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Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

Title:Fishing-V2: All About Angling
Notice:Time to go fishin'! dayegins
Moderator:WAHOO::LEVESQUE
Created:Fri Jul 19 1991
Last Modified:Wed Jun 04 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:548
Total number of notes:9621

395.0. "Fresh Water eels" by ECADSR::BIRO () Tue Jun 21 1994 14:08

I am moving this from the Bass Notes file to here, I thought
I was in the Fishing Notes file when I did it... 


			fresh Water eels                       
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I did not know that one can catch eels in Northwood Lake.
    I got one last weekend that was about 18 inch long and a
    few inches in dia.   
    
    I released it, but later wonder what does an eel eat, etc.
    
    Is it a good thing to have in a lake, or does it eat fish eggs etc.
    
    Several old timers told me they are good eating, but no one could
    remember how to clean on or what size would be good.
    
    And my 3rd question, what would you normally use to catch them,
    and where do you normally find them.
    
    thanks john
    
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Note 317.1                      fresh Water eels                          1 of 3
TAMDNO::WHITMAN "the 2nd Amend protects the other 9" 30 lines  21-JUN-1994 08:37
                         -< But that was 30 years ago >-
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<    I released it, but later wonder what does an eel eat, etc.
    
    I don't know what they eat as a matter of day to day living, but we used to
    catch them with cut bait or with mussels. I expect they'd eat carrion.

<    Is it a good thing to have in a lake, or does it eat fish eggs etc.

    I always assumed they were part of the natural food chain and therefore were
    were beneficial..

<    Several old timers told me they are good eating, but no one could
<    remember how to clean on or what size would be good.

    We used to skin them like you would a bullhead. Slit open the belly to 
    remove the entrails and pull the skin off with pliers.
    
<    And my 3rd question, what would you normally use to catch them,
<    and where do you normmaly find them.
    
    Most of the eels we caught were in a feeder creek of a mill pond.  The
    line was rigged with a 1/2 oz bell sinker about 18 inches above the hook.

    We'd fish off the bridge, cast upstream and let the bait bounce along the
    muddy bottom back to us, taking in the line as it came.  Occasionally we'd
    get them from under the bridge, but very seldom down stream where the
    channel opened up and the speed of the flow slowed. Usually we were fishing
    for the bullheads when we'd get the eels.

Al

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Note 317.2                      fresh Water eels                          2 of 3
RANGER::MACINTYRE "Terminal Angler"                   3 lines  21-JUN-1994 10:37
                           -< awful skinny bass... >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I agree with some of the earlier comments that much of this 
    stuff could be covered in fishing notes, but this one is real
    blatant... how about taking this one next store john...

    
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395.1$0.02GEMVAX::JOHNHCTue Jun 21 1994 14:5534
    Well, first, I've got to say that the creature we're talking about it
    known by the plain old name "American Eel." They've got the same things
    in Europe, so I guess you can take this one as just another case of
    American presumptuousness.
    
    They're omnivores. They'll eat small fish, carrion, invertebrates, or
    just about anything else, as far as I know.
    
    Eels are a favored food in much of the world. Keep in mind that in much
    of the world the idea of clean water is so far beyond the realm of
    possibilities that few folks even think about the water their food is
    coming out of.
    
    The easiest way to catch eels is to use an eel trap. If you are looking
    for eels with a baited hook, you'll probably catch more bullheads
    (hornpouts) than eels. Bullheads can't get into an eel trap.
    
    The most polluted water I have ever been in -- it was a veritable soup
    of carcinogens and straightforwardly hazardous substances -- had no
    life at all on the bottom except for an eel. There we were, making our
    way slowly through light-absorbing hydrogen sulfide soup, when I
    encountered an eel. The eel froze for a second and then took off.
    
    I regard that incident as proof that an eel can survive in conditions
    that won't even support sludgeworms. The healthfulness of an eel's
    flesh is something you maybe ought to think about, bearing in mind that
    eels can move over land from one body of water to another if the ground
    is sufficiently wet for them to slither like a snake. The eel you catch
    may have come from a much more polluted body of water.
    
    FWIW
    
    John H-C 
                      
395.2traped itECADSR::BIROTue Jun 21 1994 15:089
    I should have said I traped the Eel not caugth the Eel, 
    I found the Eel in my Craw Fish trap this weekend.  There
    must be a hole in the trap somewhere, but I could not find it.
    THe entrance for the crawfish trap is  about 1 1/4 " dia.
    
    thanks john
    
    
    
395.3SEND::STORMTue Jun 21 1994 15:567
    You might me interested to know that your eel (along with the
    European eels) were born approximately 1,000 miles away in the
    middle of the Atlantic.  Quite an interesting life cycle those
    guys have.
    
    Mark,
    
395.4PCCAD::RICHARDJLiving With A Honky Tonk AttitudeThu Jun 23 1994 17:436
    My grandfather use to catch and eat eel. I had some when I was a kid
    and remember it being delicious. They are very oily, so my grandmother 
    use to boil it before deep frying it in order to take some of the oil
    out.

    Jim
395.5Smoke themHOWICK::VETTESheep are natural blondesThu Jun 23 1994 20:5812
    Smoked eel is very nice - a lot more appetising than any oher form of
    cooking for the wriggly things.
    
    As a child I used to catch eels in a creek in the street I lived in. On
    one occasion, some friends and I dammed the creek, caught all the eels
    by hand that were in the mud in the bottom of the creek and put them in
    an fish pond about 30 metres from the creek. About half an hour later,
    all the eels (no exceptions) had made their way out of the pond, across
    a driveway and down a bank back into the creek. I guess they just
    wanted to be back in the mud.
    
    Lindsay
395.6AYOV16::SROBERTSONMon Aug 01 1994 09:563
    	Caught a freshwater eel the other day - it was nibblin' at a
    rainbow trout head - a quick and lucky strike got it - was quite long
    about 36in. and eighed about two pounds - good pike bait.