The Enigmatic Eel

[DaceAce]

Something a bit different this week; do you still catch eels?:

[Dave F]

I haven’t caught an eel in years. Another endangered species?

[Crucian]

Plenty around Bridgwater last year, and they seem to be increasing in numbers again.

[Santiago]

There's nothing like hooking into a big eel on a light ledger rod meant for bream, in the middle of the night ! There's some nice ones still in the Thames but I very rarely fish for then now !

[DaceAce]

There's nothing like hooking into a big eel on a light ledger rod meant for bream, in the middle of the night ! There's some nice ones still in the Thames but I very rarely fish for then now !

I've never had a Thames eel though only ever fished it at night once. Back in the 1940s my grandad used to set nightlines on the Castle Mill Stream which is a sidestream of the Thames at Oxford to catch eels.

[Santiago]

I've had them up to 41/2 lb and they fight like no other fish, especially for their size. But I haven't bothered with them for the last year or so . Might try my luck this year!

[Mr B]

Only ever fished for them for the table.
Caught hundreds of them in the lakes fed by the river Thames at Cliff Kent.
I haven't fished for them since there dwindling numbers. We must have had them up to around 4lbs if they were weighed.
Most were between 1 1/2 lbs to as thick as my wrist.
Intestinally we only ever caught them on small pieces of lob worm on small hooks... they were very finicky!
As dusk fell you could only fish with one rod because the bites were so thick and fast you couldn't keep up with them.
We would catch a dozen each and call it an evening... get home and put them in the bath with a shake of salt in the bath water.
We would prepare them in the morning.
Very different now.
All Eels returned.

[JAA]

Daceace, I've caught big eels in a few waters you know well (drop me a line and I'll tell you where) and had 4 of 3lb+ in this neck of the woods and lost a monster a decade back (think 8lb+) after a quite titanic scrap. They're about. Plenty of middling eels also. I keep meaning to fish for them on purpose...

I've seen a chap catch 3lb+ eels from Breech and have had quite a few at that pond near the Corfe River - I saw a very big one at Arfleet one evening in a potamageton bed, I reckon it was 5lb or so, 1-2lb fish were quite regular from the old clay pit there (which is why 'Don the Poacher' often arrived at dusk) and I have had quite a few small ones from the 'new' pit. Both now a water park of course.

[Cat]

In 40+ years of angling, mostly Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, I've never caught an eel.

[Grumpy]

I've had them up to 41/2 lb and they fight like no other fish, especially for their size. But I haven't bothered with them for the last year or so . Might try my luck this year!

So true,they do pull like the devil,swimming just as well backwards as forwards.Its been years since I last fished for them but have caught plenty when targeting other species.