A Large Eel

[Rotrax]

Just as a matter of interest regarding eels, during the great freeze of 1962/63, just as the pond on Tooting Bec Common was starting to thaw an Irish kid we knew called us, very agitated, saying he had just seen a five foot fish in the hole in the ice near the Park Keepers hut.

Of course we rushed over, sure enough there was a lot of swirling and movement under the murky water. The Irish kid, named Gerome IIRC, nicked a large rake from the Keepers hut and we dragged out a huge eel, over 5 feet 4 inches long. I dispatched it with my penknife after whacking it really hard over the vent with a heavy branch. This paralysed it enough for me to stick the penknife blade into its brain.

It had sixteen rusty hooks in its stomach including two trebles and an antique - even then - double gorge hook, several lengths of heavy line and wire trace protruding from its vent. I carried it home in a sack scrounged from the Keepers hut with help from my brother. It was nailed throught the head to the ledge and brace door of our bicycle shed and I skinned it. A neighbour cooked and ate it while I tanned and made a belt from its skin. I had that belt for years, it was a bit whiffy in hot weather................

It was never weighed and years later I had much guilt over the way we treated this obviously very old fish.

It was measured with mums tape measure and was almost 5 feet 5 inches long, very thich and pretty heavy - made us grunt carrying it the three plus miles home.

There had been many rumours of a strong fish regularly smashing tackle in the pond. Perhaps it was that huge old eel.

[Deaf Cat]

Ah, the “good old days” can really make you wince. My father-in-law was always scornful of fishing, other than for the pot.

This one rivals some scenes from “The Fishing Box”. I had to google “gorge hook”, and that old eel had obviously given a lot of anglers heart-stopping moments.

A real life story from the time, worth recording and sharing, however uncomfortable.

[Liphook]

That was a massive eel!

[Olly]

Possibly 100 years old!

[Duckett]

I love the fact that science doesn’t actually know how long Eels can live if they never make the return journey across the Atlantic to their spawning grounds. Oldest recorded example appears to be 135 years in Sweden.

[Ian.R.McDonald]

I think we of this group are blessed in having been " bothered" by bootlace eel and catching some big ones. It looks like the species is very much endangered

[Olly]

Bottled elvers cannot help!

[Kev D]

Bottled elvers cannot help!

Too right. The industrial trade in elvers probably has more to do with the species' decline than other factors.
Interestingly the oldest documented eel was indeed from Sweden but it was still less than 18 inches long when it died!

[Silfield]

Until reading this I had no idea that they lived to such an age. Next time I catch one it will make me think more about its history than the amount of slime it deposits on my line/net/arms!
As a lad I used to fish a farm pond with a, now sadly departed, mate and on the second visit we both simultaneously caught eels in the 3-4lb bracket. They led us both a merry dance on light float tackle but both were netted. We released them to fight another day but a few minutes later we had a visit from the father of the farmer, who lived in a little cottage near the pond, letting us know that there were some decent eels in the pond and if we caught any could we put them in a bucket and drop them off at the cottage on our way home! He was partial to an eel or two.

[Kev D]

I think the oldest documented eel was around 80 years old when it died but it was captive.
Most eels spend only about 7 to 15 years in freshwater before returning to the sea.