Fish-Hawk.Net

Got two ofmy lads out to a catfish spot and the first fish one of my boys caught was a three foot plus American eel!!!! Have not seen one since I was young and I remembered very quickly why I was never happy to have one on the line. Pretty exciting given the strong fight until I saw what it was. With considerable effort I was able to get it cleanly unhooked in the water and it swam off quite strongly. Will report the catch to the ministry as they request.

Would have been nice if the older lad had taken a picture while I was unhooking it because it is a pretty rare sight nowadays.

Rod

Cool!! After all these years of fishing the Ottawa i still have yet to hook into one!

Ya, they're not too common nowadays for sure. When I was much younger it wasn't uncommon to catch them while barbot fishing in the Ottawa and around Galetta. What a pain in the arse to unhook while they try and wrap around your arm. Yech.

Cheers

Report it to MNR. They are tracking them. Kirby Punt at the MNR is the guy in charge of that project.

My buddy caught one in my boat not 5 hours ago aswell! A big one too. Freaky thing, wasn't fun to deal with but was really cool to experience. We were also targeting catfish.

Cool! I am still waiting for one to take my bait.

Did you catch it on worms?

I could see me just throwing rod and eel back!!!! Ewwww. Lol

I remember catching them quite often on Lake St-Francis and just like everyone else here, hated having to take them off.

I have heard that if you grab them with a sheet of newspaper they go rigid and are much easier to handle, never had the opportunity, (thankfully), to try it myself.

I agree it was nice to see and this was a jumbo so very, very strong fight for my boy, however for everyone who has not caught one, like I said when I was young i just cringed when I saw them... My release in the 70s was far less gentle on the fish than I used yesterday... Imagine a boa constrictor, crossed with a catfish, crossed with a pike... It is one incredibly strong bundle of slippery, slimy, slitheriness! This one had a clean hook set with a large hook and I was still at my limit getting it off without harming it. If they were more common I would have a hook cutter strapped to my leg and a pair of rubberized gloves in my pocket.

I do hope they make a recovery but I hope they avoid my line in the process. I was just reading about the tagged release they did and the eel ladder/trap setup at Chats I think. didn't see a tag but I was too busy trying to avoid being slimed, constricted, bitten to look to closely. Will report to the ministry on Monday since the web tool was not working.

BTW I am not exaggerating when I say how hard they are to cleanly unhook as I am sure anyone else who has caught one will testify.

Rod

Yuck for sure.

They seem to tie themselves in a knot then slide the knot up their body and over your hand in an attempt to get away. Slick move, but gross.

I expect that with efforts to re-establish them, you'll see more in the near future. There are tons on the Atlantic coast.

Congrats on the eel and we used to fish for them all the time as they were great smoked. I can remember them coming through the eel ladder at the power dam so thick you could almost walk on them. They are doing a study of them right now and have some tagged with a transmitter to track them.

Used to hook these often when fishing with worms for panfish on the lower Ottawa back in the day, they give a tremendous fight. We never ate them but a Danish lady nearby would happily receive them as a delicacy.

Cool stuff Peron. I recall catching one in quite while targeting cats when I was about 11 years old. It was quite a fight.

Ewww... cool... Ewww... neat... Ewwwwww!