Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-01
SOMETHING ABOUT EEIS
ihe incidental WrigglinG Fellow
Caught While Angling.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun
The year round, trying at the various
seasons for one kind of fish and another
there may he found along the North river
sitting on the retaining wall outside the
tracks of the New York Central and Hud-
son River railroad. sktrting Riverside Park.
more or less men fishing. If a man fishing
here should eaten an eel. as sometimes he
does he would probably turn with it to the
nearest rail Of the track behind him and
Kill it by bre lking its head on the rail. say
hS perhaps meanwhile TO 1t and to himself.
SO you're the chap that's been stealing
my bait. eh?' for the eel is q great bait
Stealec.
Sitting on a wharf a man catching an eel
IN IKE circumstances would kill il on the
strlnSplece; and in boat, on the boats
gunWale; bur these would be eels caught
incidentally to otter fishing: fishermen
catching eels for market would not kill an
eel IN that manner for the reason that the
bruises would show on the eel when it was
skinned. and 50 make it unmarketab!e
A man catching cells for market from a
boat. would have a box to put the cells in
II he had a lapstreak boat cells thrown on
the bottom could climb up to the gunwaIe,
ON the projecting edges of the planking bur
they can't climb up the straight sides of a
box. II he We're fishing with hooks and
lines, one of the various ways in which
eelS are caught. he would very likely have
what Is called a trot line. this being long
line, perhaps 900 or 600 feet in length,
moored al each end. and having along it at
intervals of three feet many as 100 or
gp hooks. each hook on a short line
When the fisherman overhauling the trot
line comes 10 a hook with an eel on it he
simply pulls united the knot III the short
line. 50 removing 1t from the trot line. and
drops that short line. hook. eel and all into
The box. and goes on OVeThauling the trot
line ana taking off the eels in the same
manner until he has got them all As he
goes along. in place Of the hooks and short
lines he takes on he ties on the trOt line
other short lines with baited hooks a.
tached. His trot line all overhauled and
reset. he goes at The cells in the box taking
the hooks out Of their mouths and then
rebdItnS these hooks and getting them
ready 10 put on the trot line again.
The fisherman taking GELS in this man
ashore and dig a shallow hole in the sand
and empty in the coils and then ill the hole
UP with the sand. This would keep the
cc.S from getting away. and also make
them 50 that they could be handled From
this mass of Ccls and sand the fisherman
would TAX, In" cells one at time and skin
them. when he had finished this work he
would gather up the eelskins. excepting
possibly some Of the larger ones. and throw
hem III a bunch into the water. There
crabs and shrimpS would feed on what
there was about them that could be eaten,
and the residue would IN time disappear
.elskinS are put to some uses and ocCa-
s!anally a man wears one around his wrist
as q cure for rheumatism. Once by farm
crS near the seashore they were commonly
used in Halls. for tying the club To the ham
de there was nothing that served the pur-
pose 80 We'll Not so many fails are used
nowadays, but where one is used il Is like
~ To De found with its swinging arm at
tachcd 20 the handle with ccIskiu as of
lid