2006 Sturgeon photo’s with comments

Joe that looks like the shortest…but fatest pig I’ve seen this year!

Nice fish!

I made it out yesterday with a couple childhood friends. We dont get much chance to fish anymore, and made a last second decision to head out fishing and set our other obligations off to the side. Good decision or not, it was a very good day of fishing. All together we caught just over 20 fish with many large fish.

Mr Specials 60″

Nice fish Dave

Shamu and I were out and lesson learned about equipment. Bt that is for another post.

Want to say THANK YOU,

WWG for dragging me out yesterday, n superior boat control.
Dave n company for helping land the biggun. Not sure wat we would’ve done wit out you guys.

Nice fish Guys!! I hope to get out a few more times after one of them 60″+ fish. Cant wait for the boat traffic to cool down a bit either. Watched one come into the no wake on our way up river and about tossed a pair of guys out of there boat!!! There bow mount trolling motor was down all the way and there moter came about 18″ out of the water while being tossed around. Dnr didnt say a thing! They must have had better things to do like making sure we had our wistle on board or something…. I dont think a whistle is going to stop anything from happening out there.

Nice fish Joe, Dave, Phil & Company. Looks like the fish sizes are slowly getting bigger and bigger. Looks like Brandy has some competition lately. Maybe she better get out there one of these days and see if she cant top her own fish before one of you do!! Anyways, all kidding aside, nice fish!!!

Hey good job guys on the sturgeon fishing. The bite is on! I would like to thank Dtro and Aquajoe for the net job and picture taking abilities of the 51 incher I caught. My fishing partner was late in getting there. I would also like to thank Fisherdave for the extra shad bait you tossed me last night. We ended up getting 17 last night. I was also excited to get my first Eel last night. I am actually redneck enough to clean it and put it in my freezer for future use. Anybody have a good recipe for Eel? It’s a delicacy in Japan I hear.

51″

35″ and challenging to clean

I don’t have the heart to tell Outdoors4life that this obsession for fishing is going too far.

Outdoors4life with a 39 incher.

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35″ and challenging to clean

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NO WAY!

Nice eel I can believe that it would be tough to clean! I (or Aquajoe, I guess) had a devil of a time just measuring the one that I caught a few weeks ago!

Now that is just plain cruel showing that pic! I didn’t even see it until now.
It was a great time out there!

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I was also excited to get my first Eel last night. I am actually redneck enough to clean it and put it in my freezer for future use. Anybody have a good recipe for Eel? It’s a delicacy in Japan I hear.

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Mr Special “Phil” knows how to cook them up…….he says their GREAT……

Good Luck….

Ya know I never thought of any regulations on those eels until now. I read an article online about putting the American Eel on the endangered list. I looked through the law book and saw no mention of eel. Has anyone ever heard of dnr regulations on these critters?

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Mr Special “Phil” knows how to cook them up…….he says their GREAT……

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Mr. Special needs to be on the endangered list.

I’ve never seen a reg…but there is a record. Under 7 lbs…a record that I’ll never see….guaranteed!

Eels popular in Europe too

You can keep eels.. there are no regs on them.

They might be endangered in certain areas, but they are not endangered as a species. They use baby eels for bait in some southern states. Im sure these are somehow raised in captivity… but if they can reproduce the buggers for bait purpose, they are not going to be extinct any time soon (sorry Brian).

Eels for bait? I think we’ve found a bait Dave won’t try! Yuck! I’ll pass, thank you very much.

So many different ways to cook them.

U can stir-fry em, steam em, fry em, etc…

But my favorite is frying them in Tempura batter w/ bread crumbs…

U can find the batter n the Asian section at most grocery stores.

Preheat oil to about 325-350

-Place regular flour into a plate

-Place bread crumbs into a plate

-Mix tempura batter w/ water or club soda, i.e… Not to thick should be a little on the runny side. kind of like beer batter

-Take ur Eel chunks n roll them n flour

-Dip them n the batter

-Then roll them n bread crumbs

-Then into the oil they go, until nice n golden brown

Served wit Sushi Soy Sauce, n wasabi if u like

Walla, n enjoy

U can also substitute the bread crumbs for shredded coconut too.

Anyone ever notice every time a very questionable food substance comes up.. its a delicasy(sp??) somewhere and is always included with a recipe that would make a pair of my old tennis shoes taste ok?

Those eels are most definately one solid muscle.. its hard to keep ahold of them becase they are so strong. Solid meat I guess, but I prefer not to have the opportunity to catch any more soon to consider donating to anyone that wants to eat it.

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Anyone ever notice every time a very questionable food substance comes up.. its a delicasy(sp??) somewhere and is always included with a recipe that would make a pair of my old tennis shoes taste ok?

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So true!!!

Mr. Special-I thought you were kidding until you put the recipe on there! Are you? I can not imagine eating eel especially after seeing that picture! So where have you got the eel that you have prepared before?

Nice fish too guys!!! Got so distracted with the eel, that I forgot!!

I’ve only caught about 1/2 dozen in past.
I’ve caught 2 on the MN, 1 on the Croix, and the rest on Pool2.
Funny thing is I wouldn’t mind catching them, and i’ve haven’t caught one in yrs.
I got to get some lesson from Dave. He’s got their pattern dailed in.

Thank goodness for the *Backspace*

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American Eel (Anguilla rostrata)

From the MN Dnr website.

Appearance The American eel is a long fish with tiny, almost unnoticeable scales. Its dorsal fin connects to the caudal (tail) fin and wraps around to the anal fin, giving the appearance of one long fin. Female eels often grow to 3 to 4 feet long; males rarely exceed half that length.

Habitat and habits American eels spend most of their lives in rivers, streams, and lakes. During daytime they seek out crevices in logjams, rip rap, or boulders. They will also burrow into sand and gravel, leaving only their heads exposed. At night they feed on frogs, fish, insects, and other aquatic animals. Other fish and birds such as bald eagles and cormorants eat them. Eels absorb oxygen through their skin, so they can survive for a time out of water. Sometimes they slither from one stream or lake to another. Native to the lower Mississippi, St. Croix, and Minnesota rivers, American eels are rare in Minnesota today. They also live in Lake Superior.

Ocean connection The American eel is catadromous, meaning that individuals of this species spend most of their lives in freshwater but travel to the ocean to spawn. This journey is one of the true wonders of the natural world. The origins and habits of American eels in Minnesota are not well known, but scientists think that our eels join other American—and even European—eels in the Sargasso Sea, a 2-million-square-mile floating mat of seaweed in the north Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda. To reach Minnesota waters, they must travel nearly 1,700 miles up the Mississippi, swimming through 18 locks and dams. They have even been known to crawl up the sides of dams.

Life cycle In the Atlantic, American eel eggs hatch into translucent larvae known as leptocephali. Leptocephali drift in the ocean for many months before metamorphosing into translucent, miniature versions of the adult called glass eels. Glass eels swim toward shore, gaining pigment upon entering freshwater rivers, such as the Mississippi. Most elvers, as the pigmented forms are known, migrate upstream, attracted by the odor of freshwater and decaying vegetation. As they grow, the elvers turn colors and earn a new name, yellow eel. After five to 20 years, yellow eels metamorphose into a form that is sexually mature and better adapted to ocean life. These eels, called bronze eels or silver eels, swim downstream and leave freshwater, presumably to return to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. Status The American eel is one of 292 species in greatest conservation need identified in the DNR conservation plan called Tomorrow’s Habitat for the Wild and Rare. Most freshwater eels (Anguillidae) face serious threats, including overfishing, pollution, and habitat change.

Mary Hoff, freelance science writer

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How do we get someone to “over fish” them here???

They must use a differant kind of eel for bait down south??

Either way..less is better in my backyard!

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American eels are rare in Minnesota today

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Dave, I think you need to take Mary Hoff fishing!

Today I played “stump your dnr fisheries personel.” They kept putting me on hold and passing me to the next fisheries “expert” about the issue of legality in harvesting an eel. They finally concluded that the eel is not mentioned in the law book so therefore, it is ok to harvest one. You might find the elusive eel mentioned in your law book next year.

Here is a rare tagged sturgeon. I believe it was my second sturgeon ever caught this year in FisherDaves boat.

here is the same fish it was 30″ I believe.