The commonwealth., 1904-01-02
HUNTING FOR EELS.
Winter sport That IL Popular Along
the Coast of Long
Island,

Hunting cells is the chief winter sport
among the dwellers in the stretch OF
country lying hack OF the sand dunes on
the Long island coast. Scores Of ponds,
none of them larger than a hundred
acres. lie scattered through that dis
trict. Naturally fresh, they have been
made salt by means Of channels cut
through the confning sand banks which
admit the ocean tides. This mingling OF
the salt water with the fresh has en-
hanced the growth and improved the
favor Of the shell fish native to the
ponds and made of peculiarly excellent
quality the cells which abound therein
as In no other waters, fresh or salt, says
the New York Tribune.
During the summer time no more ac-
tive or alert creature dwells in water
than the eel, but it is of thin blood, ana
when the water begins to chill with the
approach Of cold weather the eel loses
its vim and frisldncss and prepares TO
abandon such unCOngenial environ
ment. The sand dune pond eel does this
by simply burrowing into the muddy
bottom of its summer habitat, with the
intention of lying there dormant until
the winter is over, going down to the
average depth of a foot, then turning
its head upward to the roof OF its winter
home, puncturing hole through 1t ana
passing into lethargy with it's nose at
the yentilating opening thus made.
The holes that eels bore in getting
down into the mud ard those they make
for ventilation remain to betray TO the
eel hunter their alternating retreats
Like the bear and the raccoon. the eels
go into Information laden with fat. and,
consequently, even in the months OF
their ravenous feeding were never so fit |
for the table. When the eels have thus
betaken themselves to their winter
quarters the sand dune natives, beingnO |
longer able to trap or FISH for them, be-
come eel hunters.
In his boat, and equipped with a
harbed and many tined spear, the eel
hunter passes along the edges and over
the shallow places nf pond, where the |
bottom is within easy sight The tell
tale holes discovered, he plunges the |
spear vigorously into the mud between
them. and almost Invariably draws /.
out with an eel impaled upon it, wrig-
Cling and sQuirming, for the contact of
the spear seems instantly to awaken tie
eel to all its summer time animation.
But whether an eel comes up with the
spear or does not, the hunter turns his
head quickly and glances about the
surface Of the pond in all directions.
This is that he may determine whether
he is over a paying eel bed or not. II
he is, he will know it by an infallible
sign.
The spear may not have brought an
eel from the mud, but if there are cells
buried anywhere near by, the shock Of
he spear plunging into the mud will
3tartle them sufficiently from their
ethargy to cause them to instantly
.icct from their breathing holes jets Of
tir, These rise in bubbles to the sur
acc, In the language Of sand dune
el hunter, IF it was a bear thus dis
urbed from its winter snoo2e, that
,rcath would be a snort" When the
els send these bubbles to the surface
is known among the hunters as
The current greeting of the
and dune people during the eel-huntirg
easOn is:
How do? Heerd whether the eels is
mokin any this mornin or not?" !,
BY this smoking" sign the hunter
nows where to work his spear to adj s
and good smoking bed will
yield him dozens and dozens
f good, fat cells
When the edges and shadows ofa pond )
ave made their yield to the hunter, he
igs new channels in the dunes, or t
"opens old ones. This drains down the |
'ater and provides hunting grounds
hat were previously out of reach. This d
robing for eels in the muddy bottoms
these odd ponds is not only winter
astime, but an important business with r
ne sand dune native, for by it he sup 1
lies very largely the New York market $
ith eels at season when but for this l
lpply that fish would not be much in +
vidence on the city stalls, and gains J
lbStantial profit from ita profit pro- Q
)rtionately greater than his summer !
shing and dredging return him. :