Eel in Ottawa River?

[Noodle]

Hi! I am curious to know if anyone specificly target eels on the Ottawa River (around Ottawa area)? All the dams probably didn't help to welcome them back but are they an "endangered" fish?

I remember seeing the American Eel on the MNR's fish identification before. This year's print doesn't even include the eel!

I was hoping to catch one this year using catfish bait (dead minnows or worms). So far all I can catch are channel cats or bullheads. Would you suggest a different method or would I have better luck on the St. Lawrence River?

[Pints]

I have seen the odd one caught on worms this spring in the Ottawa River. However, they have been incidental catches while people were fishing for cats, and this was a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen one caught since.
The American Eel is being considered an endangered species. Check the bottom of page 4, General Section of the MNR regs. Legislation is being proposed to protect the eel. So there is a good chance that next year you will not be able to fish for let alone keep an eel.

[Tip-up]

Jiggy and I use to catch em' all the time at the Aylmer Marina while fishing cats with raw hot dogs...Man are they ever ugly

[dana]

In the olde days there used to be lots of eels in the ottawa and st lawrence.
Many many of the big breeders get killed going through the turbines.
There may be other factors elsewhere[they travel along way..Sargasso sea] But over the decades the turbines are doing them in 24/7...it is not uncommon to see a dozen dead giant eels everytime i hit lake st francis.

hint:they bite at night

df

[Noodle]

Thanks for all the responses.

I missed that section in the proposed change in regulation. Thanks for pointing this out. I am not very good at reading the fine prints.

It's too bad that the eel is not getting as much attention as the musky or the trout. I guess even in the world of fishing, it's an disadvantage to be "ugly".

I remember as a child my dad used to tell me stories about his childhood fishing adventures growing up in a village in China in the 50's. Often when he and his friends hook up an eel, one of them often had to jump into the river to untangle the eel from weed or branches. That made the eel the most challenging fish for them to land. Maybe he exagerated abit to keep me at the dinner table until I finished my vegetables.

As for night fishing, I have never stayed late enough to find out. Thanks for the hint. I do get the "look" from my wife when I stay out until the fish stop biting. Fish should learn to eat on time. Not healthy for them to have erratic dinner schedule.

[Wallyboss]

The St.Lawrence used to have some, i used to scuba dive at the wreck that the smoke stack still sticks out of the water in Iroquois and I was reaching into a hole and all of a sudden this %&^$%^$ eel comes out of there, and it scared the living &^^%^ out of me, and being a guy that really dislikes snakes well I haven't dived that wreck since.

[sparky]

Just a couple of years ago, I used to wade a lot in the Remic Rapids area. There were a LOT of eels out there, lying on bottom between the rocks in the fast water. Very creepy to nearly step on one when you're not expecting it. I never wanted to catch one.

[x-Toban]

I caught a 35.5" eel in the cator river this year!!!! Fought like a bugger!!!

[YakFisher]

I remember years ago, back east (good old N.S.) fishing as a kid, I hooked an eel on a Rembrandt gold spinner (was fishing for trout). He was so strong and thrashing around so much, when I got him to shore, my spinner was DESTROYED - it was so twisted, it looked like a piece of wet spaghetti! And, just like the other eels I've seen, man was he ugly!

[Flipper]

I've never caught one but have seen them in action on the Ottawa. They come up shallow at night, chasing minnows up onto the shore. They really move fast.
It is very cool that they survive traveling through dams to spawn in the ocean.