Behind every New Zealander there lurks an eel story.
Did you hear about the eels of Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park? Scuba divers claim to have seen eels the size of the Loch Ness Monster. The divers leave vowing never to return. How about the eel that consumed an entire pig? Or the one that dragged a swimmer to the bottom of the river only letting go when the victim hit it with a rock?
Stories of eels consuming entire trout on the end of a fly line are common and inevitably involve the biggest fish of the day. Attacks on humans are liable to be gruesome and feared by the male population in particular. But what is the truth to these stories?
Maybe it is the magnification of the water that gives the illusion of gigantic size. Or perhaps it is the circumstances surrounding the eel-hunting foray. The typical eel hunt takes place late at night, with no moon, aided only by the light of a Tilley lamp. A foraging party will consist of about six people. The party armed with the obligatory spear, scraps of food and potato sack become a formidable fighting unit. Layers of wool to keep out the winter chill complete the eel hunter's regalia.
Food flung into a suitably dark and still pool entices the eels to come forth. Slowly the monsters from the deep surface and sample the offerings. Spearing the quarry takes skill, cunning and sharp reflexes. The vanquished flung on to the bank.
Upon their return, the party will be brandishing a sack full of eels and stories of great heroism. There was the eel that, once on the bank, went straight for the jugular of the Tilley holder. The eel beaten back with the bare hands of the youngest member of the party.
The Scientists Eel Story
New Zealand has two native species of eel, the long, and the short finned eel. The long finned eel that lives mainly in the North Island is native to New Zealand. A large eel is likely to be around one and half metres in length and can weigh up to fifteen kilos.
Like their northern hemisphere cousins who spend their holidays in the West Indies, our eels pack their bags and head for the warmer waters surrounding Tonga. On dark winter nights all over Godzone, eels leave rivers, lakes, and swamps and slither unseen over farmland. They head for open waters, resting under cover during the daylight hours. Those who decide to stay behind never breed and grow to huge proportions becoming the basis of legend.
Did You Know?
Conger eels live in the sea growing up to two metres and enjoy a fearsome reputation for their sharp teeth.
Even more fearsome is the Moray eel who will not hesitate to attack anything from its burrow among rocky crevices.
It took Johannes Schmidt from Denmark twenty years to discover the breeding habits of European freshwater eels that breed in the Sargasso Sea.
Commercial harvesting of eels takes place at Lake Ellesmere near Christchurch and n the Whanganui and Waikato Rivers in the North Island.
The Where, How and What of Eeling
Rivers, streams, lakes, and swamps, a moonless night, food scraps, three pronged spear, tilley lamp, an old sack, and a rusty warratah to stun the eel |
