Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-01-20
FISHING FOR EELS.
Various Ways Of killing Them-A Good Mar.
ket for the Fish.

sitting on the wharf, during the time
1ne hehhepec is free of ice. will be
found men fishing for suckers. If n
| man hshlhS mere should catch an eel
dS sometimes he does, he would prob
AMY turn with II to the nearest pile
pehlnd MIN, and kill it by breaking its
mead on the pile, saying perhaps mean
While to it, and to himself: so you're
| me chap thats been stealing my bait:
en- Tor the eel is Il great bait stealer.
II sitting IN a boat, the man would
XII the eel on the boats gunwale: but
( these would be cells caught incidentally
to other fishing: fishermen catching
eels Tor 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 SO make il unmar-
ketabe
\ man catching eels for market. from
| q boat, would have 4 box to put the
eels in. If he had lapstreak boat eels
| thrown on the bottom could climb up
| to the gunwale. on the projecting edges
of the planking, but they can't climb
UP the straight sides Of box. If he
were fishing with hooks and lines, one
of the various ways in which cells are
caught. he would very likely have
what is called trot line. this being a
| long line. perhaps 500 SEQ feet in
| length. moorcd at each end. and having
| along it at intervals Of three feet as
many as $50 or 200 hooks. each hook on
short line.
When the fisherman ovcrhaulinG the
| trot line, comes to a hook with an eel
| on ii, he simply pulls united the knot
| in the short line, 50 removing it from
| the trot line, and drops that short line
| hook. eel and all into the box. ana goes
on overhauling the trut line and taking
off the eelS i'll the same manner until
he has got them all As he goes along.
in place Of the hooks and short lines he
takes off. he ties on the trot line other
short lines with baited hooks attached.
His trOt line all oVerhauled and reset,
he goes at the cells in the box. taking
the hooks out Of their mouths. and
then rebaiting these hooks ana getting
them ready to put on the trot line
again.
The fisherman taking cells in this
manner, when he had got a box full
would go ashore and dig a shallow hole
in the sand and empty in the cells and
then fill the hole up with the sand.
This would keep the cells from getting
away. and also make them SO that
they could be handled. From this
mass of eels and sand the fisherman
would take the eels one at a time and
skin them. When he had finished this
work he would gather UP the eel skins.
excepting possibly some Of the larger
ones and throw them in 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.
Eelskins are put to some uses and
occasionally a man wears one around
his wrist as cure for rheumatism.
Once. by farmers near the seashore
| they We're commonly used in fails. for
tying the club to the handle; there was
nothing that served the purpose so
well. Not 50 many fails are used
nowadays but where one is used it is
likely to be found with its swinging
arm attached to the handle with an
eelskin as of old.