Thread: Eels

https://youtu.be/9C9KLoZTBdc

Some good reading here.


https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/taniwh...mpaign=Taniwha

Originally Posted by Dundee

Some good reading here.


https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/taniwh...mpaign=Taniwha

Bloody good read

I challenge anyone to swim at night in certain places of Lake Mapourika

They come into any noise on mass and have no fear of people or their dangly bits.

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Originally Posted by R93

I challenge anyone to swim at night in certain places of Lake Mapourika

They come into any noise on mass and have no fear of people or their dangly bits.

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Like the 'tame' ones in the old Westbay factory pond. They were impressive.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Like the 'tame' ones in the old Westbay factory pond. They were impressive.

Most of them got caught and are now in a tank in town.

I love eating the buggers but don't like sharing the water with them

I crossed a chest deep South Westland river on dark after I shot a couple deer. Had a mate meet up with me as I was crossing with the first one.
He advised me not to turn around and I laughed it off.
I dumped the first carcass on the bank and went to go back for the other and 2 of the biggest eels I have ever seen were just waiting in the slack water. He said they followed me from about halfway.
Fair to say it took a few big rocks and a lot of puckering to go and get the other one especially as it was getting darker. Iirc I got around $500 bucks for the 2 animals but would have happily forfeited half of it that night.


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Originally Posted by Dundee

Some good reading here.


https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/taniwh...mpaign=Taniwha

I find them fascinating creatures. Having harassed them as kids by overturning rocks in the creek and squealing like little girls while trying to flick them out on to the bank, then as we got older, assigned to sack duty while following the uncles up the creek with a gaff using a quartered tire wired to a fence batten and used as a torch which was lit by a small fire on the bank, graduating to operating the gaff with younger cousins, nieces and nephews on sack duty. All prepped and eaten with great delight.

Nowadays, I set the hinaki (using marmite and grated cheese as a lure), show the moko and tell them about their amazing life cycle, take a heap of digitals and release them quietly back into the water.

I love eating them, I just don't like killing them anymore...

Originally Posted by R93

Most of them got caught and are now in a tank in town.

I love eating the buggers but don't like sharing the water with them

I crossed a chest deep South Westland river on dark after I shot a couple deer. Had a mate meet up with me as I was crossing with the first one.
He advised me not to turn around and I laughed it off.
I dumped the first carcass on the bank and went to go back for the other and 2 of the biggest eels I have ever seen were just waiting in the slack water. He said they followed me from about halfway.
Fair to say it took a few big rocks and a lot of puckering to go and get the other one especially as it was getting darker. Iirc I got around $500 bucks for the 2 animals but would have happily forfeited half of it that night.


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Was bloody funny when I was working there late one night. One of the guys from the factory comes out with a bin of fish frames and heads to feed them. He leaned over the railing a little to far and his car keys slid out of his pocket, 'plop'. Wasn't at all keen to put his hand in to retrieve them. Finally managed to snag them on a long stick with a bent nail after about 20 minutes.

Originally Posted by R93

I challenge anyone to swim at night in certain places of Lake Mapourika

They come into any noise on mass and have no fear of people or their dangly bits.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

I have heard that they like maggot size offerings....

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Was bloody funny when I was working there late one night. One of the guys from the factory comes out with a bin of fish frames and heads to feed them. He leaned over the railing a little to far and his car keys slid out of his pocket, 'plop'. Wasn't at all keen to put his hand in to retrieve them. Finally managed to snag them on a long stick with a bent nail after about 20 minutes.

When did you work there mate?
I used to split fish during school holidays and had a full time job there as a filleter before I joined the Army in 84'

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Originally Posted by Beaker

I have heard that they like maggot size offerings....

You would almost make a feed for one then?

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caught a few up to 12lb on handlines as a kid.... they very good smoked but I really cant get my head around eating them and would rather watch them go...the big eels should be looked after and photo taken then released...thats a bloody old fish who has a big swim ahead to trench over tonga way somewhere to breed and make more little eels....

one place I used to board at the eels would be waiting at bridge when Id gone out shooting rabbits as they knew I would feed them on way home..they got tame as and would poke heads out of water waiting for a feed...... duck guts is great bait for both eels and koura (not often found in same place)

my late father used to shoot a private lake at rotomanu(in fact he died duckshooting) and always remember him saying if you dropped a duck it was a race between you and the eels. years later cuzzie&iwere on this farm eeling in the outlet creek.bugger me framers wife lost a chookthat morning -stuck its beek in the water and wallop. well bugger me ginger chucks line in with as little bit of old possum on it and whammo it erupted death spins by the score before we managed to wrestle it up the bank and deliver the death knock
guilty ads fucking charged your honour -a complete chookleg in its guts!
the cockies son killed one with a shovel one day as it made a crack at him standing on the boat trailer in bare feet.it apparently was recognisable by a part missing fin and had adopted this tactic.noone knew why it had such shit on its liver but petes deft useof the shovel appeared to remedy the problem.
another good way to get em is ye old bob maori and pakeha used this .get a lump of liver heart or even a kidney or just a lump of beef.wrap it securely in fine cotton or nylon -ty her onto some hefty line and dangle it in the hole old slimy willcome up curious mouth it and his rear sloping teeth get entwined in the thread! my best -a 26lber out of the moonlight creek after grandad killed a sheep and dropped the guts in .we actually had a smaller eel on our line (made from grannies finest NZ post office string)until this hidous monstrosity slid from under the rock we stood on and proceeded to devour the poor bastard.we x3 hauled it in and killed it mreifully before dropping remains back in -yup gargantuan resumed what it thought was a free meal but we all3 hauling in tandem won the day.
after weighing it grandad said give it to old lucy the pig and her piglets.
whoa
what was left -a skin so clean you could have eaten off it and a fat old sow smacking her chops with a contented grin.
shed do the same to possums -clean skin with 4 sets of claws and if shed eaten earlier part of the skull.
yup was enough to heed grandads warning not to get close to her when her piglets were close!!

Originally Posted by R93

When did you work there mate?
I used to split fish during school holidays and had a full time job there as a filleter before I joined the Army in 84'

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I used to sort their IT issues from about '91 till they closed. Managed to get stuck over there one anniversary weekend and they wouldn't let me work. I managed to put together a bit of kit and follow one of the directors (Harold) and their accountant (Andy) around the Victoria range for a couple of days.