Evening journal., 1899-10-14
GOOD AND BAD EELS.
EEL FISHERIES TO BE ESTAR-
LISHED ON EASTERN SHORE
In Order to Furnish Supplies for the
City Markets--The Proper Way
to Cook the Slippery Creatures.


Easton, Nd, Oct. 1S.-Talbot county
fishermen have heretofore paid but lit
tie attention to the eel fisheries, just as
until few years ago Talbot county
market gardeners paid but little at
tention to the cultivation of asparagus.
and Talbot county florists to the culti-
vation of the lilac Fishermen have
considered them a pest to be stunned,
instead Of a profitable fish to be sought
after for market purposes. There is
always a small demand in the local
market, but cells are barred from the
tables of most white people in Talbot
county. There are cells that are the
most palatable of all fish that swim,
and cells that are not fit to be eaten.
Yet there is but one species Of eel in
these waters.
The habitat of the eel makes the fish
delicious or repulsive. Where it lives
affects it more than its habitat does
any other fish. The eels that are bred
and live in mill ponds. or in the muddy
bottoms of fresh water streams, or in
"mudguts," are to be regarded as so
much carrion and are fit only for crab
bait 1t is the same way, though not
to such a great extent, with catfish
and even the shad the prince of table
fishes, is unfit to be eaten when taken
in the muddy waters and ooze Of the
up-streams. Eels that are caught in
clear salt water, on the hard sand bot
tom Of the flats, well down the rivers,
are delicious for table use.
Next season eel fisheries will be es-
tablished at oxford, St. Michaels and
Tilghman's Island on a scale of some
magnitude. Last August three progress
sive Talbot fishermen went North, as
far as the Maine coast, to observe the
methods of catching eels, the kind Of
traps employed and the process Of pre-
pairing them for market. They took
in Long Island Sound and other waters
in their observations. and they will be
ready at the beginning Of next season
to put Choptank and Miles river eels
in the market in competition with the
Eastern catch They will not take al
eel from fresh water. nor from 1
muddy bottom.
One of them says about cooking cells
1T is a. great mistake, as we learne,
on our trip, to parboil cells before fry
ing or broiling them. Boiling extracts
the oil with which they are bountifull.
supplied, and this detracts greatly from
their palatability. The far-famed spill
cells of Connecticut and Rhode Islan'
owe their great popularity to the car
that is taken to preserve the essentia
oils. The knowledge of how best to
this in. preparing them for the table i
very valuable knowledge. The process
of doing it is a peculiar one. We studie
it and believe we have it. l expect {
put Choptank split cells in the marke
next season. The salt water eel, who's
home is on the hard sandy bottoms {
The carcass Of a dead horse makes
good trap for a mud eel, but the sand
bottom, salt water eel is very choice
his food. 1t is mostly the sweet litt
marine animals that grow among Il
salt seaweed or adhere to the ston,
and oyster Shells"
This expert says that cells requi
more care in packing for transport
tion than any other fish. Unless speci
precautions are taken to keep the
sweet, they will become rancid vel
quickly. He says also that it has be,
discovered by makers of fine soaps tn
the very best oil obtainable in the bus
ness is that extracted from eelskins.
OF course it is not meant that tn
will be the first attempt at market e,