courtown 20-9-10

People:me,joe,wrasputin

Duration:7 til 10

Tide:high at 7.45

Weather:grand

Bait:lots

Rigs:3\0 pulleys

Results:ray,strap conger,whiting






Report:never fished the harbour in courtown we heard there was a few thronback rays being caught
so we gave it a try

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nice going lads thats a silver eel

nice going lads thats a silver eel

And you have a bit of paint on your pants. But a cracking ray man

nice going lads thats a silver eel

And you have a bit of paint on your pants. But a cracking ray man

that's the new courtown camo

is silver eels a rare thing up there?

is silver eels a rare thing up there?

used to get lots of them around the harbour mouth.
i remember as a kid well over 30 years ago catching them as thick as my arm from here while on caravan holidays

sliver eel nice 1 well done joe on the ray

nice ray aido, iv tryed for them a few times this year without any luck alltho i haven't ventured too far,
as for the eel, its not a silver eel, it could be a small strap conger or if your were near an estuary its more than likley a small brown. iv been getting a good few the last month up here too.

deffo silver eel

I'd say silver eel too . Definitely not a strap conger.

Very good session and a nice ray there. Well done.

joe i thought you were stung by a wasp you grabbed the rod that quick.... very frank spencer

It's a silver eel. Cahore used to be full of them. We got them on rashers as kids. I had one close to Courtown too earlier in the summer. Here's the report

sorry conor, your's isn't a silver eel either, it's a small brown eel maybe from a nearby estuary. i'm fairly sure it's not possible to catch a true silver eel in the sea as they do not feed, their gut shrivels up and desolves and their anus closes and seals up, they use the fat they have stored up to travel back to the sargasso, [around 4000 miles]. id say iv caught and handled somewhere between 100.000 and 200,000 silver eels over the past 13 years so its easy enough to tell the difference when your used to them, but the easiest way to tell is if they have very large eyes, silver flanks and closed anus, altho even then they may not be true silvers. also most of the eels you catch around the coast have a wide flat mouth and large head compared to their body where most silvers have a pointy mouth and are well proportioned.

We got them on rashers as kids

mmm eels and rashers, lovely.

SDC10803 (512 x 384).jpg

silver eels and brown river eels???? they are the same thing they get a more silver colour when in salter water and go brown when up in more fresh water but they are the same fish.

The one I caught was green on top and a silver belly. There is a local mark here where you always pick them up. I thought they were just called silver eels? Anyway slimy little fellas I hate when I get one.

silver eels and brown river eels???? they are the same thing they get a more silver colour when in salter water and go brown when up in more fresh water but they are the same fish.

hi barry, most people think this all right but its not true, all freshwater eels whether they live in salt or fresh water are brown eels [even if they are silver in colour] untill they are sexual mature [around 12 to 15 years] when they do turn into silvers its not in salt water its way up in the lakes, sometimes hundreds of miles up the systems, they go through massive physical changes and compleatly change in nature and only want to do one thing, get back to the sargasso to breed. To me comparing a brown eel to a silver eel is like pointing at a caterpiller and saying its a butterfly, it will be one day but its not as yet. sorry, dont mean to sound like a knowitall, just have a thing for eels

[quote="dfella25"]Anyway slimy little fellas I hate when I get one.
ah come on now, do you not just love it when they wrap themselfs in a knot around your trace

in actual fact it is a common eel in salt water it's a silver eel


Biology
The common eel has a fascinating life-cycle; it is a 'catadromous' species, breeding in the sea and migrating to freshwater in order to grow before returning to the sea to spawn . It is thought that all European eels spawn in the Sargasso Sea. The larvae, which look like curled leaves and are known as 'leptocephalli', drift in the plankton for up to three years , and are carried by the Gulf Stream towards the coasts of Europe . They then undergo metamorphosis into young eels; at this stage they are known as 'glass eels' because they are transparent . They become darker in colour and start to migrate up freshwater streams in large numbers; they are known as 'elvers' at this time and measure around 50 mm in length . The eels, now called 'brown' or 'yellow eels' grow in freshwater , with males and females spending 6 to 12 and 9 to 20 years in freshwater, respectively . Towards the end of this time, they become sexually mature; they turn a silvery colour and migrate back towards the sea on dark, moonless and stormy nights; during this time they are known as 'silver eels' . Upon returning to the sea, the common eel lives in mud, crevices, and under stones . Spawning occurs during winter and early spring in the Sargasso Sea . This is a very long-lived species with a maximum life span of 85 years .

hi john, no disrespect or that, if it was any other fish i'd take your word on it, but again i,d have to say that just because a common eel is in saltwater dose not make it a silver eel, and it is very unlikley you will ever catch a true silver eel on rod and line as they do not feed, i didn't just read that somewhere either. i'v been a comercial eel fisherman since i left school, [13 years ago] and my job is in eel conservation. my job is to catch silver eels in the shannon system as they start their homeward journey and transport them down below the hydroelectric station where they are released so they can continue their journey to the sargasso, because they can't get by it on their own without getting killed. when they are running id regularly catch up to a thousand silver eels per night, didnt mean to go on about it, only ment to point out that the eel in the picture wasn't a silver, i'll stop going on about it now as im sure the fella is sick of eel talk on his report. no offence ment, im not trying to contradict you for the sake of it.

who checks their anus to see if its open or closed i,ve found the prefect job for eric when he finishes colage