bulletbob

That IS wild.. I have caught carp, suckers, catfish, bullheads with lures, but never an eel, even when i was catching them by the hundreds in NJ years ago....

very short read correct... Interesting and very short read I found. Explains what eels are up against in the modern age. Price per pound of some native Japanese eels is almost the same as gold believe it or not, and in Japan there are those that pay it!... https://stellinamarfa.com/seafood/do-people-eat-glass-eels/

I said toothless, and thats not really correct as you stated.... They have teeth, but they are the size of fine sandpaper.. The reason I doubt ocean temps have anything to do with it is eels are highly tolerant of all kinds of environmental problems that would decimate other species.. they are tough to kill, and used to thrive in toxic waterways full of chemicals, and can tolerate temps from icy canadian streams right down to 90+ degree ditches in south Florida.. They started to decline when huge numbers started being caught and eaten not only for export, but also as part of the "sushi culture" that started in the states in the early 90's, especially in urban areas... bob

They have a small head, a quite small toothless mouth, yet they are caught on massive baits and huge hooks big enough to catch a 40 pound Striper.. Its amazing when you see it.. They are very aggressive feeders, tough as nails, and hard to kill, can live and thrive in water that almost nothing else can survive in, they fight hard, are good to eat, are extremely prolific when allowed to live long enough to spawn,, and were once the most common fish on the eastern seaboard, comprising over 60% of total biomass in some eastern rivers, yet we managed to catch and eat so many, they are becoming very rare in places where they once numbered in the millions.. All because people in some Asian countries love to eat them smoked and will pay big MONEY for the opportunity to do so.. These poor fish need a break, and if I were king there would be a moratorium on their harvest for a few years, so they could build the population back up closer to where it was historically.. These are NOT trout and salmon, that can be stocked and will do ok on a "put and take" basis.. they cannot be artificially propagated, its been tried for decades, and simply doesn't work, and they are disappearing throughout their entire range because people like to smoke them, and others like to use them for bait.. Seems to be a couple flimsy excuses for condemning a wonderfully adaptable and unique species to extinction. They need some serious protection for a few years....bob

Might be the diet they eat in fresh water... They are extremely good to eat from salt water.. Very firm, not fishy at all, NO dark meat, very white.. I have noticed bottom feeders in FW are more likely to taste nasty and muddy, but salt water bottom feeders are typically sweet, mild and firm. The reason they are gone from Lake O, is because they got caught and eaten by the millions starting in the 90's when people in US cities and overseas started paying crazy money for them for sushi/sashimi... The worldwide eel eating craze started in the 90's and it did not take long to wipe them out, just a few years.. They were caught and eaten by the 10's of millions.... such a shame...

a 3 foot american eel is a really big one.. 4 foot is an absolute giant, and rare at that size... Your friend possibly caught an American Conger... They look identical to their smaller cousins, but get a lot bigger, like 5 feet +, and as big around as a grapefruit. and they pull extremely hard... Congers don't go into fresh water like american eels.. In NJ, no one including charter/party boat captains calls a Conger by its name.. they are exclusively called "silver eels", and they are a pain sometimes on certain bottom structure.. In NJ/NY/LI the term "Conger eel" is used for a REALLY nasty ugly demon looking fish called an Ocean Pout.

I'll say this.. they are REAL good to eat!!!.... They also fight like crazy.. Tie themselves in slimy sticky knots while tyring to unhook them, super strong, hard to handle, and I recall my father used to cut them into chunks and flour and fry them, and those chunks would move around in the damn frying pan, and freak me out!... sadly, the tidal/estuarine waters that were absolutely loaded with eels from Maine to Florida have been wiped clean of the hundreds of millions of them [maybe even billions] that once lived there.. All because people in Asia [mostly] like to eat them in various sushi preparations... Believe me, I wish I could relate how many of those things there used to be... It would be no big deal to catch 1000 in a week if i wanted to... Now they are endangered in the US,,, all in the name of sushi... bob

If you reread my post, you will see I plainly state that some eels WILL indeed travel far inland.. however, I lived with eels in my backyard all my life.. You can say all you want that eels go as far upriver as they can, but i don't believe that to be true at all.. If they are in rocky, clear freestone areas in fresh water rivers, they don't eat much because you just don't catch many.. NJ, NY, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas all have long rivers that go from freestone rocky streams that slowly transition to salt water, the eels are caught almost exclusively in the lower tidal sections, not in the upper reaches... The have a LOT more to eat in salt and brackish water than they could ever get in a small trout stream.. They are good travelers, but I know what I know having lived many decades in waters that were loaded with eels.. They are 100 times more common in coastal /tidal sections of any waterway they inhabit than they are in the free flowing fresh water sections.... Try fishing for them in the SLR, see how you make out, then try the Hudson around Manhattan up to around Bear Mountain....

I doubt there are "fishable " numbers of eels anywhere upstate west of the Hudson river drainage.. They would have to through the St Lawrence to get into the FL region,, and there isn't much reason for them to come this far.. They are present in Cayuga, probably seneca as well, but you don't really hear of them being caught in any numbers this far from the salt line,, for every one caught in upstate waters, there are probably 500 caught in the tidal section of the hudson river.., Even in coastal areas, the eels typically have no need to venture far upriver.. Ask the guys that fish the Delaware watershed for trout how many eels they catch,, not many at all, although the delaware is loaded with them, they tend to stay in transition zones and seem to prefer brackish water to all fresh water.. They can and will go far from the ocean, just not in big numbers. In NJ, the rivers were full of them, you could catch 100's in a day in salt and brackish areas.. As the water became fresher,, shallower and rockier as you moved further up away from the salt water line, eel numbers got much and much less, and it was always that way.. So if there is a place upstate with a lot of eels, i would be interested in hearing about it, especially because to get here, they would have to swim hundreds of more miles inland than they really need to. A big one was caught about 10 years back in the susquehanna in Owego by a guy fishing at night for catfish.. it was such a rare occurrence that it made the local paper.. If you want to catch eels, I would say the best place in upstate NY is the Hudson river, and the closer you get to the salt line, the more you'll catch,, Eel populations in the US have been decimated by overfishing,, mostly because people like to eat them thinly sliced as sushi/sashimi, and will pay insane prices for the right to do so. I used to catch them by the hundreds in the salt rivers back in NJ

Thats the story, agreed, but in practice, its a lot of nonsense.. Been using it for 5 decades on rubber/plastic rollers.. never an issue.. Its lithium grease, not gasoline or diesel fuel... I find it all the time in mechanical assemblies with rubber,plastic and nylon parts, and after decades of contact, no break down...

agreed, thats what I would do.. Silicone works, as you saw first hand, and if it holds up long enough thats great.. It never did for me, i was always reapplying it, but that was years ago, and your stuff might be a lot better. If not, get some spray white grease, apply it to the roller axles once a year or so, and it will work great.. I have been using it for decades on cheap rubber keel rollers, and it never hurt them..

If its anything like most spray silicone, it won't last... Silicone is great short term, very slick, but just does not hang in there very long... One or two launches and its gone, unless the stuff you used is different in some way.. easy way to make it work for you is to just keep it in the tow vehicle, close at hand, and every other trip or so, give the rollers a quick shot after the boat is launched...