Eels

[Farey]

Coming up Stockton Flight yesterday I spotted a (sadly dead) eel floating in one of the locks halfway up the flight. It was about 4 feet long, with a body about 2 inches in diameter. Googling I found that a similar one had been found recently in West Bromwich: http://www.itv.com/news/central/2016-09-06/rare-eel-from-bermuda-discovered-in-west-bromwich-canal/

 

I wonder if its just coincidence, or if they're getting more common? It's amazing to think they could travel all the way up (or down) so many miles of the Grand Union canal.

[David Mack]

My hovercraft is full of them.

[GUMPY]

They travel thousands of miles from their spawning grounds and don't need rivers or canals to travel they can cross land as well.

[Naughty Cal]

There are loads in our marina.

 

I seem to be very good at catching them when I don't want too

[patty-ann]

Local lads used to leave them in carrier bags outside my grans house..she was partial to eel and they'd catch them at the Old Mill in Oundle....I guess she probably paid them I dunno..I was only very young

[carlt]

[Phil Ambrose]

Eels are in decline and sadly have been got dome years. When on the Broads I knew two eel catchers' one who was a one man band and the other employed 3 bods, further downstream 2 brothers also followed this career.

One by one they packed up, at one time they would come home with up to 400kg of eels, that slipped away to almost nothing.

A chap would come twice a week with a lorry equipped with large aerated tanks to transport the eels to Holland, he would do the rounds collecting.

One chap tried smoking eels to make mote money and could get £10-00 a kilo but as the catch decreased that became unprofitable so he laid of his chaps amd folded the company.

Phil

Edited October 17, 2016 by Phil Ambrose

[Victor Vectis]

There are loads in our marina.

Is that anywhere near the Trent?

 

As we were coming up Keadby Lock earlier this summer I noticed an eel like thing, about 4" long, swimming on the top of the weed.

I know there are eels in the Severn but I didn't think there would be any in the Trent.

Edited October 17, 2016 by Victor Vectis

[Dave Payne]

My ex step son used to catch them in the canal at pontadawe and sell them to the local Chinese.

[mark99]

Is that anywhere near the Trent?

 

As we were coming up Keadby Lock earlier this summer I noticed an eel like thing, about 4" long, swimming on the top of the weed.

I know there are eels in the Severn but I didn't think there would be any in the Trent.

 

 

Grass snake? they swim seen loads.

[Naughty Cal]

Is that anywhere near the Trent?

 

As we were coming up Keadby Lock earlier this summer I noticed an eel like thing, about 4" long, swimming on the top of the weed.

I know there are eels in the Severn but I didn't think there would be any in the Trent.

Near Lincoln.

 

 

Grass snake? they swim seen loads.

We get lots of swimming grass snakes on the Fossdyke and Witham. See at least a few a year. Fiskerton Fen is a good spot to see them.

[Mike Jordan]

While walking back to the boat one night on the staffs and Worcester we stopped to talk to a fisherman who had a net full of them, my wife was unimpressed by the idea of any sort of fish with teeth like that.

[BlueStringPudding]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLpwIl-C80U

Or my personal favourite:

 

https://youtu.be/0AckvdGbk4w

[tree monkey]

While walking back to the boat one night on the staffs and Worcester we stopped to talk to a fisherman who had a net full of them, my wife was unimpressed by the idea of any sort of fish with teeth like that.

I used to catch loads out of the shroppy as a kid and take them home to eat, it used to completely freak mum out, a sink full of writhing eels was too much, so it was my first lesson in killing gutting and skinning.

I did get bitten by one once and the bugger would not let go, which considering what I was planning was fair enough I suppose

[bigray]

There eels in the Trent I know this as a friend of mine has a habit of catching them when he is after Zander.

[Phil Ambrose]

While walking back to the boat one night on the staffs and Worcester we stopped to talk to a fisherman who had a net full of them, my wife was unimpressed by the idea of any sort of fish with teeth like that.

If your wife thinks eels are blessed with teeth she should see a Lamprey's dental equipment, It's truly mental! makes am eel look positively gummy.

Phil

[Stewart Kirby]

If your wife thinks eels are blessed with teeth she should see a Lamprey's dental equipment, It's truly mental! makes am eel look positively gummy.

Phil

Yes, and i was reading last year that Lampreys are returning to the Ouse, Trent and Derwent. I wont be swimming in those rivers. Lampreys are parasitic and with their formidable rings of teeth latch onto larger animals and suck their blood.