This is a couple of the fish from the opener that ddnt make the official report… I have to add one more fish later.
The bite didnt start until the swarms of boat traffi were long gone. The largest 2 fish of the evening were the 1st 2 fish caught around 11 pm.
Octavious with his PB 51″
My 46″
Who the heck opened he EEL season? 5lb 8oz of pure nasty… it also slimed all my rags and spread them cross the floor! 
Octavious releasing the big girl to fight another day!
Life1978’s 1st sturgeon
39″ (sorry for the bad pic 
)
Great report but yuck, an eel!!
For someone that has never handled one, is there a trick to it? I would have been tempted to cut my line and never thought twice about it. Especially in the dark.
Eric
I could care less IT’s my first Sturgeon and theres a picture for proof thats all I care!!! Thanks for one hell of a time Dave!!!!
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Life1978’s 1st sturgeon
39″ (sorry for the bad pic
I towel over the eyes calmed it down nicely! Then just took the hook out with the pliers and threw her back! 
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I towel over the eyes calmed it down nicely! Then just took the hook out with the pliers and threw her back!
This is very true, and happened by accident… The eel slithered its way back into the rags and one was wrapped neatly across its face. At that time it did settle down considerably.
How to handle an eel? I suggest you dont unless you have protective clothing. THey are very strong and manage to work out of your hands. If they work far enough away from your hands, they will reach back and bite you(yes, they try to bite). If you get bit, you have to clean the wound immediately, they have very nasty bacteria and the wounds are prone to lead to infection.
The slime dried to resemble latex gloves?? The eel was much slower moving after in the boat for a minute, maybe the slime was restricting its movement? Interesting, but I am not going to start playing with every eel I catch to become more knowledgable on the species 
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Interesting, but I am not going to start playing with every eel I catch to become more knowledgable on the species
Come on Dave… Take one for the team. 
eels….the only frickin’ thing I will not bring in the boat.
You got Gonads 
Great post and pictures Dave
Keep this in mind when you guys catch those buggers:
State Record…
Eel, American 6-9 36 / 14 St. Croix River Washington 08/08/1997
The american eel is actually quite interesting.
American eels in MN
Tuck you can have that record!
I’m thinking as many eels as Dave has caught, there’s more eels in MN than what they think. Either that or he’s caught every eel in MN at least once!
Last night dtro(or his partner) took care of the evening eel catching for a change!
Still waiting for Unagi to appear in an ice pack on my front step.
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Keep this in mind when you guys catch those buggers:
State Record…
Eel, American 6-9 36 / 14 St. Croix River Washington 08/08/1997
He had this in mind. He called me from the river to look up the state record.
Nice fish, you guys!
Hey Sherry! Thanks for letting Dave stay out past his bed time til I finally got a fish
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Keep this in mind when you guys catch those buggers:
State Record…
Eel, American 6-9 36 / 14 St. Croix River Washington 08/08/1997
He had this in mind. He called me from the river to look up the state record.
Nice fish, you guys!
Trust me.. I had to have good reason to mess around trying to weigh an eel on a scale!
I thought the eel was kinda cool myself. Looked like if fought good too. 
I will give an update on our eel when I get some free time….
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I will give an update on our eel when I get some free time….
Still waiting for your co-workers to find it swimming in the restroom?
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I will give an update on our eel when I get some free time….
Still waiting for your co-workers to find it swimming in the restroom?
The thought did cross my mind 
We didn’t weigh the one we caught, but it was ALL of three feet long. I have a couple of pics I need to get up.
The guy I was fishing with is a catguy to the core, and we spoke of eels earlier in the night. He said to me, “I may never catch another one in my life, I’ve heard they taste good, if I catch one, I’m going to eat it”.
IF he catches one……..
Sure enough, about an hour later, here comes the water snake out of the depths.
I won’t go into detail how it ended up on ice, but I’m sure you can paint the picture.
I’m very curious to talk to him and see how cleaning it went 
and yes ditto to everything Dave said about the slime. It was like you put your hand in some silicon caulk and let it dry. It was like peeling glue off your hand
Now I wish I would’ve weighed it
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I’m very curious to talk to him and see how cleaning it went
I know I for one would be interested in an instructional video…
KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!!!
Is that a stern light I see in the 2nd photo? 
Ok…
Who showed signs of terror 1st when the eel entered the boat??
I heard something about Paddle Paddle Paddle thump thump thump.
Want to tell us the real story before we start calling you guys eel beaters….. 
This is just so ….wrong.
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“I may never catch another one in my life, I’ve heard they taste good, if I catch one, I’m going to eat it”.
Do these taste like chicken?
Sheesh!! I take a couple good eel pictures cuz I never saw one til then and look what the page turns into
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Ok…
Who showed signs of terror 1st when the eel entered the boat??
I think it was a toss up. I grabbed the line to hold it up (near him of course). As I brought it towards him he said, “get that GD thing away from me” at the same time the eel decided to wrap up itself on my arm and of course it went flying to the bottom of the boat.
So yeah, the testosterone was flowing freely.
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