View Full Version : capturing eels
Iv heard people say the have caught eels in traps ? can anyone explain to me or provide me with information on how to trap eels.... thanks alot
wayne
We used to use an old hessian sack, some offal and a few rocks. Place the rocks and offal in the sack, make a few small holes in it and sink the sack in a shady part of a lake. Early morning or evening used to be good.
Hope this helps!
don't you forget the bait ? you know some meat ? do you really need to make holes, i have heard that the eels bite holes in to it to get to the bait... cloth bags with rocks in it usually sinks well enough, even without additional holes, right ?
....Place the rocks and offal in the sack, make a few small holes in it and sink the sack in a shady part of a lake....
The ofal is the bait - basically waste bits of an animal that you don't want to eat. ie brains, lungs or liver.
bothyman
06-01-2004, 22:57
....Place the rocks and offal in the sack, make a few small holes in it and sink the sack in a shady part of a lake....
The ofal is the bait - basically waste bits of an animal that you don't want to eat. ie brains, lungs or liver.
So what have you got against Haggis?? :bu: can't beat a good Haggis
Just found it all worked better with small holes ...
:-D
don't you forget the bait ? you know some meat ? do you really need to make holes, i have heard that the eels bite holes in to it to get to the bait... cloth bags with rocks in it usually sinks well enough, even without additional holes, right ?
Thanks for that but does anyone no any different methods ???
i though you meant leave's and stuff with offal, you got to make those eels a comfy bed, right ? We only want to wake them, after we got them !
So what have you got against Haggis?? :bu: can't beat a good Haggis
Absolutely nothing - they're very cute.
:lol:
But generally people don't eat those bits and they were just the first examples that came into my head.
I've used the same method successfully on quite a few occasions.
I usually fill the sack with straw or leaves or even lots of thin twigs as well as the bait and the rocks.
Whenever I haven't done that my bait gets stolen and no eels! I reckon the leaves/straw/twigs makes it harder for either eels or other fish to get the bait out through the holes.
I've heard of a box trap being used that has a hole in one end about 4 or 5 inches across. Inside the hole you nail a section of car inner tube about a foot or so in length, around the hole so that it forms an open tube at one end but falls closed once the eel has pushed along it. (I'm not sure I'm describing this very well! ) Drill a bunch of small holes all the way around the box so the smell of the bait can get out. A hungry eel will soon find that it can push along the tube to get in but when it tries to get out it just ends up folding the tube closed - a bit like an anti syphon valve in a cistern.
Weigh it down with rocks (after filling it with nice smelly bait of course) and stash it in a river under a nice shady overhang.
I've never tried it myself but it sounds like it should work fine.
George
Oh yeah when you go to open your sack or trap make sure you carry it 20 or 30 feet from the river before you do - have you seen how fast the buggers can move?
I've heard of a box trap being used that has a hole in one end about 4 or 5 inches across. Inside the hole you nail a section of car inner tube about a foot or so in length, around the hole so that it forms an open tube at one end but falls closed once the eel has pushed along it.......
I've never tried it myself but it sounds like it should work fine.
Ray showed this being used on one of his early shows. It was a World of Survival but can't remember who he was with.
Tips for handling Eels.
Be gentle with them, the rougher you are with them the more the slippery
little blighters struggle.
Lay them down on their backs, after a few seconds they go absolutely
sparko.
Use a damp rag, you get a much better grip.
The best way to skin them is to nail the head to a fence post, cut the skin just behind the head right around the body then peel it off with a pair of pliers.
When I used to catch some big eels off the south coast, I used newspaper with salt on it. This gave me a good grip of them.
Ray showed this being used on one of his early shows. It was a World of Survival but can't remember who he was with
one of the samoan islands i think.
cheers, and.
Powderburn
07-01-2004, 19:51
The best way to skin them is to nail the head to a fence post, cut the skin just behind the head right around the body then peel it off with a pair of pliers.
My dad used to skin catfish that way when I was a tyke. Those buggers are very fond of their skin and don't like to let it go, even after they've croaked. Curdog told me that scalding them much like you'd do fowl before plucking works like a champ. I have no experience at all with eels, but if their skin is firmly attached, y'all might try the Curdog method.
one of the samoan islands i think.
cheers, and.
Yes that's it! It was driving me mad because I could picture it in my head just not put a name to it!
Thankyou!
dogfish have a samilar abilty to "stick" to their skin, two ways I found that work are the old nailing it to a post and tugging the skin off or easier dip it in boiling water for a few secs, the skin just rubs off then, should work for eels too!
Paul
I've heard of a box trap being used that has a hole in one end about 4 or 5 inches across. Inside the hole you nail a section of car inner tube about a foot or so in length, around the hole so that it forms an open tube at one end but falls closed once the eel has pushed along it. (I'm not sure I'm describing this very well! ) Drill a bunch of small holes all the way around the box so the smell of the bait can get out. A hungry eel will soon find that it can push along the tube to get in but when it tries to get out it just ends up folding the tube closed - a bit like an anti syphon valve in a cistern.
You could use a condom with the end cut of in place of the car inner tube!
I also remember Gary mentioning somthing last week anout using tampons to catch eels- Where are you gary???
Wa hey more uses for tampons and condoms!!!! :rolmao:
Dave Barker
22-01-2004, 09:40
handling eels is relatively simple. A lot of the lakes I have fished are full of the bleeders.
Just lay them on newspaper and they go dead still, no need for salt.