Freshwater eels

[Daniel cain 45,356]

1 hour ago, Rogue2015 said:

Ok great thanks for the replies, i would only catch and release if i did ever get to catch one iv caught a load of conger when on boat trips But would love to catch ine in the river whatever size it would be, any idea where i could try and catch one fairly near to the south wales valleys?

River rhumney from bedwas down£15 for a season ticket for the river, go to tonys tackle by the castle or join Monmouth anglers £45 load of ponds and rivers including the wye. Fish as it gets dark or waters dirty after some rain. 

1 litre bottle bottle of pop

[bell 3,599]

TOM Burras will be along in a minuite, he fishes for them regularly....

[Greyman 28,439]

Rather like big eels proper mystery fish and as Dan said reach some impressive age to make it big, here,s a 4lb I had last year on worms, back in the early 90,s I lost what I believe would have been a British record when the hook caught in my landing net and I watched it reverse out over the cord of my net and swim off, still hurts me now

[Jackknife 823]

Only caught them in canals myself, Hythe military canal to be precise speny my childhood eating them, skinned, portioned up rolled in flour and shallow fry, good eating

[Lenmcharristar 9,763]

last sunday we caught 3 in our river going for the sea trout on blackheads, one was around 2lb weight, we were glad to see them again as we hadnt seen any since the last pollution incident, the 3 were returned alive n well to continue on their travels.  we were also catching we flattys aswell, i had 9 trout and 6 flatties and 2 eels that day. then the kingfishers are also nesting again theres 2 breeding pairs which are beautiful we birds, but too quick to get a photo off. my friends daughter got one on a half mackerel fishing for pike in a lake we fish it was around 4lb and fought like a ba$tard

[Rogue2015 185]

Ok thanks i will have to get myself a permit and hopefully catch one it seems crazy that they can live anywhere and i have never seen one although there was an eel caught in tri nant, a commercial course fishing place not far from me and it was a fair size too!

[Greyman 28,439]

27 minutes ago, Rogue2015 said:

Ok thanks i will have to get myself a permit and hopefully catch one it seems crazy that they can live anywhere and i have never seen one although there was an eel caught in tri nant, a commercial course fishing place not far from me and it was a fair size too!

Eels thrive on neglect like most preditors and can have an easy life in commercials coming out at night and eating all the dead and injured stuff left over from the match/day anglers, if it's local do a few evenings into darkness with some small roach dead baits or worms also a good chance of a chunk perch as they also thrive un noticed in commercial fisheries , also hurry up as they don't like the cold much, goodluck keep us posted

[bell 3,599]

6 hours ago, Greyman said:

Rather like big eels proper mystery fish and as Dan said reach some impressive age to make it big, here,s a 4lb I had last year on worms, back in the early 90,s I lost what I believe would have been a British record when the hook caught in my landing net and I watched it reverse out over the cord of my net and swim off, still hurts me now

That’s a beauty mate

[Daniel cain 45,356]

51 minutes ago, Rogue2015 said:

Ok thanks i will have to get myself a permit and hopefully catch one it seems crazy that they can live anywhere and i have never seen one although there was an eel caught in tri nant, a commercial course fishing place not far from me and it was a fair size too!

Be suprised what you can pull out of the dirty little neglected brooks around the valleys matetheres shoals of carp to 10lb in a brook 200 m from my house

[comanche 2,991]

For us older chaps It's hard to believe that when we were fishing as kids, eels were impossible to avoid but now they are on the protected list. If you catch one on rod and line  it must be returned.

Their age is greatly exaggerated. While some captive eels are said to have reached  fifty or sixty years old(and interestingly, didn't actually grow very big) ,most return to the sea to breed after between 8 and 15 years in freshwater.

Pollution,disease and over-harvesting of elvers by high-tech methods and the  trade in live elvers to stock European and Japanese fish farms mean that eels are certainly no longer there to guarantee a bit of slimey action on an otherwise blank fishing day.

I fished a water-works on the Dorset Stour a few years ago on a day ticket and had to stop using maggots or worms because of the number of eels. I later then had a wander downstream to look at a section of free-fishing. Chatting to a local angler  I learned that eels were virtually unheard of in the river below the water-works due to a massive eel trap installed in the sluice that caught them on their downstream breeding migration.

          So its not all down to foreigners and disease ;the EA obviously licenced the trap!

Edited September 14, 2018 by comanche

[donnyc 1,203]

Love fishing for them my PB  is 6llbs 12 oz caught on dead gudgeon  there are the small mouths and larger mouths..Caught mine at midnight in a small lake full of them ,We always fished a little bay ..Strange but true a year to the day I caught my PB at around midnight I had a run hooked it and it was stalemate for nearly 10 minutes I got it nearly ready to net it and could not move it just thumping away 15lb braid supple ss hook length then after 10 minutes bang and away it went ...I just stared at my mate not a word said..My brother has caught many this year from the Ouse  ledgering in the daytime on worm he hates them but cannot stop catching them LOL Always return them

[jok 3,255]

Now then you guys. A comment and a question. In the 70's we fished for eels on the North Bank at Boston. Having fished for bleak on the way there and then a night of fishing before returning to Northampton. Cubed and jellied. Marvellous. Now the question. Lamprey. As a young lad in the borders of Scotland we regularly had these ugly things in the local brooks. They ate well as I recall being more or less an eel with a suction mouth. I have never heard of them since then. Local knowledge?????jok.

[Rogue2015 185]

1 hour ago, Daniel cain said:

Be suprised what you can pull out of the dirty little neglected brooks around the valleys matetheres shoals of carp to 10lb in a brook 200 m from my house

Your from the valleys too are you mate? Ive only been fishing regularly for about a year so just trying out different places and types of fish and hopefully i will keep enjoying it up to now my favourite has been pike but thats possibly because i have had a few big pike, hopefully try and catch an eel next weekend depending on how work goes

[Rabid 1,936]

3 hours ago, bell said:

That’s a beauty mate

Yeah, looks a nice conditioned one with good girth, I would have put that a tad over 4lb

[Rabid 1,936]

2 hours ago, jok said:

Now then you guys. A comment and a question. In the 70's we fished for eels on the North Bank at Boston. Having fished for bleak on the way there and then a night of fishing before returning to Northampton. Cubed and jellied. Marvellous. Now the question. Lamprey. As a young lad in the borders of Scotland we regularly had these ugly things in the local brooks. They ate well as I recall being more or less an eel with a suction mouth. I have never heard of them since then. Local knowledge?????jok.

Plenty of lamprey about mate,  don't know about up on the borders though.