Eels in the Susquehanna and its tribs

[Mike]

See eel sections in this document found by looking at table of contents. Very interesting, including info on old Susquehanna eel fisheries, old stocking records in Table 5 for numerous tribs in the Susquehanna basin, and other good info.

https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1327/ML13274A047.pdf.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

Beweave, yup that's one of the more prominent ones, there are many others if you can find aerial imagery during low flows. Most still can provide some unique habitat for agnling purposes in reaches where the river bottom lacks habitat diversity otherwise

 

[steliejim]

My dad was an avid night fisher of the Susky with my older brothers. One time he brought an eel home and filled up the kitchen sink with water and put an eel in it. It was dead, and thankfully my Mom wasn’t when she saw it.

Does anybody remember that smoked eel for sale sign on the East Branch just outside of Hancock?

Supposed to be a delicacy.

 

[Mike]

See eel sections in this document found by looking at table of contents. Very interesting, including info on old Susquehanna eel fisheries, old stocking records in Table 5 for numerous tribs in the Susquehanna basin, and other good info.

https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1327/ML13274A047.pdf.

There were also eels stocked in the Susquehanna basin in roughly the 2008-2014 program plus more recent stockings/trap&transfer. For my part, my fishing friends and I caught large adult eels from the Susquehanna Conowingo pool in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s via hook and line while fishing for c cats and walleye. Around 2013 or so my crew and I captured a few eels ithe Conestoga R near Martindale and in the Cocalico Ck site near its mouth, both in Lancaster Co. I think they were the first eels I had seen in a Susquehanna trib or the main river since electrofishing some in Penns Ck around 1977 and East Licking Ck, Juniata Co., in 1981 or 1982. The East Licking Ck eel remains the largest American eel that I have ever seen.

Of course, the Delaware R basin is loaded with them, with the exception of the Schuylkill and its tribs, which were also loaded or where they were at the very least common in the 1980’s and earlier.

 

[Bamboozle]

My dad was an avid night fisher of the Susky with my older brothers. One time he brought an eel home and filled up the kitchen sink with water and put an eel in it. It was dead, and thankfully my Mom wasn’t when she saw it.

Does anybody remember that smoked eel for sale sign on the East Branch just outside of Hancock?

Supposed to be a delicacy.

This place is just down the road from me if you want to order up a tin or two and see what you are missing!!

I just found out they are no longer just down the road but moved to Denver, PA.

 

[Bamboozle]

I had a large eel bumping me and trying to wrap my leg on the Big Bushkill. Creepy

I've had a dog or two do that to me...

 

[moodyblues]

When we were kids in the late 50's, 60's, and after I graduated in the seventies, we would fish for them in the Manatawny at night. We'd drop them in a burlap sack to hold them to be unhooked, or just cut the line and retrieve the hook when we cleaned them. One of my favorite childhood memories. I actually used to enjoy some fried eel when I was younger, but it was rich and best eaten in moderation.

 

[moodyblues]

This place is just down the road from me if you want to order up a tin or two and see what you are missing!!

I just found out they are no longer just down the road but moved to Denver, PA.

Where might that place be in Denver?

 

[moodyblues]

My dad was an avid night fisher of the Susky with my older brothers. One time he brought an eel home and filled up the kitchen sink with water and put an eel in it. It was dead, and thankfully my Mom wasn’t when she saw it.

Does anybody remember that smoked eel for sale sign on the East Branch just outside of Hancock?

Supposed to be a delicacy.

Good thing it was dead or she may have found it slithering around the house and sliming everything all to hell. In which case, your Pop may have wound up dead. The damned things do not expire easily without some help. LOL

 

[Bamboozle]

Where might that place be in Denver?

Here's a link to the business:

Online Farm Stand & Tinned Fish Shop - Rainbow Tomatoes Garden LLC

Our online farm stand offers the largest selection of tinned fish in the world, as well as gourmet ingredients and specialty items.

rainbowtomatoesgarden.com

Apparently they recently moved from my neck of the woods near East Greenville to Denver.

Their selection of tinned fish is incredible. As a fan I'm sorry they moved...

 

[Bamboozle]

When we were kids in the late 50's, 60's, and after I graduated in the seventies, we would fish for them in the Manatawny at night. We'd drop them in a burlap sack to hold them to be unhooked, or just cut the line and retrieve the hook when we cleaned them. One of my favorite childhood memories. I actually used to enjoy some fried eel when I was younger, but it was rich and best eaten in moderation.

The Manatawny is just down the road from me...

Maybe we should have a PAFF Eel Jam down at the Tiki Bar some summer night and see if they will cook us up some of the eels we catch...

 

[tomgamber]

Guy who used to take us water skiing on the Skuke told us yiu could catch a ton of them from the dock right across from the ski club. Don't remember what time of year but he said it got crowded.

 

[ryansheehan]

Last summer, I saw a dead eel on the bank at the Isle of Que, Selinsgrove. No idea if it was native or stocked. This was below the two dams to the north.

My husband's grandfather caught eels growing up. When the water level is low, it is possible to see come of the old eel dams. We have a gig and a handdrawn eel wall map.

Caught this the other day, wild or stocked?

 

[C_kreek17]

All good stuff! Thanks for all the responses! Didn’t realize they so abundant in the recent past. Just kind of assumed they fade with industrialization. I know the swatara creek is supposedly translated to “where we eat eels”.

 

[jifigz]

For anyone that has been to the WW jam I host, that riffle right below the island is an old eel weir.

 

[krayfish2]

Wading in a Delaware River riff a few years back, when I stepped on a lamprey. It whipped around and the nasty things teeth got caught on the neoprene gravel guard. Couldn't get it off for a minute. Since then, I've caught a few in my net. They are blind when doing their spawning run so you can walk right up on them. Creepy looking things. I've seen thousand or more over the years and every one is uglier than the previous one. With that said, don't think I've seen more than one or two American eels. They are a little more elusive.

Saw a dead eel or what looked like a dead eel in a shallow riff near Duncannon on the Susky. Unfortunately, didn't get close enough to clearly identify what I was looking at

 

[falcon]

I watched a buck mink wrestle and roll with a 3ft lamprey on the West Branch Delaware. This went on for a good 15 min. The mink eventually dragged the lamprey up the bank.

 

[caddisflyer]

I have never seen or caught eels in any tribs or river above Conowingo Dam. I have caught a few in the Octoraro Creek which enters river below Conowingo Dam.

 

[sandflyx]

used to catch eels with my grandmother on ponds around bucks county. we would have them along with blue gill for sunday breakfast with bacon and eggs

 

[bdhoover77]

My kids found a large eel in a small creek a few years ago while netting minnows. The eel scared the hell out of my youngest son so much he begged to go home. He thought it was a large snake at first. He later caught one in the Chesapeake Bay and then used it to catch a stripe, so now he’s anxious to catch another eel.

If you are very adventurous, I invite you to try jellied eels from the UK.