Anyone fish for eels anymore?

[LPJR]

When I was a kid, we used to always head to the Delaware River at night with our Uncle Mimi and Uncle Alfonse and fish for eels from the edge. Equipped with lanterns, as we would always go after dark, and different types of chunk bait and worms...Set up the poles on sticks with bells attached to them so we would hear when one was biting! Oh man the stories of Bigfoot and everything else had me listening to every little sound that was made in the woods! 

The best time to go was when the lightning bugs start to come out which I think was the end of June or even in July. I never ate them but my Uncles loved them said they were pure white meat! 

https://www.fws.gov/northeast/americaneel/

[MGHunter66]

Growing up I used to fish for eels fresh and salt. Was a long time since I caught an eel... until that monster ugly squirmin mofo I caught on the fluke trip LOL

[Lunatic]

They are good eating if you can get over the slime when you catch them. They are great for smoking because of high fat content.
I work with "pork chops" and they catch them with some kind of trap and then make a stew out of it.  

[Tarhunt]

My brother and I used to fish for them in the Musky below Asbury. We used to smoke the meat. Not bad eating. 

[LPJR]

2 minutes ago, MGHunter66 said:

Growing up I used to fish for eels fresh and salt. Was a long time since I caught an eel... until that monster ugly squirmin mofo I caught on the fluke trip LOL

Oh yea!  Piss my pants funny Mark! 

[CJ3a]

I work with someone that had a eel weir in NY state.  He used to smoke them and sell them commericially.  Worked thru the night sorting out fish from the eels.  Sounded like a interesting line of work.

[Bones]

We use to use uncooked bacon to catch eels and catfish when I was a youngster.

[hunterbob1]

I was14.Hitchhiked after school on friday,rt 3 in Clifton. Great memories on the Big D in Belevidere

[madeinuk]

When I was a kid in England there was a stretch of river where all I ever caught was eels.  Tasty grilled, fried, smoked (the Dutch really dig them smoked) or in a stew.  The meat is indeed white and almost meatily firm.  Late spring/early summer is apparently the time to catch them in the Musky.

The trick is to put then onto newspaper quick when you catch them because it helps to absorb the slime.  Also they used to have a nasty habit of wrapping themselves back up the line.  You also do not want to get bitten by one.

I used to creep out my girl cousins with the way that they keep wriggling after their heads are cut off LOL

The skin when cured properly is really tough - used to be used in flails and used for door hinges on sheds even by some of the old country folk around where I grew up.

[LPJR]

10 minutes ago, hunterbob1 said:

I was14.Hitchhiked after school on friday,rt 3 in Clifton. Great memories on the Big D in Belevidere

How did you get back home Bob!? 

It is true though, good memories of the Delaware! 

[hunterbob1]

19 minutes ago, LPJR said:

How did you get back home Bob!? 

It is true though, good memories of the Delaware! 

I guess God had a plan.

[hunterbob1]

27 minutes ago, LPJR said:

How did you get back home Bob!? 

It is true though, good memories of the Delaware! 

There was a girl.I was hungy! She came back with a pie from her dad's pizza shop .

 

 

 

 

 

[jerseyhunter]

Caught one  the musky trout fishing at Saxton Falls and one in Shark River.  The way we really caught the back in the day was to go scapping for crabs in Shark River Hills behind Campbell's boat works. We would wade with an inner tube and basket in it and a light. Crab net on one end and a gig on the other, the Eels and crabs would hide in the seaweed . easy to come home with a bushel for my Dad and I. Years latter we evolved and mounted a car headlight to his 4o footer  and  go after tide runners in the Shrews and Navisink.

[Buck154]

I remember going when I was a kid. Never did anything with them but released them. Now and then went with my dad at night walking  in the streams with a net rolling rocks and in grassy areas getting them. He used to use them striper fishing at night. 

Edited May 19, 2019 by Buck154

[Sako76]

When I was a kid (70's) we used to fish the Passaic River in North Arlington for eels and carp.  We caught a lot of eels, never any big ones.