Eels

[Leon Roskilly]

tigger:

A good way to hold an eel when unhooking it is to wrap it in newspaper it sticks to the paper and doesnt slip about as much.I've never found it damage the eel in any way.You can get your hook out quicker and let it go quicker.

Eel sections are good pike bait.

Tigger.

NOOOooooooo!

 

Never do that!

 

You might not think that the eel is damaged, but it's left much of it's protective slime on the paper, and it really needs that slime!

 

Turn it on its back, and strock its belly, that should calm it down long enough to unhook it!

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Guest tigger]

But anyone watching might get the wrong idea and think i'm an eel molester.

Tigger.

[Russell Fitzpatrick]

cockneys are born within sound of the bow bells-choose your words wisely.

 

half the bloody country eats eels!

[ayjay]

Whenever the subject of eel baits arises no-one ever mentions luncheon meat, eels are an absolute p.i.t.a. when Barbel fishing with meat as a bait, and quite easy to liphook if you touch leger for them.

 

I spend most of my time devising ways of avoiding them and can recommend hair rigged hot and spicy peperami for that.

[peter mccue]

Zed, As far as I'm aware Glass Eels are an early development of the Elver & thus were harvested at an earlier stage of their migration, which put them in the realm of Spanish & portugese fishermen.

 

Also I think the fishing for Glass Eels is quite a recent affair, relatively speaking of course. That it's had a dramatic effect on the numbers of Elvers running Britains rivers is very worrying.

 

Incidentally (I may well be wrong) I thought it was a parasitical infection rather than fungal.

[bingo]

I caught my first and only eel on sweetcorn a few weeks ago and very impressed with it I was too! It put up an amazing scrap (I thought I had a decent carp on before I saw it). Decent size too (2-3lbs - I'm not too great at guessing!) and it was perfectly hooked (good job too because it scared me at first!)

 

I found it almost impossible to handle. They're so strong and slippery I kept it in the net to unhooked because he was all over the place!)

 

Great fun though. Good luck.

[bingo]

I hope Elton doesn't mind me linking to another well known site but there is some great advice on eel handling here:

 

Unhooking and handling eels

['eelfisher']

Dear ALL

 

Newspaper as a tool for holding eels to unhook them......thats a big no-no...it removes all the protective slime....you need a damp unhooking mate and then you need to place the eel on its back and stroke it gently from head to tail....the eel will calm down reasonably quickly and then you can remove the hook.

 

Hooks that cannot be seen after capture equals cutting the wire trace as near to the mouth as possible WITHOUT pulling on the trace first to see where the hook is......all the eels vital organs are within the deep throat area and are vunerable to life threatening damaged.

 

If an eel is deep hooked and bleeding from the mouth, ensure that you don't get the eels blood into any cuts on your hand as, whilst the eel is alive, their blood is toxic.

 

After unhooking, if you require a photo, then now is a good time to take one, whilst the eel is in a state of calm....simply hold with cupped hands just behind the pectoral fins and about two thirds down the eels body and you should have a nicely behaved fish to hold, which will result in you having a nice memory of your catch.

 

Never hold an eel by the throat and hang it by one hand......this action needs massive grip strength and creates huge pressure in the one area that contains all the eels vital organs, holding eels this way will lead to severe damage being inflicted on the eel.

 

Please return your catch back to the water alive......it still has a long time left in its life cycle and deserves your respect.

 

The parasite Anguillacoli Crassus attacks the swim bladder and eventually destroys it.....the major concern is that this is having massive destuctive impacts on to the eels life cycle being completed and reproduction being hugely affected.

 

Using eel sections for bait is frowned upon by most understanding and concerned anglers nowadays, due to the massive decline in eel stocks attempting to make their entrance back into our water systems.....lamprey is a superb alternative zander, catfish and pike bait and oozes more blood and is as tough as old boots.

 

Good and sound advice from Leon about handling and unhooking eels.....thanks Leon. (again)

 

GlennB, zedhead and Pete Mccue.....sound info.....nice to see some out there are aware of the eels plight and issues. (I salute you.)

 

Yours With Respect......

Steve

Chairman of The National Anguilla Club.

 

[ 25. August 2005, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: 'eelfisher' ]

[Guest tigger]

Sorry Steve you'll have to forgive my ignorance about useing newspaper to hold an eel while unhooking.I have to be honest i've never used that method as i don't carry newspaper around with me, it's just something i've seen people do and the eels allways looked in good fettle after unhooking them.

I caught a eel about a pound in weight the other week while fishing for bass,when i reeled it in out of pure luck as there was no indication of a bite it was liphooked but was in a solid ball around my line.It was curled around the line in sush a way that it was going to cut it`s self in half, it took me a good 20 mins to sort it and let it go.I must addmit i had a close look at it before it went on its way and it appeared none the worse even after it had tried to commit suicide.

By the way i allways treat all animals with the greatest respect whether i'm going to release them or have them for tea.I allways try and kill a fish with one good wack.I can't leave them on the bank flopping about to be honest i think thats a bad method.

Cheers

Tigger.

[Severn Wolf]

quote:

---

If an eel is deep hooked and bleeding from the mouth, ensure that you don't get the eels blood into any cuts on your hand as, whilst the eel is alive, their blood is toxic.

---

 

Never knew that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ 25. August 2005, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: Severn Wolf ]