ECLECTIC
EELS
Do we always give eels the credit and
respect they deserve? Ralph Walker thinks not! Amazing,
enigmatic, eclectic are just a few of the adjectives he uses to describe
them: to find-out why, read on ....
Now I'm one of the first to hold my hand up and admit that until recently I hadn't fully realised just how important eels are, both as a species in their own right but also in the whole ecology of fishing.
Anguilla, the Latin name for the eel, is used in many of the titles of the growing number of clubs of eel enthusiasts. But before I go on to talk about the link between eels and fishing for big pike, I would like to take time-out to look in some detail at the biology and life-cycle of this truly remarkable species....... and it's remarkable for many reasons!
Firstly, until well into this century, no-one knew exactly where eels spawned and although we now know this to be somewhere in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda, to this day no-one has ever seen eels actually spawning - it is believed that this takes place at tremendous depths in the Sargasso Sea.
Secondly, after hatching, the tiny eel larvae called leptocephali (literally: head like a leaf ) then embark on one of the most amazing migratory journeys in the fishing world: for two years or more they drift in the North Atlantic Gulf Stream feeding on plankton. Thirdly, they eventually become elvers, young eels which are able to feed on bigger prey.
Fourthly,
when they reach Europe they spend some time in the river estuaries preparing
themselves for their transition from salt to fresh water. Then they migrate
up-stream to rivers, lakes, ponds, canals and so on .... in fact to anything
which holds water and suitable food.
And as we all know, eels can even travel over land to reach their chosen lake or pond. This too is quite remarkable because eels have the unique ability to absorb oxygen through their skin as well as their gills. They are also thought to close their gill flaps to trap a small amount of water inside, covering their gills to help them travel even further - amazing!
Eels normally spend five or six years growing fat in their fresh-water homes before finally making the mammoth return journey to the Sargasso Sea to spawn, thus completely the cycle. But, enigmatic as ever, for unknown reasons, some eels just don't make this return journey, staying instead in fresh water for up to fifteen or twenty years, growing enormous in the process. It is these giant eels weighing up to 15 or 20 lbs which the true Anguilla enthusiasts constantly seek, although the current UK record of just over 11 lb has stood for over twenty years now.
Although some anglers are sceptical that eels ever reach such weights, I can do no better than relate a true story told to me by one of my early fishing mentors who was fortunate enough to fish from time to time with my namesake, the late, great Dick Walker......... and I quote .. "Men were dredging the Bedfordshire Ouse near Barford Bridge not far from Blunham where my mentor lives. Dick Walker, always keen to pick their brains about the fishy inhabitants of each and every stretch of the river, was chatting to them when he noticed the head of a large eel poking-out from among the mud and weed dredgings on the bank. Quickly picking-up his landing net, he zero-ed it on his weigh scales and then scooped-up the eel ... it weighed 15 lb 2 oz." - now that IS a big eel !
Eels
are thermophilic which means that they prefer warm water (don't we all?!) but
they are also shy of high light intensities. Hiding in deep mud and weed during
the day, in the summer months eels move into the shallows to feed as the light
fades and, be warned, they will eat most things and of course they can come
out of the water to get them, so even your sandwiches aren't safe!
They are eclectic predators and scavengers with a huge menu: water insects, crayfish, frogs, fish and even small water-birds such as dippers and wagtails. Yes, eels can move like lightning when the need arises so don't be fooled - I've even had them snatch at my lures as I have been winding-in fast or lifting them out of the water.
And in case you're wondering about the main reason for this biology lesson on eels, they are such an unusual fish that I have found that all this information is really helpful in locating and catching those giant specimens.
For sure, eels are very cunning fish and are ultra-sensitive to any unnatural weight as far as fishing tackle and baits are concerned. This has always given me a problem because many waters that I fish for eels also contain pike (as I will explain later!) and so I always use a good length of trace wire.
But finding a suitable trace wire for eel fishing is far from easy: you need a wire which is thin, strong, light-weight and extremely supple - not too much to ask, is it?! Like many anguilla enthusiasts, over the years I have tried many, many different brands of wire, single-strand, multi-strand, coated, un-coated and so on.
Finally
I have settled on Fenwick's Iron Thread Braided Leader Wire which is made from
ultra-thin multi-strands of stainless steel wire braided with gel-spun high
performance polyethylene fibres - in my opinion it's the dog's whatnots of wire,
not cheap but excellent.
When fishing for eels you need a low-visibility, high strength, low-diameter, supple and low-stretch main line which gives maximum sensitivity and I'm afraid in my opinion monos aren't even in the running for this: gel-spun high pressure polyethylene braids are the business!
Here again Fenwick were one of the first on the scene with their high-tech braided line, Iron Thread. I have to confess that Spiderwire braid is one of my real favourites but as it's expensive and sometimes hard to get these days, I use Berkley's Whiplash which is an excellent alternative, and cheaper to boot.
As for eel baits I have two favourites, lobworms and small fresh-water fish dead-baits, and I also usually inject all my baits with one or other of my pike bait oils and flavours, especially in the winter months.
Fishing in shallow water for eels in the warmer summer evenings is most enjoyable and if you pick a good venue, it can be very rewarding. During the colder weather, eels retreat to deeper water where they can escape freezing conditions by staying in the denser water.
Surprisingly water is at its most dense not at zero degrees Celsius (i.e. solid ice) but at 4 degrees Celsius and it is this sinking, denser and slightly warmer warm which saves many species from being frozen alive! At that's exactly where you'll find those giant eels .... and usually they're semi-dormant and won't readily take your bait!
I'm convinced by my early experiences that the bigger eels tend to feed mainly at night and, at the age of 7, I managed to turn this theory into practice with my first decent-sized eel of 3 lb 3 oz.
Sadly
over the years, the eel population has declined rapidly mainly due to over-fishing
for human and animal consumption. This has had a dramatic effect on the whole
food-chain and fishing ecology.
So, as the anguilla advert says, "Put eels back alive, please" and that will make everyone happy ! And if you'd like to learn lots more about eclectic eels, then check-out the link to the National Anguilla Club via our LINKS page.
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