Catching Fresh Water Eels

[shayned]

Does anyone on here chase fresh water eels on purpose??

[Terry H]

I do

[kriso]

threadybuster wrote:

na dunno why you would want to either lol

some people use them for shark bait

[mangler]

I used to as a little tacker, slab of steak on a heavy handline & off ya go. Used to be great fun, got some beauties too, would love to do it again.

[roobs]

i can tell you a little bit about them. i used to fish with a guy who smoked and ate them who told me that eels grow different jaw shapes depending on the food that they eat. some develope big "vulpine"(wolf like) heads- these eels mainly prey on fish and large invertebrates, ducklings, small mammals etc. eels with smaller heads feed on small invertebrates, worms and such. this difference is above and aside the short/long fin distinction and is common to all freshwater (actually catadromous) eels and should be considered when bait fishing for them. it is a bit similar to an axoltl- it is the next stage in developement that is not essential for reproduction. we used to fish for them at mt crosby though there is a large population in clear island waters in the fresh. the city botanic gardens ponds contain absolute monsters that terrorise the duckling population. i've always caught them on mullet gut or something really stinky. be ready to change your leader after catching one as they twist like mad and the slime is harder to get off than a cattie's! smaller males tend to hang around estuaries and bigger rivers but large females will travel upriver as far as they can into the fresh. hope this helps you target them!

[Terry H]

Thanks for the info roobs, bit of interesting info regarding the mouths. I've seen them terrorise a few ducklings before :laugh:

however given shayne's PM, I think he was more interested in seeing who actually targets them

[flatty_catcher]

lot of shallow fresh streams around brissy, just go at night time with a torch, you will see them swimming in as little as 30cm of water, easy to spear I guess if you needin a feed of eel.

Personally I have tried one once out bush and it was like and old dunlop tyre, but if you can cook em better then go for it.

Dan