eels

[CTFSHWHISKER]

saw the dirty jobs preview for the eel fishin show.i used to catch eels out of the rivers here when catfishing but never in the lakes has anyone ever got them in the lakes??they are good

[18'stratos]

I used to catch them in the rivers of North Carolina when I was a kid, fishing for Catfish and Gar. You say they are good. Good for what? To eat? That never crossed my mind to even try them. They just look to nasty and slimey to even consider them as food. I have been in Ky for 20 years and have never caught an eel. Lake or rivers.

[Grumpy]

At few times,I have caught Bass with small Eels still attached. I have also seen the bite marks on Bass a couple of times. The Eels I have seen here in KY (mostly in Nolin) have all been less then a foot long are not big enough to eat.

I have eaten Eel in Japan a couple of times but, as best I remember, it seemed pretty tasteless. Kind of like Lobster, there isn't really any taste unless you dip it in some kind of suace. These were Ocean Eels though. Three to four feet long and as big around as your arm. When I was on Kyushu, my landlord used to take me to the beach with him and we fished from shore. I (we) caught big Eels several times and he would take them home and his wife would cook them. They considered them a delicasy.

Grumpy

[biggw]

Back years ago me and a buddy was camping out on the point where the KY River and dix river meets-i hooked a monster fish right at day break it was a big fight seemed like forever lol--Yep a big old EEL i no sooner got it up on the bank--BOOM my buddy shot it with a shot gun-it scared him to death--we hung that sucker up in a tree so passer byes could see it my guess today i would say at least 4 ft. or better--It was a mean looking sucker first i had ever seen until Charlie catches a big old mud fish at Santee Cooper-i didn't like that sucker ether.-------------

[DJD]

Hey GW,
Don't lip those Mudfish! Them boy's have teeth.

[kc]

Those small eels attached to fish you are referring to are most likely lampreys. I have caught several bass and one bluegill down at Lake Barkley that had those attached also. One came off in the boat and boy do they have a mouth full of teeth. Strangely all of the fish I have caught at Barkley with Lampreys attached all came from the same creek even though I fish Barkley pretty far and wide.

[Bassky]

I caught one on the beach at Fort Boonesborough below the dam. It was about 3' long. Catch and release, about 20 years ago. Gosh I'm gettin old...
Bassky

[RoadToad]

Eels are interesting critters. I grew up fishing the Atlantic, and we caught them all the time, the very same species you guys have seen in freshwater. They're a pain in the butt when you hook them, as they tend to turn themselves, and your line, into one big slimy knot. Their spawning habits are amazing. It's hard to believe, and it seems not many people know this, but ALL North American eels spawn in the Sargasso Sea (a section of the Atlantic near Bermuda). Here's a little blurb about them from Virginia Tech's Virtual Aquarium. Emphasis mine.

www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/anguillidae.html

The American eel is the only eel species found in frewshwater rivers in North America. Adults are catadromous and migrate downstream to the Atlantic Ocean and spawn in the Sargasso Sea (near Bermuda). The young are ribbon-like (leptocephalus) larvae which float and swim for 1-3 years in the ocean before returning to freshwater. As they near freshwater they transform into "glass-eels" (a transparent form of the adult) which then turns into an "elver" (dark, minature version of the adult), and finally into an adult. Adults migrate upstream and inland as far as Minnesota, and may remain in freshwater for as long as 15 years before returning to the ocean to spawn. Adult eels (up to 4 feet in length) live in rivers where they hide in the mud by day and forage at night. Their ability to breathe air allows them to mover overland around dams and other obstructions. A growing aquaculture industry is harvesting elvers to feed and rear in tanks to adult size, and selling adult eels as food fish, fresh or smoked. The flesh is firm and well flavored, and it is considered a delicacy in Europe and Asia. Virginia is a major exporter of American eels.

[crappiepappy]

Hey Bassky .... you ain't "old" .... shoot, I remember a buddy of mine catching an eel out of the KY River, down at Clays Ferry. And here's the kicker ... I was a teenager then, so that had to be FORTY SOME YEARS AGO ....LOL!!! First and only one I've ever seen, or handled. Of course, we had to try and hold him barehanded, first ... then realizing we couldn't do anything with it, we got our hands sandy and then grabbed ahold -- and that worked fine. We skinned it, chopped 'er up into sections, and sold it (along with some cleaned Channel Catfish). The guy that bought them was more interested in the eel, than the catfish, as I remember. And I think we made enough money to drink pop and munch on $0.25 snackcakes for a couple of days. Yep, real entrepreneurs we were .... LOL!!

... cp

[kc]

I caught an eel in the ohio river some years ago on a minnow while fishing for sauger. It wasn't huge - only about 2' long or so but it scared the dickens out of me. We were fishing straight down in about 10 or 12 feet of water and catching some fish and I would bring them up and swing them into my outstretched hand. Then I brought that dern eel up, swung him in, and grab him with my hand and he wrapped around my wrist. I think I screamed like a little girl! I haven't caught any others but that one sure left an impression.

kc

[mhall]

When I was a kid we would catch at least a few every year from Guist Creek. Some of'em was at least 2 1/2 feet long and no I would never even think of eating one them nasty suckers. The slime, oh the slime, yeeekkaaac. Also occasionally when we would leave a basket with bluegills in it hanging off of our dock overnight it would have one of them critters in it. Or a snake or two, you should have seem my mother when she'd lift that basket to place another gill the next morning, LOL. Needless to say I got to clean all the bluegill each afternoon, as that basket was not to be left overnight anymore after a few times of that, LOL.

[CTFSHWHISKER]

i have only eaten one fried like catfish but i can remember my grandad catching them,they were a couple feet long,,and he'd draw water from the well and put them in an oldtime washtub in the yard with cats,carp,buffalo,white perch or whatever.They lived farming the river bottoms here,i don't remember them buying much of anything unless they couldn't make it.he never had a drivers liscense,he traveled on a farmall "h" tractor.those were the good days..
talk about fresh chicken.me and my cousin always laugh about how when we asked what something was it was always chicken.wether it be ground hogg,opossum,racoon or whatever..