

 

[The bad one]

In the 80s I did a fair bit of eel fishing on Meres, lakes and canals around the NW. The only fish that fights as hard backwards as it does forwards. Great fun if you hook a big one. Best I had was 6lb 1oz from Deer Park Mere Cholmondeley Hall .
As a teenager I kept one in a small pond in the garden that I caught from the Witham on a match. I had two lovely little real true crucians in the pond with it. Until I notice chunks out of their tails missing. I thought at first it was the local cats doing it. Then I saw the bas..... attacking them one day. I moved them into a tank in the shed and left it in the pond. What it fed on I don't know, as I never gave it any grub but it survived and some time later I took pity on it and dropped it in the local canal.
What I didn't know at the time, the canal had some big eels in it of it's own.
The intel came from a young kid I knew locally, 10 or so year later, who told me he'd seen a guy catch one, kill it and cut up in to sections....Why? He told me where this guy had thrown the bits, so I went and had look. The section I found was thicker than a good forearm. I phoned my mate John and told him, who said lets have a go for them, so we did and we had eels up to 4lb 3oz.