Big Eels

[Jim Roper]

peter mccue:

Can't say I subscribe totally to the prison water theory, though I suppose it may affect some Eels.

I can't offer much on this but eels were always a source of income to people living close to the Fleet behind Chesil Beach.

My father had one of 5lb and another of 3lb in one afternoon pecking. He spotted the 3 lb eel only because it had another smaller eel in it mouth.

The Fleet is brackish water open to the sea.

Eel spears were made according to the area of the Fleet where they were to be used. Eels at the higher end being generally smaller than those in the lower reaches. Spears used at the top end had to be capable of releasing the eels quickly so that little time was wasted in getting back to work. You had to catch a lot of small eels.

My grandfather rented the eel fishing rights in part of the top end of the Fleet for a period around the end of WW1. I think he got about 1/- a lb from the London Market for them and it was enough to employ his half-brother to weigh up and box the eels that the catchers brought in. We still have the hand-written agreement with the owner of the Fleet.

Pecking was hard work.

There was a local saying for when times were hard: Peck or starve!!

When Fike nets became popular about 30 years ago, eel catches increased dramatically for the amount of hours put into it. On chap seemed to be doing quite well until the local conservationists put a stop to it by persuading the owners to only issue a limited number of net licenses to each person.

Because most of the people catching eels in the Fleet do it as a side-line, for tax purposes, there is a lot of secracy about catches, but I suspect that, early on, the Fikes caught quite a few big eels.

We had a massive thing in the mullet net one night, but it didn't stay long enough to be indentified. It went round the bottom of the boat twice and then out over the bow like a torpedo. My mate thought it might have been 20lb but could have been a conger!!

 

Jim Roper

[tony jolley]

Nugg:

Hi Tony

That was hard luck, shame to miss out after such a long wait, did you use a baiting needle?

I personaly never went into dead bait for eels much, I always used a good bunch of lob worms threaded up the line and then pulled down back on to a size 4 hook, this always gave me great success and I've caught a few in my time too, although I have'nt been eeling for a few years now. Come to think of it I may have mentioned this to you on a previous post.

Hi Nugg,

Yes I did use a baiting needle, Threading the braided hooklenght from about a inch behind the head right up and through the root of the tail,

I am not prepared to use a gorge rig for my eeling so i try to place the hook in a position that offers the best chance of a hook hold but to try and prevent deep hooking,

I had your idea on one of my other rods 5 worms on a size 4s, and also a Gudgeon livebait on the 3rd rod, I never put all my eggs in the one basket,

 

Jim .. some intreasting stuff in your post, I have seen pictures of eel spears,

Like you pointed out fyke nets would take alot more eels,in a shorter period of time,

I bet that eel in the boat would have been a sight to behold,

[Jim Roper]

tony jolley:

Originally posted by Nugg: some intreasting stuff in your post, I have seen pictures of eel spears,

I bet that eel in the boat would have been a sight to behold

There are still plenty of eel spears in sheds around the area and I think there are some on display at Abbotsbury Swannery, along with some of the other stuff that used to be used in the Fleet, including a gunning punt. The original spear-heads were made by splitting a piece of metal (they would never tell anybody the exact sort of steel) 4 ins wide by half an inch thick into 5, leaving enough in one piece at one end to form the ferrule. The five tines or fingers were beaten and shaped with with hammer, anvil and file to grip the eels and the ferrule end was beaten and shaped to fit the handle. There was a 'T' piece (the crutch) on the top of the handle. The 'pecker' would have spears of differing length handles with him so that as he moved about in the varying depths of water, he could used a spear to suit without having to adjust the bend in his back. Because he stood in the bow of the 'Trough' (the flat-bottomed boat pronounced Tro) he would have 2 pieces of plank fixed inside where he stood so as not to wear through the side of the boat with his Hob-Nails. The Blacksmith and his Striker would take all day to make a spear and it was always a bone of contention that a pecker could earn enough to pay for it in a morning if he worked like a N.. Well you know, one of those chaps from abroad!!

 

The last spears to be made were welded up out of stainless steel, but they were never as good as the hand wrought ones, so I am told. There had to be a bias for the tines to spread sideways as opposed to front and back so that they gripped the eel but could also release it quickly.

 

Similar tools are used in East Anglia, I believe.

 

It was so dark that night the eel was in the boat, we couldn't see much of what ever it was, but the old chap, whose boat it was, reckoned it was the biggest fish he'd ever seen in the Fleet and that includes double figure Bass, but that's another story.

 

Jim Roper

http://www.searchlineuk.com/FishList.htm