keeping eels alive

[scottw]

I've been managing to kill a ton of eels which is OK because the brine jar is full and I have riggies galore but particularly on the hotter nights my eels weren't surviving the trips even with constant dunking of my eel bag...Boogieman brought along a little soft sided cooler the other night with some ice and the eels and bag from the SWE and his eels seemed to weather quite nicley, infact I grabbed the one that he had left and threw it in my cooler with my riggies as we left and was very surprised to find it still wiggling late the next morning...

of the 7 that I bought two days ago, and considering that they went from the shop in the plastic bag to a little cooler with a small waterbottle that had been frozen, spent about 12 hours in there, I lost one(well, half of one) to a bluefish....so 12 hours in the cooler, all day yesterday in my aquarium and back into the cooler(this thing is very small, just enough room for the eel bag and a little frozen bottle because I need to be able to swim with it) in my eelbag with an icepack yesterday at 4pm....spent the night in there because I never made it out.....that's another 17 hours in the cooler, I thought for sure there be many dead this morning but I just dumped the eel bag into the aquarium and the 6 that are left are all very lively...and they've taken on the pattern of the eel bag mesh which is pretty cool....

I only mention all of this because the eels aren't cheap if you are buying 20 bucks worth or more at a whack and want to fish them when they still have some wiggle left...

I also saw the recent Aquaskinz eelbag review that mentioned adding some bubbleweed and a little ice to the eel bag which seemed like a great idea to help keep them alive

i GUESS KEEPING THEM COOL IS A BIG FACTOR...possibly the biggest factor

[Back Beach]

Scott,

Do you have an aerator in the aquarium? I ask because I couldn't see one in the pic...you'll need one to keep them alive if you don't. A couple hours in a small tank will kill them without an aerator, even if its cold. If you do have an aerator in there and you're still losing them, I would suggest you get a bigger aerator or even two small ones(I like two for my own use). I can keep thirty or so eels alive indefinitely with a 48 quart cooler. Coolers work good for storage as they maintain temperature better than something that is not insulated. I would also drill a couple holes near the top of your cooler to allow for oxygen to get in. You don't want them sealed off in a tomb even if you're running aerators.

Change the water frequently, perhaps daily, if you're keeping larger quantities. When fishing I keep them in a pickle jar attached to my belt. Make sure you have a lot of holes in the bottom to drain out slime and water. When I pack the pickle jar for a night I typically load up 12-15 eels in the jar, then pack the jar right to the top with ice. It makes the jar a bit heavier to lug around, but the eels will thank you for it.

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Scott,

Do you have an aerator in the aquarium? I ask because I couldn't see one in the pic...you'll need one to keep them alive if you don't. A couple hours in a small tank will kill them without an aerator, even if its cold. If you do have an aerator in there and you're still losing them, I would suggest you get a bigger aerator or even two small ones(I like two for my own use). I can keep thirty or so eels alive indefinitely with a 48 quart cooler. Coolers work good for storage as they maintain temperature better than something that is not insulated. I would also drill a couple holes near the top of your cooler to allow for oxygen to get in. You don't want them sealed off in a tomb even if you're running aerators.

Change the water frequently, perhaps daily, if you're keeping larger quantities. When fishing I keep them in a pickle jar attached to my belt. Make sure you have a lot of holes in the bottom to drain out slime and water. When I pack the pickle jar for a night I typically load up 12-15 eels in the jar, then pack the jar right to the top with ice. It makes the jar a bit heavier to lug around, but the eels will thank you for it.

the little black thing sitting on top is an aerator, I ran a tube down into the water from there, they've been happy in there for more than a week when I put it in the fridge, have to pull it out when I keep fish in the fridge but I keep 6 or so frozed 2 liter bottles and keep the water cool by rotating them in...the "cooler" that I'm isong now is simply a little kids insulated backpack, it's small and I can throw it right over my head and shoulder...I wasn't having a problem keeping them alive at home it was keeping them from expiring while I was out on the rocks...frustrating to reach into the eel bag and get all limp eels...I like the pickle jar idea

[Back Beach]

Only other thing to note is if you are picking out your own eels at the B and T you frequent, I would check the eels for any physical damage or lesions and don't buy them if they look damaged. If the eel has tiger stripes on it there's a good chance its dying and I wouldn't select them.

If you're picking eels that will be fished immediately I wouldn't worry about the above mentioned things, but its seems as though any time I mess up and come home with damaged eels they die within a couple days if I don't fish them that night.

[Pete_G]

This would be just a wild card thought based on where you fish, but cormorant dookie will stop an eel dead in it's tracks. If they are even remotely in contact with it, the eels won't do too well.

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Pete_G

This would be just a wild card thought based on where you fish, but cormorant dookie will stop an eel dead in it's tracks. If they are even remotely in contact with it, the eels won't do too well.

someone told me that recently and I've been trying to aviod leaving the eel bag in the stinky pools I crammed them(same eels) into the little cooler last night in the eel bag with an ice bottle and the only one that didn't survive was the one that the bluefish bit in half and that one even lasted a few casts on an eel bob that I swapped in ...this seems to be a good system, if I can get the unfished eels to last several days it makes more sense that just filling jars of brine....funny that when I wasn't trying to kill them they died and not that I'm sort of trying to kill them, they won't die...still got the good fish last night on a bucktail