fresh water eels.

[Guest rodsmith]

are local park has a stream rinning though it.. and its tidal

i fished it a few times with a lot of success

but i struggle to get anything over 2lb

 

its possible to catch 30 a night

 

atb

 

 

,fooking hell,thats alot of eels!!!!!!

wheres that then??

[Guest rodsmith]

i find it hard to believe thers not 10 people on this site that dont catch eels,even if not by accident??

[Fidgety 8]

Used to get loads on the Norfolk broads 30 years ago ...... are they still there??

[torchey 1,202]

Practically all lakes with feeder streams have them. You want somewhere 15 years old at least IMO....

half a gudgeon legered under the rod tip in the margins sorts the pythons out. Looking forward to doing a bit of eeeling this season myself...JD

 

 

dissagree . must be i tidal river near.we got some of the finest chalk stream/rivers in the country round here,along with some excellent lakes for the specimen hunters.99% are fed by feeder steams.no eels though! i know most of the river keepers in the area through doing the mink hounds,the nearest keeper to have seen/caught an eel is miles away.how i wish we had them here.bait wise i use lob worm or roach head or have done well on chunks of fish.

I don,t know about there must be a tidal river near,i used to live in essex and the chase lakes in dagenham used to produce some monster eels,years ago a young lad caught a 9lb it had pictures and a write up in the angling times, don,t know where the tidal river is though??.....cheers......

[Guest rodsmith]

Practically all lakes with feeder streams have them. You want somewhere 15 years old at least IMO....

half a gudgeon legered under the rod tip in the margins sorts the pythons out. Looking forward to doing a bit of eeeling this season myself...JD

 

 

dissagree . must be i tidal river near.we got some of the finest chalk stream/rivers in the country round here,along with some excellent lakes for the specimen hunters.99% are fed by feeder steams.no eels though! i know most of the river keepers in the area through doing the mink hounds,the nearest keeper to have seen/caught an eel is miles away.how i wish we had them here.bait wise i use lob worm or roach head or have done well on chunks of fish.

I don,t know about there must be a tidal river near,i used to live in essex and the chase lakes in dagenham used to produce some monster eels,years ago a young lad caught a 9lb it had pictures and a write up in the angling times, don,t know where the tidal river is though??.....cheers......

 

 

the nearest tidal river is the thames,roughly 40 miles away.you would imagine we would get them but ive spoken to all the keepers ang angling associations.the last recorded eel caught was before i were born.if 1 were since,it would have been weighed in to receive a trophy.all our waters provide trophys for all specimen fish at their AGM's.

[Guest bullterrier]

we get a lot on the Leeds and Liverpool canal when fishing matches mostly boot laces .. .john

[Guest rodsmith]

we get a lot on the Leeds and Liverpool canal when fishing matches mostly boot laces .. .john

 

take it your using maggot? what do you call boot laces? surely if you used a larger bait,you would hook into the larger eels??

[donnyc 1,203]

Dont mind a night or two at them..Best 6.12oz ..

 

6lb 12oz is a monster eel and very rare to catch.

It would rate right up there with 40 + carp, maybe even 45+.

 

Well done, a true monster.There are bigger in the lake I caught that ..Its Bedford way ..

[poacher3161 1,766]

not many caught on the trent or river idle used to get one nearly every chuck 20 years ago. might just be coincidence but since the spread of the signal crayfish and the chinese mitten crabs the eel has gon in to sharp decline.atvb

[T78 4]

used to catch 2 and 3 lbers on a regular basis yrs ago on the ouse in yorkshire.never caught any that were bigger but i suppose we were never targeting them! its a fish that has always fascinated me so might have a go at them this yr...

[Guest bullterrier]

we get a lot on the Leeds and Liverpool canal when fishing matches mostly boot laces .. .john

 

take it your using maggot? what do you call boot laces? surely if you used a larger bait,you would hook into the larger eels??

 

 

i dont fish for eels when fishing matches if and when i fish for them red worm or roach head always works well . ..john

[8shot 191]

are local park has a stream rinning though it.. and its tidal

i fished it a few times with a lot of success

but i struggle to get anything over 2lb

 

its possible to catch 30 a night

 

atb

 

 

,fooking hell,thats alot of eels!!!!!!

wheres that then??

 

 

 

i cant tell you where it is mate

ive never seen [NO TEXT TALK] else fish it

 

its only about 2 foot deep and at night you can spot them with a good torch

 

atb

[Guest rodsmith]

are local park has a stream rinning though it.. and its tidal

i fished it a few times with a lot of success

but i struggle to get anything over 2lb

 

its possible to catch 30 a night

 

atb

 

 

,fooking hell,thats alot of eels!!!!!!

wheres that then??

 

 

 

i cant tell you where it is mate

ive never seen [NO TEXT TALK] else fish it

 

its only about 2 foot deep and at night you can spot them with a good torch

 

atb

 

you bugger,knew you wouldnt tell.

[comanche 2,799]

My local rivers still have plenty between bootlace size and a couple of pounds and in certain tidal reaches a bait dropped near the bank at slack or as the tide starts to flood will bring a bite a cast . Strangely cheese or sweet corn seem to score over worms or fishy baits .This activity only lasts twenty minutes or so and can be hectic and frustrating due to the snags ,tide and tangles . Many Sussex rivers had their headwaters dammed as hammer ponds for the iron industry,farmponds and estate lakes and the odd good eel turns -up in these mature still-waters.

 

If you are interested in eels there is a book called "The Book of Eels". Can't recall the author but he approaches the subject with an open mind ,travels to many parts of Europe ,interviews anglers ,commercial fishermen and elver-dealers and does plenty of scientific and historic research before delivering a readable little book covering the life-cycle,myths,mysteries and realities of just about anything connected with eels.

 

He goes quite deeply into the elver trade. We are not talking a few chaps in waders tumped- out on some dark river-bank with a dip net ,catching a few for local consumption . There are £100,000 boats ,International dealers and bundles of ready cash involved .Judging from his findings it would appear that there can be little doubt that it is the massive elver trade that has had a a more deleterous effect on stocks than disease,pollution or angling pressure.

[DougP 0]

i was fishing the thames near reading(berkshire)last season.had an eel on every trip ranging from 2lb - around 4lb.just very dodgy as so many smelly asians walking the banks at night in gangs.not a good thing if you fish alone like i tend to as no-one else likes fishing for them.

 

I fish just downstream (and occasionally around Reading itself) but have never had one from the Thames- were you targeting them, or what were you fishing for?

 

Best results I've had were in old estate lakes that are stream fed, but not fished any for a few years now.

 

Anguillicola looks set to do some serious damage, the number of eels around has already plummeted due to elver harvesting so there's not much of a population to fight back.

Edited May 23, 2009 by DougP