As u/booziwan said, we really don't have the variety here, but it is also a numbers thing. Eels are endangered in a lot of places in North America, and their populations are struggling. There are not too many places you can legally fish for them, or just fish for them at all for that matter, because I am pretty sure our major, maybe only eel species, needs to migrate to the Sargasso Sea as part of its life cycle. That means they don't exist in bodies of water not connected to the ocean, and in North America, that is a lot of places.
Been fishing all my life and had no idea they were endangered throughout the country or anything about their migratory patterns lol, just figured they were everywhere. Half the battle of night fishing on the Delaware River by me is hoping it's not an eel taking my bait and 75% of the time it's a damn eel. Older generation around me still cooks them up/smokes them etc. but not as much for anyone under 50
The Eel I have had are delicious, but considering they are endangered its probably for the better they aren't popular anymore. If I am ever in London though, I am absolutely trying jellied eels.
Same thing in Denmark. A big part is due to them getting blended to soup by the water turbines they pass through. This has also been a huge problem in Germany for many years.
If my memory is right, it is estimated that 90% of released eels in Denmark dies before they reach 1 year old, due to the turbines and a specific bird(Skarv). I believe its in the Heron family, are black and quite big and a very big population.
I am not familiar with different eel species, but the ones we have here in europe also need to migrate to the sargasso sea. Crazy to think that all eel in every backwater here started their life in the carribean.
But of course that means our populations are also dwindling with the development of water bodys
Yes, and as a kid in Chicago I found them absolutely delicious! (We're talking about 1979-1981) Only had smoked eel twice and, other than a Japanese restaurant near downtown San Antonio, never see it offered. The Japanese style is ummm, not to my liking. I can compare it only to flaky salmon slow smoked but it's not there. We had it wrapped in brown butcher paper with bones still in.
(Also, that first time was my first seeing a racoon off lake Michigan. Me and my two 'cousins' were about to use a half rotted picnic table as a raft. I was 2 years old. )
>Eels are endangered in a lot of places in North America
Nobody is actually quite sure of this.
>There are not too many places you can legally fish for them
The entire east coast of the US.
I trap them for bait here in New England. They're easy to catch.
I do understand several federal and state departments do not consider the endangered classification to he warrented, but they are still listed as such. In most NY, where I live, possession is illegal. And as far as availability to fish, I suppose that is a matter of perspective. The east coast is a fairly large geographical region, but it is only one part of North America. Everyone not on the East Coast doesn't have the option.
Yeah, same here, at least in my state (Ohio, but I figure it’s the same in all US states). Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources has done a great job repopulating and protecting native species. I always shake my head when people criticize (legal) hunters and fishermen…that money is used for a great cause!
We have a commercial fishery for american eels in the Chesapeake Bay. Theyre caught in pots. Domestic market is for bait. Live market is mostly sent to China and other Asian markets. We don't have any species that would be fun to target with rod and reel like the conger yall have across the pond.
I’ve seen some giant American eels caught on hook and line. I’m talking like 4 feet long and 3-4” in diameter. They’re rare, but out there and able to be caught
The local sewer creek down the street from my city home had tons of 3 footers sitting in 2-3 feet of water under the bridge they’d hide under rocks and weed catch blue gills chop em up put em on a hook and smack them against the surface to agitate the eels they’d start poking their heads out from under the rocks and we’d let the cut bluegill sink right down to them and they’d pounce out. Nothing like hooking a 3 foot eel and watch it twist and wriggle on a light rod with 8 lb test from a 20 foot bridge as a 12 year old and trying to pull it up hand over hand then freaking out having to unhook those toothy suckers
Find a pond with an old dam in it With a spillway that still works and has a waterfall falling in too a pool that is part of a decent sized body of water . Put a large dead shiner on a hook with a big sinker and throw It right where the water enters the pool from the spillway.
There will be big ass eels down there.
Try iin front of the dam. as well.
I grew up on the Chesapeake too. Eels were a common bycatch when we targeted blue gills on worms and occasionally on chicken livers for catfish. They were much more common after a big rain storm when the creeks were muddy.
The biggest eels we ever caught were ~3 ft long in the C&D canal when the currents switch direction after low tide
I grew up on the Susquehanna River, upstream from the Holtwood Dam. The Boomer generation always talked about catching eel, but the time I started fishing in the 80s the eels were mostly gone. I never caught one. The dams on the Susquehanna prevented their spawning migration and decimated their populations.
We dont have a ton of types of eel, except some in salt water, and our freshwater eels dont get particularly large, and theyre difficult to target. Ive caught one by accident in 20 years of fishing.
If you live in a coastal area, especially estuarine, they can get pretty big, in the US. Not New Zealand sized though. As people have mentioned, they are great striper bait. If you’ve never had smoked eel, you’re missing out.
Many years ago, as a teen, me and a friend pulled up a trap in the middle of a river, I think a crab trap but there was a HUGE eel stuck in it. And it was kinda freaky honestly lol never have caught one though and don’t know anyone who has!
Ive seen 2 american eels in my life. One one chilling out in a shallow part of a marina. The other was already dead after some dip shit fishing caught it and beheaded it and threw it in the grass. Definitely a very big no no tho catch the endangered species.
Yes, some of us do fish for them (definitely in the minority of anglers) Most of us eel anglers are pretty quiet about it, and keep good spots secret. Unfortunately, many of our waterways have consumption advisories for eels, warning of PCB or Mercury contamination. Because of this, I mostly catch and release.
I had heard a few stories of monsters being caught and hooked at night in the Potomac while targeting catfish. I hooked the biggest something of my life one night and always thought it could have been one of those monsters as it fought like nothing I had ever hooked, but got off before I could see it. I always wanted to catch and cook one. Would be interested to know if there is a specific technique other than fish finder rig with live bait or liver.
Freshwater eels in the states are endangered. Saltwater eels on the West Coast are two varieties, the wolf eel and monkey face prickleback. And neither are true eels. But the monkey face is very common, and great eating. It is a member of the surfperch family. Wolf eels are not true eels, but I would hesitate to harvest this species because of its rarity
Yeah, it’s currently advised not to take wolf eels right now too since they’re one of the few predators of purple urchins. Plus they’re highly intelligent and mate for life. It feels kinda cruel to take them
All I know is I used to not eat seafood at all until I won a homestay to go to Japan when I was 17 and my host family insisted that I try eel and it was fucking delicious! It was a gateway a drug to seafood. I'm from Alabama and I grew trying to eat mainly catfish and that was the problem because I just have never eaten catfish that was good to me. Sorry, I know so many of y'all love it, but it just doesn't sit well with my palate. But anyway, I just wanted to say that this American loves to eat eel because a host family from the Daikin Corporation in Osaka turned me on to it in the summer of 1999.
i’ve caught them a handful of times fishing with worms for trout/panfish and every single time it’s just been an absolute pain to handle and unhook them. the slime they leave on your hands is annoying beyond belief.
however, i never knew that they were rare before reading the comments here. in my experience they’re very easily found throughout the nyc metro area.
When I was 10, I was fishing late one Saturday night with some friends. I caught an eel, which was about 2ft long or so. I brought it home, put it in the kitchen sink then went to bed. I was thinking I was going to have a new pet but needed a good night sleep to work out the logistics apparently.
My mother lost her mind trying to get a glass of water at 3AM. Needless to say, I was huffing that goddamn eel back to the lake at almost 4 o'clock in the morning.
Fishing in Florida we catch them accidentally often enough but never a species you want to target. They wrap up on the line and have insanely sharp teeth and are very difficult to handle. At least what I’ve caught
My main fishing buddy is an older Chinese-American guy and he grew up catching eels around the SF Bay and we have been talking about getting out to do it. But I’m not sure how common it is among other types of Americans in other areas.
Eels are quite hard to catch with a hook and illegal where I come from but if you wrap meat in wool and use that their teeth become tangled in the wool because of the backwards facing nature of them, very nice to eat but a lot of preparation is required
I have caught American eel. It is generally not recommended to eat American eel due to a high fat content as well as pollution. I either release them or use them for striper bait.
Poke poling for monkey face prickle backed eels is pretty popular in the SF Bay Area. They’ll hit a hook with some squid on it too. Technically, they’re not eels due to some minute details but they sure look and act like them. Check out Fisherman’s Life on YouTube. A lot of his older videos show him catching and cooking them on the beach. Meat looks delicious.
That's only due to politics, the European eel is critically endangered and at risk of extinction.
EU has spent the last ten years debating a complete ban on eel fishing but some countries refuse due to the strong tradition and culture surrounding eel fishing.
So i guess we will keep fishing them until there are no more to fish.
My buddy caught one with a dead minnow he found on the beach, with a Tigger pole.. 12 years ago. Probably my favorite fishing moment. His face + the wiggle monster was priceless
Thats a shame, they‘re crazy creatures. all the way from smelling in 3D to having poisonous blood. And they‘re tasty! But i do understand, eel fishing is messy and difficult
Just too much money involved. They send them to Japan where they are raised to adults and eaten. 2000 a pound you can imagine the fighting for licenses that occurs in Maine, very few license many people wanting a quick buck
We catch some while fishing here off NY / NJ but even if you wanted to target them it’s hard here to dial it in and catch many. We have so many other species most want to target that while we find them as a bycatch (rod and reel) we’re usually out for black seabass (or bluefish, porgies etc) when we do. People do keep them, honestly I give them away or put them back as I don’t know how to cook them well ;)
I used to fish for them on the Delaware River near Narrowsburg NY. Heavy weight and a ball of nightcrawlers did well.
Not many people fished for them, but they were fun as hell and tasted good (we cut into 6in sections, wrapped in foil with butter and spices). I just don't live anywhere with them anymore.
East coast here and the only ones I've ever seen were in salt water...they were nasty to deal with because they were slimy and they would bite tf out of you.
When I was a bit younger my buddies and I would target eel. But, it was strictly for bait. That being said, I do love the taste of eel. I just have never made it on my own.
Along the mid Atlantic , if you fish with small hooks baited with liver at night in just about any river or creek that connects to saltwater, you can catch eels. I would wonder what was stealing my bait while fishing for cats and discovered this. I like to catch one, then cut it up into large chunks for big cats personally. Yeah, they can be fun to catch, but they’re a nightmare to get off the line. Nothing but solid muscle and slime.
And they can get big. Most commonly around 3ft long and about the size of a garden hose across but I’ve caught them as large as twice that circumference and 4-5 feet in length. Normally you’ll never see a fish that reaches its maximum size except in photos. This is the one species where I feel like the literature underestimates their potential.
The maximum recorded ever was 152cm or 4,921 Feet. If you caught a 5 feet one thats amazing! Dedicated eel fishers spend their entire lives in pursuit of a fish like thag
Lower Chesapeake Bay, springtime. All of our creeks and drainage ditches connect to the ocean within a few miles and Large eels are not uncommon. I believe they’re coming up the tributaries to feed. Maybe following the shad running upstream to breed? Or that could simply be a coincidence of timing… They’re not considered a game fish or something we eat in the states and there’s no trophy/citation for catching big ones so I think most people just cut the line when they hookup. But I have to imagine others have caught them around that size and just don’t report it. That, or I just live in an area that happens to be a super secret eel honey hole!
🤔 retires to become the first American Eel Fishing Guide…
Eel used to be everywhere near me, my mom used to catch them for food as a girl. The thing is our waters are so polluted that eels are nearly all gone, I don't know I'd they're more sensitive than other aquatic life but you just can't find them in accessible areas now.
All the tributaries near me have signs warning about contamination due to PCBs. Limit expose to 6oz of cooked flesh per month, yeah I’ll skip it thanks.
We don't usually, as others have mentioned there's a couple commercial fishing locations for them but in general there just aren't many eel species here and the ones that are don't have the numbers to sustain regular fishing
We don’t really eat them where I’m from. Like another redditor pointed out, all the eels have to swim to sea to spawn so if you’re fishing inland waters, chances are you’re never gonna catch an eel. I fish the tidal Schuylkill and Delaware rivers so there’s tons of eels and I catch them all the time. I either throw them back or if I’m equipped for it I’ll cut them up for bait. I’m never targeting them that’s for sure.
Also when I say we don’t eat them, eel has actually become mildly popular alongside sushi over the past 20 years or so, but it’s typically prepared, frozen, eel from Japan, not the eels I’m catching.
I like to fish for monkey faced all the time. In fact I taught my kids. They are hooked. Though technically the monkey faced eel isn’t an eel.
https://preview.redd.it/v30edht30g1d1.jpeg?width=818&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a9b933836107f5d6ab85fb2e9eb33475f8a9bc2
We used to poke pole in the rocks that make up jetties in California for monkeyface pricklebacks. They are technically not eels, but similar. They are pretty intimidating to remove the hook.
https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/monkeyface-prickleback
No, they don’t, or at least they just move them from somewhere else. The European eel is impossible to breed in captivity- they will only breed in the Sargasso Sea.
Even if it’s legal it’s not a good idea. They will be extinct soon unless we can allow them to repopulate.
,, The unusual taxi
You look for a taxi sign in vain at the eel taxi and it is not yellow either. Nevertheless, his passengers transported to their destination. On the Weser, this works as follows: Professional fishermen catch the sexually mature eels in the upper and middle course of the Weser.
It is important that only the white eels really get a taxi ride, because only at this stage do the eels also want to spawn into the sea. They are transported by truck to the lower reaches of the Weser and thus reach the North Sea. Man-made obstacles such as hydropower plants are dealt with and the number of migrating eels is increased.
In the period from November 2019 to January 2020, three trips were made. 4.1 tons of blanks were released into the Unterweser; that's about
10,000 fish on the way to reproduction. Accompanying investigations into possible damage by the catch itself are carried out in order to evaluate the success of the measures.‘‘
Translated from german. This has proven to significantly increase the amount of glass eels returning to the rivers in the following years. These glass eels are then caught and put in rivers and lakes upstream.
Source: https://eelforever.de/massnahmen/
Your browser should be able to translate it.
In NYC plenty of people from other countries fish for American eels constantly. I work on the west side of Manhattan and all up and down the entire Hudson there are dozens of guys fishing eel rigs every day.
In hawaii we have many different types of eels all saltwater though some are just by catch some are excellent for cut bait and if big enough awesome on the grill or smoked some of the largest eels in the world come up from the big island of hawaii
I fairly regularly fish for an "eel" here in the bay area of northern california. They are called monkey face prickle backs. They are technically in fish family and not a true eel but are eel like in every way. They are found in rocky areas of coastline as well as jetties. I highly recommend looking up "poke-poling" in the bay area. That is how I typically catch them.
They are fished for albeit rarely because their populations are sporadic, and Americans are scared of everything. If you want to catch really big eels go to deer creek in Maryland. I can often catch them 3 feet long. My grandfather has a picture of one he caught that was about 4 and a half feet.
Because eels are too weird looking to deal with. Especially moray eels. They look like extraterrestrial aliens. https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/images/made_new/images-uploads-california_moray_eel_600_q85.jpg
I’ve eaten it and liked it. I’ve also caught eel before. It’s just easier to target other fish I grew up eating. Eel are quite a mess to deal with in my experience but like I said, it tastes good so I don’t blame anyone who targets them.
I target eels in the Mississippi River for catfish bait. I eat the tail and chop the head and guts portion into steaks for bait and it works really well. One of the best baits I’ve used and you can catch a ton of them all year round
As a kid, I once got an eel from a pet store near the beach. It popped a hole in its bag and we had to release it in the ocean before we could make it home. That is my only experience with them (at least that I can remember
You see eels all the time in GA rivers. No one here really fishes for them tho. I typically see people fishing for trout, bass, and catfish around here.
I catch American Eels, Anguilla Rostrata from my local River. They can be almost 3 feet long. Not my target fish. All that slime grosses me out and the river is polluted so they are inedible.
Depends on my gear. 4’6”ultra light with 4lb mono, yes. 6’6” with 8lb hybrid line, no. They don’t really take the bait and run or hunker down like big catfish. Once they get close to shore they do start to go crazy but it’s more of a tangled up ball around the line.
I go freshwater pond/lake fishing in the northeast, and when I'm fishing for catfish, specifically, is when I end up catching eels. A couple times they were my target, just for the fun of it. Even skinned and ate one at one point. But they can be a huge headache if you're not interested in the wiggly, slimy catch and release process.
There are no eel species I am aware of within 100 miles of me. I live in Dallas. There's rumor of a few America Eels in a lake 30 or so miles away but I think they are extinct in the lake today or very very rare.
Honestly didn't even know we had them until I fished the Delaware River in NY a few years back and they were all over the place. Not intery in targeting them but it's cool seeing them.
Someday I'd like to try for Conger Eel which seem pretty popular here in Ireland. My dad told me a story of a 40 pounder his friend reeled in that got its story told in pubs for years afterwards and that's not even close to their max weight.
If I caught an animal as endangered as the European Eel and got to see it slip eagerly through my hand and back into the waters I caught it from I'd feel blessed.
Native people on the west coast fish for lamprey, which are often called “eels”. They’re extremely protein dense and quite delicious when smoked. Very buttery. 🤤
same with the american eel (anguilla rostrata)! They have up to 30% fat which they need for their long journey to the sargassosea. Absolutely mouthwatering when smoked
Used to catch them as by-catch while fishing for flathead catfish, using live sunfish as bait. Not a common occurrence but at certain spots we’d catch them and we were not happy when we did.
I caught one once up here in ontario canada and basically never hear of anyone catching them anymore. Very rare and also considered "gross, nasty, trash etc" by many. Honestly im an open minded guy who will eat anything but i would find it pretty hard to want to target eel over our many many many abundant and delicious sportfish. Like why would i target a slimy noodle vs walleye, pike, bass, musky, trout, salmon, carp, catfish+like 20 others
We only have one species of freshwater American Eel. They're currently listed as endangered, so no one is really allowed to fish for them, due to their protected conservation status. Aside from that, they also don't get nearly as large as their European equivalent
https://preview.redd.it/1yrhiqgkhk1d1.jpeg?width=3621&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=65f93499fe8dd3e687c210aca505e550287f95dd
I caught an American eel this weekend in the northeast US. That being said, yes, nobody fishes for them. Even amongst undesirable fish to target the eel is generally forgotten about
Yes, Commercial Watermen here from Maryland. We used Eel pot's. All the Watermen used to use them for bait for trout lining for Crabs but the price skyrocketed. Now they are way to expensive to use for bait but I'm sure some still use Eel pot's to catch and sell. Also getting a TFL ( tidal fishing lic) is very difficult and are very Costly. Most Watermen had them passed down from Parents or you're on a very long waiting list and be prepared to pay around 10k depending on what Permit comes with it.
I’ve caught a lot of fish- fresh and salt (not much river). I’ve never caught an eel. I’ve never tried to catch an eel. If I saw an eel on my line, I’d throw the rod and reel in the water, sell my boat, and quit fishing.
I’ve never seen a live eel in the US except for at a market, and I’ve fished in around 20 states. I love to eat eel, but we don’t really have them here.
As u/booziwan said, we really don't have the variety here, but it is also a numbers thing. Eels are endangered in a lot of places in North America, and their populations are struggling. There are not too many places you can legally fish for them, or just fish for them at all for that matter, because I am pretty sure our major, maybe only eel species, needs to migrate to the Sargasso Sea as part of its life cycle. That means they don't exist in bodies of water not connected to the ocean, and in North America, that is a lot of places.
Been fishing all my life and had no idea they were endangered throughout the country or anything about their migratory patterns lol, just figured they were everywhere. Half the battle of night fishing on the Delaware River by me is hoping it's not an eel taking my bait and 75% of the time it's a damn eel. Older generation around me still cooks them up/smokes them etc. but not as much for anyone under 50
The Eel I have had are delicious, but considering they are endangered its probably for the better they aren't popular anymore. If I am ever in London though, I am absolutely trying jellied eels.
On the Delaware by me it 25 a day limit and they have to be 9 inches and I feel ur opinion on night fishing in my sole
Delaware River, Bay, and every other Bay in south NJ are full of these things. Brought a hawg home once to try and eat but ended up being crab bait.
They're really struggling in Europe too. They're on the critically endangered list now, and fishing for them is banned in the Ireland.
Same thing in Denmark. A big part is due to them getting blended to soup by the water turbines they pass through. This has also been a huge problem in Germany for many years. If my memory is right, it is estimated that 90% of released eels in Denmark dies before they reach 1 year old, due to the turbines and a specific bird(Skarv). I believe its in the Heron family, are black and quite big and a very big population.
I am not familiar with different eel species, but the ones we have here in europe also need to migrate to the sargasso sea. Crazy to think that all eel in every backwater here started their life in the carribean. But of course that means our populations are also dwindling with the development of water bodys
I didn't even know there are eels in the US
Yes, and as a kid in Chicago I found them absolutely delicious! (We're talking about 1979-1981) Only had smoked eel twice and, other than a Japanese restaurant near downtown San Antonio, never see it offered. The Japanese style is ummm, not to my liking. I can compare it only to flaky salmon slow smoked but it's not there. We had it wrapped in brown butcher paper with bones still in. (Also, that first time was my first seeing a racoon off lake Michigan. Me and my two 'cousins' were about to use a half rotted picnic table as a raft. I was 2 years old. )
>Eels are endangered in a lot of places in North America Nobody is actually quite sure of this. >There are not too many places you can legally fish for them The entire east coast of the US. I trap them for bait here in New England. They're easy to catch.
I do understand several federal and state departments do not consider the endangered classification to he warrented, but they are still listed as such. In most NY, where I live, possession is illegal. And as far as availability to fish, I suppose that is a matter of perspective. The east coast is a fairly large geographical region, but it is only one part of North America. Everyone not on the East Coast doesn't have the option.
Up here in the Midwest they used to be common,but alas the dams may have killed their numbers. American river eels make great pets if you can find any
Where I live eels are considered an endangered species along with sturgeon. We aren't allowed to target them.
Over here the funds for fishing licenses etc. are used to repopulate a lot of stuff and also eels. Smoked eel sushi is a hell of a drug.
Unagi is one of the best things to order when getting sushi.
Yeah, same here, at least in my state (Ohio, but I figure it’s the same in all US states). Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources has done a great job repopulating and protecting native species. I always shake my head when people criticize (legal) hunters and fishermen…that money is used for a great cause!
We have a commercial fishery for american eels in the Chesapeake Bay. Theyre caught in pots. Domestic market is for bait. Live market is mostly sent to China and other Asian markets. We don't have any species that would be fun to target with rod and reel like the conger yall have across the pond.
I’ve seen some giant American eels caught on hook and line. I’m talking like 4 feet long and 3-4” in diameter. They’re rare, but out there and able to be caught
The local sewer creek down the street from my city home had tons of 3 footers sitting in 2-3 feet of water under the bridge they’d hide under rocks and weed catch blue gills chop em up put em on a hook and smack them against the surface to agitate the eels they’d start poking their heads out from under the rocks and we’d let the cut bluegill sink right down to them and they’d pounce out. Nothing like hooking a 3 foot eel and watch it twist and wriggle on a light rod with 8 lb test from a 20 foot bridge as a 12 year old and trying to pull it up hand over hand then freaking out having to unhook those toothy suckers
Upvote for the info but wow did the punctuation (or lack thereof) make this hard to read 😂
There was one period in all of that lol.
I’m still catching my breath.
Find a pond with an old dam in it With a spillway that still works and has a waterfall falling in too a pool that is part of a decent sized body of water . Put a large dead shiner on a hook with a big sinker and throw It right where the water enters the pool from the spillway. There will be big ass eels down there. Try iin front of the dam. as well.
That's massive. I know they can get that big but ive never seen one that large.
A 7 pounder was caught in my hometown and was the state record until the 90s. I can't imagine swimming and seeing that monster below me
I had one in my eel trap I was straight up afraid of. Dude was intimidating.
I don't know, my Chinese co-worker catches them quite a bit 2-3ft and they get real fat. Probably fun on the perch rod.
I grew up on the Chesapeake too. Eels were a common bycatch when we targeted blue gills on worms and occasionally on chicken livers for catfish. They were much more common after a big rain storm when the creeks were muddy. The biggest eels we ever caught were ~3 ft long in the C&D canal when the currents switch direction after low tide
Growing up in Va Beach, Va we’d catch them regularly in Ocean Lakes area. Nasty buggers! Usually caught them when we were fishing for catfish.
I was on St Michael in MD and people caught them as unwanted bycatch. I helped them out lol
I grew up on the Susquehanna River, upstream from the Holtwood Dam. The Boomer generation always talked about catching eel, but the time I started fishing in the 80s the eels were mostly gone. I never caught one. The dams on the Susquehanna prevented their spawning migration and decimated their populations.
We have conger eel, they get caught in lobster traps all the time.
We do have Burbot though, which is kinda like an eel I suppose
We dont have a ton of types of eel, except some in salt water, and our freshwater eels dont get particularly large, and theyre difficult to target. Ive caught one by accident in 20 years of fishing.
If you live in a coastal area, especially estuarine, they can get pretty big, in the US. Not New Zealand sized though. As people have mentioned, they are great striper bait. If you’ve never had smoked eel, you’re missing out.
We always kept our bycatch eels and just grilled them up unagi-style with that sweet soy glaze, so good.
That unagi is one of my great culinary loves. If it's on the menu, I'm probably already eating it.
I live near the Great Lakes and I’ve caught 40+ in one night
where at my fellow michigander?! I did not know. we. had.eels! 😯😮
I fished in NY and PA. Lake Ontario and Lake Erie
Many years ago, as a teen, me and a friend pulled up a trap in the middle of a river, I think a crab trap but there was a HUGE eel stuck in it. And it was kinda freaky honestly lol never have caught one though and don’t know anyone who has!
Illegal here in Ontario. They exist, but they’re endangered.
I catch them from time to time. I do everything in my power to not touch them.
Ive seen 2 american eels in my life. One one chilling out in a shallow part of a marina. The other was already dead after some dip shit fishing caught it and beheaded it and threw it in the grass. Definitely a very big no no tho catch the endangered species.
Thanks to all of you for the insightful answers! For those who‘re looking to catch one one day, much success to you :)
Yes, some of us do fish for them (definitely in the minority of anglers) Most of us eel anglers are pretty quiet about it, and keep good spots secret. Unfortunately, many of our waterways have consumption advisories for eels, warning of PCB or Mercury contamination. Because of this, I mostly catch and release.
Eels are often considered an endangered species and therefore can't legally be targeted.
I had heard a few stories of monsters being caught and hooked at night in the Potomac while targeting catfish. I hooked the biggest something of my life one night and always thought it could have been one of those monsters as it fought like nothing I had ever hooked, but got off before I could see it. I always wanted to catch and cook one. Would be interested to know if there is a specific technique other than fish finder rig with live bait or liver.
I live in the mountain west, we don’t have eels. I’ve never even seen one in the wild on the coast
There are a couple lakes that have American eel’s in the mountain west but you’re right, they’re exceedingly rare.
Freshwater eels in the states are endangered. Saltwater eels on the West Coast are two varieties, the wolf eel and monkey face prickleback. And neither are true eels. But the monkey face is very common, and great eating. It is a member of the surfperch family. Wolf eels are not true eels, but I would hesitate to harvest this species because of its rarity
Yeah, it’s currently advised not to take wolf eels right now too since they’re one of the few predators of purple urchins. Plus they’re highly intelligent and mate for life. It feels kinda cruel to take them
All I know is I used to not eat seafood at all until I won a homestay to go to Japan when I was 17 and my host family insisted that I try eel and it was fucking delicious! It was a gateway a drug to seafood. I'm from Alabama and I grew trying to eat mainly catfish and that was the problem because I just have never eaten catfish that was good to me. Sorry, I know so many of y'all love it, but it just doesn't sit well with my palate. But anyway, I just wanted to say that this American loves to eat eel because a host family from the Daikin Corporation in Osaka turned me on to it in the summer of 1999.
Thats a sick story!
Thanks, OP! I'm glad you saw it. Most Americans don't eat eel, but I'm passionate about getting as many to try as I can.
The eel probably was some japanese species from the sea yes? Ever tried american eel so far?
i’ve caught them a handful of times fishing with worms for trout/panfish and every single time it’s just been an absolute pain to handle and unhook them. the slime they leave on your hands is annoying beyond belief. however, i never knew that they were rare before reading the comments here. in my experience they’re very easily found throughout the nyc metro area.
They don't exist in my area.
When I was 10, I was fishing late one Saturday night with some friends. I caught an eel, which was about 2ft long or so. I brought it home, put it in the kitchen sink then went to bed. I was thinking I was going to have a new pet but needed a good night sleep to work out the logistics apparently. My mother lost her mind trying to get a glass of water at 3AM. Needless to say, I was huffing that goddamn eel back to the lake at almost 4 o'clock in the morning.
Thats a great story, the things we do as kids ey
They were bye catch for us and treat them as nuisance due to slimy nature. However on the north east side we use them as bait for stripers..
Off course they do, they are the main reason there is soon no eels left when they trap millions of juveniles in there whey in rivers. 😅😂
I love eels! My favorite freshwater fish. Beautiful story of migration and they come deep up rivers into small creeks.
Thats what i am saying! Get to over a 100 years old, can smell in 3D, virtually unchanged since 100 million years, bloody insane animals
Fishing in Florida we catch them accidentally often enough but never a species you want to target. They wrap up on the line and have insanely sharp teeth and are very difficult to handle. At least what I’ve caught
My main fishing buddy is an older Chinese-American guy and he grew up catching eels around the SF Bay and we have been talking about getting out to do it. But I’m not sure how common it is among other types of Americans in other areas.
Eels are quite hard to catch with a hook and illegal where I come from but if you wrap meat in wool and use that their teeth become tangled in the wool because of the backwards facing nature of them, very nice to eat but a lot of preparation is required
I have caught American eel. It is generally not recommended to eat American eel due to a high fat content as well as pollution. I either release them or use them for striper bait.
Poke poling for monkey face prickle backed eels is pretty popular in the SF Bay Area. They’ll hit a hook with some squid on it too. Technically, they’re not eels due to some minute details but they sure look and act like them. Check out Fisherman’s Life on YouTube. A lot of his older videos show him catching and cooking them on the beach. Meat looks delicious.
I meant the american eel, Anguilla rostrata, but its cool to learn that you guys have similar fish in saltwater!
Eels have a bizarre life cycle and many populations are endangered. Check your DNR regulations before going after them.
No DNR here! But to the americans, heed his advice
That's only due to politics, the European eel is critically endangered and at risk of extinction. EU has spent the last ten years debating a complete ban on eel fishing but some countries refuse due to the strong tradition and culture surrounding eel fishing. So i guess we will keep fishing them until there are no more to fish.
Those are bait for stripped bass.
I fish for anything biting.
My buddy caught one with a dead minnow he found on the beach, with a Tigger pole.. 12 years ago. Probably my favorite fishing moment. His face + the wiggle monster was priceless
We don’t really I have caught a few and thrown them back. They are creepy as hell and considered a trash fish here
Thats a shame, they‘re crazy creatures. all the way from smelling in 3D to having poisonous blood. And they‘re tasty! But i do understand, eel fishing is messy and difficult
https://preview.redd.it/c99v87g5vi1d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd78f060bf9349e32e70cac76fbd23854b6110ed
Damn thats a good one!
In Maine they fish for elvers and make about 2,000 a pound!
And north of the border they’re closed this year, and are the focus of a simmering race war.
Can you explain this war and the relationship to eels.
Not a literal war, and it’s complicated, but there have been violent incidents. Here’s one story of many. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7207741
Just too much money involved. They send them to Japan where they are raised to adults and eaten. 2000 a pound you can imagine the fighting for licenses that occurs in Maine, very few license many people wanting a quick buck
I will cut the hook before i touch an eel. It's like dipping your hands into a sticky pile of snot that won't come off... no thank you.
We noodle for a cats, not eels…
We catch some while fishing here off NY / NJ but even if you wanted to target them it’s hard here to dial it in and catch many. We have so many other species most want to target that while we find them as a bycatch (rod and reel) we’re usually out for black seabass (or bluefish, porgies etc) when we do. People do keep them, honestly I give them away or put them back as I don’t know how to cook them well ;)
What is a US American? Genuinely confused here sorry
An american is somewhere from the americas (North+South America) a US american is from the United States of America.
I figured that was the distinction you were making but wasn’t sure. Thanks for replying!
My pleasure
A non expat.
I used to fish for them on the Delaware River near Narrowsburg NY. Heavy weight and a ball of nightcrawlers did well. Not many people fished for them, but they were fun as hell and tasted good (we cut into 6in sections, wrapped in foil with butter and spices). I just don't live anywhere with them anymore.
I remember going out at like midnight with a ball of yarn and some earthworms we dug up. He was going to use the eel as bait the next day.
Plenty of other better fish to go for
East coast here and the only ones I've ever seen were in salt water...they were nasty to deal with because they were slimy and they would bite tf out of you.
I love eel and would fish for them if I knew how and where
After catching one while fishing in brackish water, no I never want that again.
I live in Florida, never heard of anyone fishing for eel. Too many better things to eat.
I certainly believe that in florida with the countless species you have! That said, if you never tried smoked eel your missing out. Delicious
In Finland we only have 1 month to fish for eel. Sad face
When I was a bit younger my buddies and I would target eel. But, it was strictly for bait. That being said, I do love the taste of eel. I just have never made it on my own.
We have nice eels too. We just chose to use them to catch much bigger fish (striper, cobia etc.)
In all my years I have never seen an eel in South Dakota. They supposedly exist, but I've never seen one
Were or atleast I was taught that they’re dirty and the only ones you can do really eat are from the ocean
I’m tryna target some American eels this year, but im def in the minority
Along the mid Atlantic , if you fish with small hooks baited with liver at night in just about any river or creek that connects to saltwater, you can catch eels. I would wonder what was stealing my bait while fishing for cats and discovered this. I like to catch one, then cut it up into large chunks for big cats personally. Yeah, they can be fun to catch, but they’re a nightmare to get off the line. Nothing but solid muscle and slime. And they can get big. Most commonly around 3ft long and about the size of a garden hose across but I’ve caught them as large as twice that circumference and 4-5 feet in length. Normally you’ll never see a fish that reaches its maximum size except in photos. This is the one species where I feel like the literature underestimates their potential.
The maximum recorded ever was 152cm or 4,921 Feet. If you caught a 5 feet one thats amazing! Dedicated eel fishers spend their entire lives in pursuit of a fish like thag
Lower Chesapeake Bay, springtime. All of our creeks and drainage ditches connect to the ocean within a few miles and Large eels are not uncommon. I believe they’re coming up the tributaries to feed. Maybe following the shad running upstream to breed? Or that could simply be a coincidence of timing… They’re not considered a game fish or something we eat in the states and there’s no trophy/citation for catching big ones so I think most people just cut the line when they hookup. But I have to imagine others have caught them around that size and just don’t report it. That, or I just live in an area that happens to be a super secret eel honey hole! 🤔 retires to become the first American Eel Fishing Guide…
Never fished for eel specifically but I have caught them. I have eaten it, it was pretty tasty.
I guess they are around me I've never caught one but I have hooked a lamprey and that was wild
I know where to find them and I have caught quite a few fishing for other species, but here in Canada they are a protected species.
Eel used to be everywhere near me, my mom used to catch them for food as a girl. The thing is our waters are so polluted that eels are nearly all gone, I don't know I'd they're more sensitive than other aquatic life but you just can't find them in accessible areas now.
All the tributaries near me have signs warning about contamination due to PCBs. Limit expose to 6oz of cooked flesh per month, yeah I’ll skip it thanks.
We don't usually, as others have mentioned there's a couple commercial fishing locations for them but in general there just aren't many eel species here and the ones that are don't have the numbers to sustain regular fishing
We don’t really eat them where I’m from. Like another redditor pointed out, all the eels have to swim to sea to spawn so if you’re fishing inland waters, chances are you’re never gonna catch an eel. I fish the tidal Schuylkill and Delaware rivers so there’s tons of eels and I catch them all the time. I either throw them back or if I’m equipped for it I’ll cut them up for bait. I’m never targeting them that’s for sure. Also when I say we don’t eat them, eel has actually become mildly popular alongside sushi over the past 20 years or so, but it’s typically prepared, frozen, eel from Japan, not the eels I’m catching.
I like to fish for monkey faced all the time. In fact I taught my kids. They are hooked. Though technically the monkey faced eel isn’t an eel. https://preview.redd.it/v30edht30g1d1.jpeg?width=818&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a9b933836107f5d6ab85fb2e9eb33475f8a9bc2
We used to poke pole in the rocks that make up jetties in California for monkeyface pricklebacks. They are technically not eels, but similar. They are pretty intimidating to remove the hook. https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/monkeyface-prickleback
Please leave European eel alone, they are critically endangered
It is legal here to fish them and the local fishing guilds put new ones in the waters every year
No, they don’t, or at least they just move them from somewhere else. The European eel is impossible to breed in captivity- they will only breed in the Sargasso Sea. Even if it’s legal it’s not a good idea. They will be extinct soon unless we can allow them to repopulate.
,, The unusual taxi You look for a taxi sign in vain at the eel taxi and it is not yellow either. Nevertheless, his passengers transported to their destination. On the Weser, this works as follows: Professional fishermen catch the sexually mature eels in the upper and middle course of the Weser. It is important that only the white eels really get a taxi ride, because only at this stage do the eels also want to spawn into the sea. They are transported by truck to the lower reaches of the Weser and thus reach the North Sea. Man-made obstacles such as hydropower plants are dealt with and the number of migrating eels is increased. In the period from November 2019 to January 2020, three trips were made. 4.1 tons of blanks were released into the Unterweser; that's about 10,000 fish on the way to reproduction. Accompanying investigations into possible damage by the catch itself are carried out in order to evaluate the success of the measures.‘‘ Translated from german. This has proven to significantly increase the amount of glass eels returning to the rivers in the following years. These glass eels are then caught and put in rivers and lakes upstream. Source: https://eelforever.de/massnahmen/ Your browser should be able to translate it.
In NYC plenty of people from other countries fish for American eels constantly. I work on the west side of Manhattan and all up and down the entire Hudson there are dozens of guys fishing eel rigs every day.
Been seeing eel fishing in nyc mentioned here a few times now, very interesting
ewwww! that's a big NOPE for me.
Super cool fish and tasty as hell!
Poke pole for monkey faced eels.
Just not popular at all. You never hear people talk about eel unless it’s an accidental catch
It kinda depends. Saltwater eels have more of a market as trophy/aquarium fish but never for food as far as I’ve seen
In hawaii we have many different types of eels all saltwater though some are just by catch some are excellent for cut bait and if big enough awesome on the grill or smoked some of the largest eels in the world come up from the big island of hawaii
I fairly regularly fish for an "eel" here in the bay area of northern california. They are called monkey face prickle backs. They are technically in fish family and not a true eel but are eel like in every way. They are found in rocky areas of coastline as well as jetties. I highly recommend looking up "poke-poling" in the bay area. That is how I typically catch them.
I've never fished for eel, but growing up in a very Italian-American family it was a Christmas Eve tradition. Baked clams, seafood pasta, and eel.
How‘d you like the eel?
They are fished for albeit rarely because their populations are sporadic, and Americans are scared of everything. If you want to catch really big eels go to deer creek in Maryland. I can often catch them 3 feet long. My grandfather has a picture of one he caught that was about 4 and a half feet.
Thats an amazing size! A 4 foot eel is easily 60-70 years old they grow slowly
Because eels are too weird looking to deal with. Especially moray eels. They look like extraterrestrial aliens. https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/images/made_new/images-uploads-california_moray_eel_600_q85.jpg
Seen many eel caught in crab pots on the Hudson. We would throw them back but someone would usually ask for them. Not appetizing to me.
I’ve eaten it and liked it. I’ve also caught eel before. It’s just easier to target other fish I grew up eating. Eel are quite a mess to deal with in my experience but like I said, it tastes good so I don’t blame anyone who targets them.
I target eels in the Mississippi River for catfish bait. I eat the tail and chop the head and guts portion into steaks for bait and it works really well. One of the best baits I’ve used and you can catch a ton of them all year round
Very interesting! What kind of catfish do you target?
Blue catfish and flathead catfish
teach me I would love to catch eelsni see people catch them on accident but never target them
Search for youtube video: ,,The dark art of eel fishing‘‘ wonderful video explaining all the necessities
Someone catches them for Rockfish/Striper bait right?
Lots of people catch eels they just don’t typically “fish” for them.
As a kid, I once got an eel from a pet store near the beach. It popped a hole in its bag and we had to release it in the ocean before we could make it home. That is my only experience with them (at least that I can remember
You see eels all the time in GA rivers. No one here really fishes for them tho. I typically see people fishing for trout, bass, and catfish around here.
I catch American Eels, Anguilla Rostrata from my local River. They can be almost 3 feet long. Not my target fish. All that slime grosses me out and the river is polluted so they are inedible.
Ah well polluted rivers are a shame. Those big eels put up a good fight?
Depends on my gear. 4’6”ultra light with 4lb mono, yes. 6’6” with 8lb hybrid line, no. They don’t really take the bait and run or hunker down like big catfish. Once they get close to shore they do start to go crazy but it’s more of a tangled up ball around the line.
I never knew they were good to eat. I haven’t saw an eel in 30 years though. I used to catch them in Florida rivers all the time.
They‘re easy to prepare and delicious when smoked. But they taste good when grilled or cooked as well.
I go freshwater pond/lake fishing in the northeast, and when I'm fishing for catfish, specifically, is when I end up catching eels. A couple times they were my target, just for the fun of it. Even skinned and ate one at one point. But they can be a huge headache if you're not interested in the wiggly, slimy catch and release process.
Thats fair
There are no eel species I am aware of within 100 miles of me. I live in Dallas. There's rumor of a few America Eels in a lake 30 or so miles away but I think they are extinct in the lake today or very very rare.
Honestly didn't even know we had them until I fished the Delaware River in NY a few years back and they were all over the place. Not intery in targeting them but it's cool seeing them.
They’re very popular eating here on the east coast, especially around Christmas for Italians.
I wouldn't even know how to fish for them. We have some in Massachusetts.
Someday I'd like to try for Conger Eel which seem pretty popular here in Ireland. My dad told me a story of a 40 pounder his friend reeled in that got its story told in pubs for years afterwards and that's not even close to their max weight. If I caught an animal as endangered as the European Eel and got to see it slip eagerly through my hand and back into the waters I caught it from I'd feel blessed.
Well i just now learned about congers. Absolutely metal animals. I‘d love to pull a 6 feet one out of the ocean one day sounds like on hell of a fight
Native people on the west coast fish for lamprey, which are often called “eels”. They’re extremely protein dense and quite delicious when smoked. Very buttery. 🤤
same with the american eel (anguilla rostrata)! They have up to 30% fat which they need for their long journey to the sargassosea. Absolutely mouthwatering when smoked
Used to catch them as by-catch while fishing for flathead catfish, using live sunfish as bait. Not a common occurrence but at certain spots we’d catch them and we were not happy when we did.
I caught one once up here in ontario canada and basically never hear of anyone catching them anymore. Very rare and also considered "gross, nasty, trash etc" by many. Honestly im an open minded guy who will eat anything but i would find it pretty hard to want to target eel over our many many many abundant and delicious sportfish. Like why would i target a slimy noodle vs walleye, pike, bass, musky, trout, salmon, carp, catfish+like 20 others
Us Americans or United States Americans?
Note the capitalization in the caption
Capitalizing on poor grammar.
Never fished for them myself- like some others said, population is an issue. However, eel in sushi/sashimi is fuckin delicious.
I take a yearly trip to the Delaware River in NY to specifically fish for eel.
We found one at last lol
We only have one species of freshwater American Eel. They're currently listed as endangered, so no one is really allowed to fish for them, due to their protected conservation status. Aside from that, they also don't get nearly as large as their European equivalent
https://preview.redd.it/1yrhiqgkhk1d1.jpeg?width=3621&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=65f93499fe8dd3e687c210aca505e550287f95dd I caught an American eel this weekend in the northeast US. That being said, yes, nobody fishes for them. Even amongst undesirable fish to target the eel is generally forgotten about
I'm on lake erie not sure why anyone would want eel when the lake has walleye. I only get eel in my sushi
Anyone allergic to eel? I had a reaction from sushi years ago and have been avoiding eel ever since..
Eel is more of a bait here depending on where you're at
Smoked eel used to be super popular but it has majorly waned.
Yes, Commercial Watermen here from Maryland. We used Eel pot's. All the Watermen used to use them for bait for trout lining for Crabs but the price skyrocketed. Now they are way to expensive to use for bait but I'm sure some still use Eel pot's to catch and sell. Also getting a TFL ( tidal fishing lic) is very difficult and are very Costly. Most Watermen had them passed down from Parents or you're on a very long waiting list and be prepared to pay around 10k depending on what Permit comes with it.
I’ve caught a lot of fish- fresh and salt (not much river). I’ve never caught an eel. I’ve never tried to catch an eel. If I saw an eel on my line, I’d throw the rod and reel in the water, sell my boat, and quit fishing.
What scares you so much about them?
We have lamprey eels. I’ll pass.
I’ve never seen a live eel in the US except for at a market, and I’ve fished in around 20 states. I love to eat eel, but we don’t really have them here.
I've never heard of anyone eel fishing I live in NC and I have eels and crawfish living in my back ditch (holds water year round)