One for the eel fishermen...

[Houseplant]

Don't know if anyone still fishes for eels in the UK, but this might be of interest. In NZ, large freshwater eels are relatively common. I took my son to feed them.

 

[lampro]

Excellent 

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, very interesting, I use to fish for eels  back in the 1970/80s but they are on the endangered list in UK, 

Edited February 8, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper

[bode.boden]

Spent a lot off time eeling in my younger years on severn in Shropshire as my mom loved to eat them 

[JTaylor91]

A mate of mine was convinced there was eels living in the sewers of the village. When we were about 11 or 12 we went around the village tying bait to the grates on a bit of fishing line. We didn’t catch anything....

[oldypigeonpopper]

1 hour ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, very interesting, I use to fish for eels  back in the 1970/80s but they are on the endangered list in UK, 

Hello, there's a good place on the Thames I know big eels have been caught, I mean big !!! Beats my best 4 llb er 

1 hour ago, bode.boden said:

Spent a lot off time eeling in my younger years on severn in Shropshire as my mom loved to eat them 

Hello, fried in the pan with batter and bread crumbs👍

1 minute ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, there's a good place on the Thames I know big eels have been caught, I mean big !!! Beats my best 4 llb er 

Hello, fried in the pan with batter and bread crumbs👍

 

[Houseplant]

Must admit I'm not a fan of eels (misapplied snake phobia), but you have to respect these creatures for their size, strength and incredible life history. Like the European eel, they spawn in the deep oceans, but spend much of their lives in freshwater. Pleased to see my boy isn't scared of them. As an aside, smoked eel is a popular dish with Maori and some New Zealanders of European descent.

[mel b3]

1 hour ago, Houseplant said:

Must admit I'm not a fan of eels (misapplied snake phobia), but you have to respect these creatures for their size, strength and incredible life history. Like the European eel, they spawn in the deep oceans, but spend much of their lives in freshwater. Pleased to see my boy isn't scared of them. As an aside, smoked eel is a popular dish with Maori and some New Zealanders of European descent.

You'll sit in your yak with great whites and orca , but you have a phobia of snakes 😅.

That video is just amazing . I've always found the freshwater nz eels fascinating 👍. 

I've spent many happy nights fishing for eels on the river Severn in times past , but those days are long gone in the UK. 

[Houseplant]

Well a phobia is a phobia, illogical. My Mrs is the same, god help us if we ever move to Aussie 😂

Eels are fascinating animals. I didn't like catching them in the UK for the above reasons, but respect them. Shame about the population in the UK. 

[mel b3]

1 hour ago, Houseplant said:

Well a phobia is a phobia, illogical. My Mrs is the same, god help us if we ever move to Aussie 😂

Eels are fascinating animals. I didn't like catching them in the UK for the above reasons, but respect them. Shame about the population in the UK. 

I love snakes , and kept them for many years,  but to be honest , I'd be a little bit shy with those aussie snakes .

I used to love night fishing for eels. Years ago,  the river Severn was stuffed with them . You'd always be sure of catching plenty,  and you could bring a couple back for the pot . I'd love to have a dabble at those nz eels.

[Good shot?]

41 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

I love snakes , and kept them for many years,  but to be honest , I'd be a little bit shy with those aussie snakes .

I used to love night fishing for eels. Years ago,  the river Severn was stuffed with them . You'd always be sure of catching plenty,  and you could bring a couple back for the pot . I'd love to have a dabble at those nz eels.

Fished for them in the canals and river Ribble as a lad, remember watching a steady stream of Elvers pass by me for  well over an hour whilst Chubbing on the Ribble.

Don’t know if that could be seen now though.

[Zeitgeist]

7 hours ago, Houseplant said:

Don't know if anyone still fishes for eels in the UK, but this might be of interest. In NZ, large freshwater eels are relatively common. I took my son to feed them.

 

What a fantastic video and sight to see, I used get loads of "bootlace" size eels on the river Thurne in Norfolk, sadly only the odd one now. 

[snow white]

Used to fish for them back in late sixties on the seven the monnow and the lug used to get chased of the wye by the salmon bailiffs used sell them in the pubs got pound per pound for them but got to be over pound in weight and Kendall’s in Dudley used to buy them as we’ll mind you he used to buy pigeons as well.

I sold him conger eels as well I had two beauties from of (George Dickensons boat artilery man two)out of Plymouth sold to Kendall’s payed for next three trips out of Plymouth them was the days.

Mel bet you remember Ken in birdcage walk Dudley 

[mel b3]

39 minutes ago, snow white said:

Used to fish for them back in late sixties on the seven the monnow and the lug used to get chased of the wye by the salmon bailiffs used sell them in the pubs got pound per pound for them but got to be over pound in weight and Kendall’s in Dudley used to buy them as we’ll mind you he used to buy pigeons as well.

I sold him conger eels as well I had two beauties from of (George Dickensons boat artilery man two)out of Plymouth sold to Kendall’s payed for next three trips out of Plymouth them was the days.

Mel bet you remember Ken in birdcage walk Dudley 

i know birdcage walk very well  , but i dont know ken. who is he ?.

i can remember visiting dudley with my nan when i was a kid , and i can remember the wrought iron victorian bird cages with macaws in them.

as an adult , i remember cleaning it tens times a day with my road sweeper , and the cages and macaws had long since been swapped for raised flower beds,  that were overun with rats .

[islandgun]

9 hours ago, Houseplant said:

Don't know if anyone still fishes for eels in the UK, but this might be of interest. In NZ, large freshwater eels are relatively common. I took my son to feed them.

 

Absolutely love this video, that is the right way for a young lad to learn.. guessing they are not related to our silver eels which breed in the Sargasso sea. Me and mates used to sit and fish all night for eels [mostly smoke fags and light a fire, enlivened by a bit of gore fest when we got one.😯]

[snow white]

Ken had the wet fish stall in birdcage walk opposite the Macaws I am going back to 1968 to possibly 1975

[snow white]

Mel just thought is name was Ron I used to go to his house on Sunday morning on way back home after night out eeling his missis was not amused at 6.30 with we knocking on there door 

[mel b3]

2 hours ago, snow white said:

Ken had the wet fish stall in birdcage walk opposite the Macaws I am going back to 1968 to possibly 1975

 

1 hour ago, snow white said:

Mel just thought is name was Ron I used to go to his house on Sunday morning on way back home after night out eeling his missis was not amused at 6.30 with we knocking on there door 

it was a bit before my time tone , but i know the place that you mean , i think its the place thats been a fish and chip shop for years now (was jimmys fish bar) , and was owned by the same family that owned the chip shop in toll end rd , and leabrook rd before that.

[Houseplant]

3 hours ago, islandgun said:

Absolutely love this video, that is the right way for a young lad to learn.. guessing they are not related to our silver eels which breed in the Sargasso sea. Me and mates used to sit and fish all night for eels [mostly smoke fags and light a fire, enlivened by a bit of gore fest when we got one.😯]

Thanks. I'm trying to get him outdoors and teach him respect for wildlife. A lot of what we do recreationally involves hunting and fishing for food, so I'm hoping some benign interactions will add balance. We also caught crayfish and a baby eel that day with our hands, catch and release after a quick look. NZ eels are related to the European eel, but a different species obviously. They breed in the deep ocean trenches off Tonga.

1 hour ago, mel b3 said:

 

it was a bit before my time tone , but i know the place that you mean , i think its the place thats been a fish and chip shop for years now (was jimmys fish bar) , and was owned by the same family that owned the chip shop in toll end rd , and leabrook rd before that.

As an aside, my Mrs is from Dudley. Not that you would think it, formative years in a posh part of Devon and a few years at Bristol Uni has changed her accent. She recently had her ancestry DNA done and 94% of her DNA was from Dudley. Surname Ward. She was hoping for something more exotic! 

[mel b3]

19 minutes ago, Houseplant said:

Thanks. I'm trying to get him outdoors and teach him respect for wildlife. A lot of what we do recreationally involves hunting and fishing for food, so I'm hoping some benign interactions will add balance. We also caught crayfish and a baby eel that day with our hands, catch and release after a quick look. NZ eels are related to the European eel, but a different species obviously. They breed in the deep ocean trenches off Tonga.

As an aside, my Mrs is from Dudley. Not that you would think it, formative years in a posh part of Devon and a few years at Bristol Uni has changed her accent. She recently had her ancestry DNA done and 94% of her DNA was from Dudley. Surname Ward. She was hoping for something more exotic! 

oh mar god , hers from duglay ay her . do you know which part of dudley shes from ?, if she pretends that she cant remember , she must be from one of the rough estates .

have a look on youtube for a clip from the graham norton show with joe lycett , youll see joe doing the perfect dudley bloke.

pw has quite a few members from dudley , including a very nice guy that works at dudley zoo . im from tipton myself , thats way posher than dudley ay it .

youre teaching your lad the right way . school is good , but theirs many more lessons to be learned in nature.

[Flyboy1950]

I sure hope this link works as it is relevant and I have lived on the Bristol channel all my life and never knew of this.

 

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-gladding-at-watchet-1969-online?fbclid=IwAR26UwPwspNwyd4yjq7rZXE9Nr-8wK7TXrrZxCuR6hgulJgDu3GxeanmX3E

 

Enjoy.

[Houseplant]

Can't watch the video from outside the UK, but it looks good. Here's one from NZ. I'm not in to the cultural stuff, but some might find it interesting. The catching and preparation of the eels is fascinating though.

 

[Cranfield]

Very interesting video, those eels certainly weren't shy.

In the 60's as a school kid, I spent most spring/summer weekends setting out home made hand lines in the local cement works (on the Thames) clay pits for eels.
I would set as many as 50 to 60 lines and continuously go round them and check for tight lines.
All eels were kept alive in wet sacks and sold to a local man who had a stall in Gravesend.
There were some monsters in those pits.

 

 

[redfish77]

Great video, thanks for posting!

[Gerry78]

Fantastic video 👍👍have to admit eels give me the creeps