Make sure you keep your eyes peeled in this video! I include underwater footage throughout Including magic footage of fish taking the hook bait! You may have noticed a gap in uploads. That's because last week I took part in the first ever YPC UK! I'll keep you updated on that as we get closer to the release date of the first episode at the end of October!
A couple questions, is that your local river close to home? I wonder just cuz my local river is a 10 minute walk away and that's ALWAYS a huge advantage to a keen angler. Also do you have just 1 license to cover all fishing there ? I haven't seen all your videos but I've seen you catch pike n perch and now barrbel and if you get trout and salmon I know some rivers ask you to have 2 licenses 1 for course fishing and 1 for wild trout and salmon.
Eels have lost their spawning weed rafts in the Sargasso Sea, where ships have been ploughing though and breaking up the weed and there was also the escape Japanese Common Eel that got into the drains and into the rivers, they carry a worm in the swim bladder, that pass onto the European Common Eel, wiping out them out in high numbers, with luck our Eels have adjusted to having that worm.
Remember the old arsely bomb leads ? Before all the fancy rigs came out? I caught many big carp on a chunk of crusty bread the excitement watching them swirl round your bait.poised waiting for your washing bottle top to hit the top.or a piece of tin-foil if you was posh😂
When I was a lad (over 50 years ago) I would go fishing in the Tyne and catch an eel, and another eel, and another and another. It's hard to believe they are endangered now
The underwater footage is just superb Chris. Your vlogs are so enjoyable to watch because i think we can all relate to how 'normal' and enthusiastic an angler you are and not just a sponsored Carp machine! 😊
I catch elvers (baby eels ) on spring tides in river severn by hand held net . Every year i release some in local brooks and ponds to give them a helping hand . This was a great year for the migration there were more than ever and they were in abundance. I put this down to some years ago a ban was placed on netting of the eels that were migrating back to sea to breed and now the eels are in recovery. We just need some funding from the EA to be able to catch and release the elvers over man made obstacles and sluice gates . We fish traditional and sustainable and I would love to keep helping the survival of the eel .
What do you do with the elvers? Are they used for bait or sold commercially? Just curious, I'm not familiar with the market for them over there(I'm in the US)
@@bleedingreenbetty9795 it used to be commercial before brexit happened but the market has died now . No where in Europe will buy our fish and because they are on the endangered species list we are not allowed to sell them to Japan. The fishery is basically dead in the water .
I was talking to some anglers on the bank the other day and they apparently caught 3 Eels on meat when targeting Barbel. It seems the spawning trip to the Sargasso Sea has been successful in recent years!
I live near pershore and there was absolutely tons of eels in a drain off by a river last season, farmer was cleaning it with debry and there was literally 30-40 eels making there way back to the river
Great video as always. I hadn't caught an Eel since the 1980's but a trip to a lake my club has taken over recently which has been derelict rectified that - A really hard venue with old, wild fish, I saw some dimpling and chucked half a prawn on with the shot bulked under the float as I knew there were some very good Rudd in there, got hit midwater by a new PB Eel of 3lb! Great to see they are making a comeback across England (Even if they are not my favourite species!)
Very cool..to see that eel come in like that. Rarely see eel captures shown. I use barbless to fish for them and most fish nowadays but espically eels...Very important to tend to their well fare...
I fished the Hampshire Avon last summer, ledger with meat just like yourself to go for the Barbel, and like you hooked a big eel. Glad yours spat the hook into the net, mine took it deep and was an absolute saga to unhook. Amazing creatures but can be feisty and very difficult to handle.
YES MAN! An eel taking on camera, i search for that for years on youtube and the Ginger Wonder makes it happen!! Here in Belgium we still catch them in good numbers. Cheers!
i caught one in the sea the other week that looked identical to that....returned it obviously it was green and slimy and just about same size....could it have been a European eel ?????
It's a sad indictment of the state of our rivers and eel population that what was once a nuisance species is now considered a rarity . At least your river seems healthy and vibrant and long may it remain so.
Great session Chris, It's the 28th of June and I still haven't got a line wet. I only just got My club license the other day (need to print It out) then hopefully I will feel good enough to get out there. But All you guy;s keep me abreast of what Is going on so far. Keep 'Em Coming, for those who can't.
Great footage and info. I caught my first pike last week and have to admit was I bit in shock as I was jigging for perch. 15-18lb at a guess. Stourport-on-severn has a basin just off the river where all the small bait go in to get out the current when river is up. and always plenty of pike and perch get in there
Fished this section of river yesterday it's very overgrown on the banks one of the willow trees has split and fallen but nevertheless some cracking Barbel fell to the cheesy garlic pellet O's 8mm 4mm loose feed soaked in Hot Fish & GLM Liquid Attractant 5 barbel landed in a very short session.
Shall I tell you something you won't believe. I once caught an eel on the fly. (I said you wouldn't believe me). It was on a baby doll fished slowly just above the bottom. Only lip-hooked.
last time i cought an eel was like last year and the fucker first got the hook, which was still in its jaw, wrapped in my kevlar net and then proceeded to rip off his entire jaw. At which point he almost managed to leave jaw and hook behind and swoop out back into to the water ... but he forgot that he bloody wrapped himself like 20 times in my net and line and there was no way for him to leave. After getting him out (which took a solid 10min, it was like 3 am too) my net was completely covered in eel blood and slime. I HATE EELS
Around 20,25 years ago the river Tyne I used worm for salmon and trout chub but could take 30,40 eels in a session must be 15 years since even saw another catch one I no the polish love them to eat and see alot fishing for them so maybe hasn't helped the decline
We used to fish the River Taff when I was a kid and it was nothing to land 30 eels and more in a session with my mate. Ledgering lobworm. Every year the weir would turn black with the amount of elvers and we used to walk barefoot through them because it felt funny.
There used to be billions of elvers headed up the Severn in the spring, the late 1980's saw a rapid decline in numbers that coincided with French fishing boats starting to net elvers off the north west coast of Africa. Not sure if that was the only cause of the decline but the amount they were taking was not sustainable.
Great session and great footage mate. That eel was a suprise but hopefully a good sign for the future of your river. Some cracking Barbel. The first take in the second session was absolutely mad!☺ Glad you had a productive 16th of June. Me and my mate went down our local river here. Fished over 3 days. All we could manage was a lot of small versions of river species (Chub, Perch, Roach etc.) but we had a couple of better Bream between the 2lb to 4lb mark. At least we caught first day out and the weather was great...if a bit too warm at times. Here's to the 2023/24 season, Chris.☺ Tight lines mate.🎣
Tell you what there not endangered were I fish, in ullswater there's eels gallor, big ones aswell! just when you think you have a monster perch, its a monster eel!
Chris I own a lake in the westmidlands have a fantastic variety of fish in there and a beautiful log cabin if your interested in doing a video there your very welcome
Am I the only one who can’t stop catching eels. Leger maggots in the fens you won’t stop catching them. I went crab lining in bude. There were so many eels they ripped holes in my bait net within seconds.
Lovely eel ,, still get em in the ribble not the same as 20 years ago tho , you could forget fishing spam in summer put it that way , the ones now are alot smaller to ! Certainly the mass use of detergents n sanitizers ect is a bigger problem going under the radar killing the basics of life , sewage systems don't remove them nor pharmaceutical products like medicines,, read up on this !
In Somerset with the early spring come the Eelver fishermen this practice should be stopped to help the eels to repopulate our waterways, come on E A do the right thing!
We used to catch loads of these on the Stour at Flatford late 80s, so many it was annoying as they nearly always tangled the line. Last eel I caught was off the beach in Sussex.
Hi Chris, I agree with so many of the comments below. Yes, I was born 1955 and early fishings on holiday in Norfolk, River Wensum at Costessy Mill could eels regularly, never by design. Saw Silver eels caught (and kept) by anglers at All Hallows on the south side of the tidal Thames. Never seen an eel in the river Ouse/ Ure since moving to York after marriage in 1978. I love jellied eels which the eels come from Holland nowadays and rarely get them in York. Eels are indeed on the edge and lovely to see you return such a beautiful fish. Nick from York.
Wife caught a 2.5 lb eel from the Wye 2 days ago and though rare we were not pleased as the slime is difficult to remove. Each to their own and it was returned unharmed.
had loads of silver eels as there called in the sea last few years during spring/early summer hopefully there making a return to uk rivers, proberly my least fav fish to catch as they compleatly ruin the rig am sure one day they will knit me a jumper if given time lol
Reason for eels so rare 1 people catch and take home eel traps and tons of glass eels caught and sold for posh restaurants and Chinese market the. Elvers swim from the Sargasso sea and get a ride on the gulf stream only to be fried with many others in a nest of Glass eels with a expensive fish and other ways of eating it makes me so mad there should be a ban on killing and not released eels and a ban on commercial fishing for eels and elvers and glass eels and break the rules and a big big fine and a prison sentence
Imagine if you were sat eating your fish & chips and something hooked you, pulled you off your chair and started weighing and photographing you before plonking you back on your chair. Light hearted comment - but do you ever think, the fish on your hook is fighting for its life?
Glad that you was happy to get your eel … I’m afraid to say a week or so back me and my daughter was fishing on the Leeds Liverpool canal and the amount of eels and pike that was dead floating about the water was crazy .. I called the EA and they said they had reports of thousands of fish all around the north west that had died due to lack of oxygen with the hot weather .. it’s such a shame to see so many dead fish
That's true and is a big factor in their decline. I saw on t.v a few years back - I think the programme Country File where they said pound for pound glass eels were more valuable than cocaine and while illegal to sell, the fines for doing so were inadequate.
Theres still a fair few in Norfolk. The main reason eel numbers have declined world wide is due to parasite from Asia. It lives in their swim bladder, so when they go back to spawn, the go over the continental shelf and sink, causing them to die, due to their damaged swim bladder. Unbelievable considering how many eels were caught years ago.
Blimey !!! Used to catch Eels all the time back in the '70's and '80's on the River Nene near Peterborough every session.....Rare as rocking horse shit nowadays... I'm loving the underwater footage.....
Eels endangered....How sad. When I used to fish in Britain around Norfolk we used to catch loads of them and make some wonderful jellied eel. Beautiful Barbel. Spam was my go to bait for them. Great fighters!
