to bag an eel.............the zumerset way!

[fishfish]

now before i get a load of grief off the tree huggers this a historical look at catching eels,and a method that could also get a meal in a survival/bush-craft situation.

in days of yore along the somerset drains many an eel supper was had ,and some would even save up their eels on a wooden barrel full of water til they had a hundred or so,then they would be sold to the eel men from the smoke.
although night lines worked well they were limited in the number of fish they could catch as one hook would only catch one eel! and so another method was employed,an old hessian sack was found,it was stuffed with straw or hay and in the middle of it would be rabbit innerds or any other bait available some times chicken bones.The bag was then weighted down with a couple of good sized rocks or a brick,the top securely tied with a rope or baler twine.it was lowered into the drain and allowed to sink,then the string tied off onto a root or stick in the bank.

how this trap would work would be that the eels would chew their way into the sack to get to the bait,next morning the chap would return to the sack and draw it up as quick as possible onto the bank th eels wouldn't find the way out too quick and thus they could be caught.the sack could then be tossed back in for another load.I have heard tell of as many as a score of eels caught this way at one time ,and if more than one sack was employed a fair penny earned!

 

[Bernie Garland]

Another very interesting post Fish

Bernie

 

[mick miller]

I've never eaten eel, although I'd like to try it. I have to say they do tend to freak me out a little as they are seemingly immortal.

I remember the disappointment as a nipper having caught a couple of decent sized ones, which were bashed on the head many times (made no difference it seemed) and when they eventually stopped wriggling, transported back in a plastic bag for refrigeration and I hoped, dinner.

My best friends mum was to prepare them, she being a Londoner and all, we took them over me and my buddy, still utterly motionless wrapped in plastic. She put them in the sink to wash them off and as soon as the water hit them they went mental, wriggling all over the place. The mum freaked, hit the waste disposal switch (they were a bit posh) and proceeded to jam the things down with a wooden spoon.

What a waste. I also have to mention that this was the late 70's, so no real issues associated with taking fish then (as far as I'm aware). I haven't caught a single one since, which is also more than a little odd.

 

[Ogri the trog]

I remember my grandfather telling me how he used to catch eels,
He'd get a length of thick hairy wool (the sort that used to be used to make fashinable jumpers before fleece was popular). With a darning needle, he'd thread on worms, bacon rinds and other grizzly bits of bait. Coiled, tied with a cord and left overnight, with the idea that the eels teeth became ensnared in the fibres, unable to release their bite - then, much the same as the hessian sack, hauled out quickly the next morning.
I find eels quite oily as a meal, though careful cooking can disguise this - Far Eastern recipes for preference.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Kepis]

I remember my grandfather telling me how he used to catch eels,
He'd get a length of thick hairy wool (the sort that used to be used to make fashinable jumpers before fleece was popular). With a darning needle, he'd thread on worms, bacon rinds and other grizzly bits of bait. Coiled, tied with a cord and left overnight, with the idea that the eels teeth became ensnared in the fibres, unable to release their bite - then, much the same as the hessian sack, hauled out quickly the next morning.
I find eels quite oily as a meal, though careful cooking can disguise this - Far Eastern recipes for preference.

ATB

Ogri the trog

Tis called Eel bobbing, still practiced to this day on the Norfolk Broads, although im not 100% if it's a legal method or not these days, you tie the whole affair to a broom handle or other suitable branch and literally bob it up and down in the water, up there they thread worms onto the wool, when the eel bits it's teeth become entangled in the wook and it cannot let go.

Best Eel i ever had was in a tiny familiy run restaurant in Hamburg

 

[Roibeard]

To kill an eel Ive heard you need to hit them on the tail, hitting them on the head doesn't do a whole lot.

 

[mick miller]

To kill an eel Ive heard you need to hit them on the tail, hitting them on the head doesn't do a whole lot.

Any idea why? Certainly from my memory you could pretty much try anything and they'd still survive, I wonder whats in the tail that's so vital?

 

[Kepis]

Whenever i have taken Eels for the pot, i have always found that a sharp blow just behind the head kills them outright.

 

[fishfish]

Any idea why? Certainly from my memory you could pretty much try anything and they'd still survive, I wonder whats in the tail that's so vital?

i believe their central nervous system is in the tail!

 

[Cobweb]

I've never tried eel, although they don't look very tasty. The pickled ones look vile. Although I am willing to try some if I get the opportunity.

 

[andy_e]

i believe their central nervous system is in the tail!

Eels have the usual vertebrate CNS, brain in head, spinal cord and the rest. however, their CNS is apparently very robust, to the point where scientists are researching possible treatments for paralysis using them as they continue to work normally even when completely removed from the Eel's body.

It may well be that you have killed them already with head blow but in some cases they continue to move as though alive.

It's also possible, I guess, that there's a nerve cluster in the tail that sends a shock back up it's CNS when struck paralysing it or ending the post-death wriggling. Same as whacking your (not-so) funny bone off something, paralyses your lower arm for a bit.

 

[stijnb]

I've never tried eel, although they don't look very tasty. The pickled ones look vile. Although I am willing to try some if I get the opportunity.

try smoked eel that's still warm, there's nothing better than that