"My 3lb test curve rod buckled in half with the fight of this eel" - Roman Vann
“EVEN though restrictions on angling had been lifted, I thought it made sense to wait for decent weather before targeting the eels on my local 40-acre pit. A brief spell of low pressure had just arrived so I decided to give it a go.
“I primed two areas with dead maggots and fished large bundles of lobworms on Dyson rigs over the top.
“Usually I have to wade through bootlaces, but just 20 minutes after casting out I hooked a five-pounder. It felt massive, and my 3lb test curve rod buckled over in half, but I soon had the fish in the net.
“An hour later I backed that up with a 4lb 10oz eel and others of 4lb 8oz and 3lb.”
Roman Vann with a 5lb eel
Bait switch leads to capture of 'large and powerful' eel
A SWITCH from plastic caster hookbaits to live red maggots proved to be a key move in the capture of this muscular 6lb 1oz eel for Warren Hammond.
The 51-year-old, from Surrey, latched into the snig after feeding a gravel patch at 50 yards with dead maggots, casters and groundbait.
“During the day I was trying to catch tench on plastic casters, but never had a touch, so I switched over to six maggots on a size 10 hook to try and catch an eel,” he tells Angling Times.
“I hadn’t had a knock until 2am when I got two within five minutes, resulting in the 6lb 1oz eel and another at 4lb 10oz. The larger of the two hugged the bottom for around 20 seconds before I could move it towards me. Big eels really are powerful creatures.”
Warren Hammond with his 6lb 1oz eel
Hundreds of elvers found in Ouse fish pass
EELS are a critically-endangered species across Europe, so conservationists and anglers alike will be delighted at the discovery of hundreds of elvers last week in an eel pass on the River Great Ouse.
An Environment Agency fisheries officer made the find during a routine check at Brownshill Staunch at St Ives, Cambs, and collected them in a bucket for observation before they were released back into the river soon afterwards.
Most of the elvers were around 60mm long, but a handful of more mature 30cm-long examples were among them.
According to EA Fisheries Technical Specialist Kye Jerrom, eel passes are vital to the survival of the species on the Great Ouse.
“They allow elvers to swim around weirs and locks and migrate upstream in search of new habitat,” he says.
“The more rivers they can reach, the more the eels can be supported, so it’s a great way of conserving populations. Some of the eels that have used the Brownshill Staunch pass will be thinking about returning to the Sargasso Sea to spawn – that’s what our work is all about.”
Over the last 20 years the EA has built 38 eel and elver passes within the Great Ouse catchment area.
Hundreds of elvers from the pass, collected for study then released.