Workaday Armor

[Rick]

Boots to be worn while spearing Eels.

[David]

Well those look very comfortable. Good, sensible footwear i say!
Do you know what country/culture this pair is from?

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by Rick

Boots to be worn while spearing Eels.

Why?! I'm really not getting their usefulness?!

[Gustav]

You put them into the water for a couple of weeks, then spear the eels inside



Very cool item!

[Rick]

Originally Posted by David

Well those look very comfortable. Good, sensible footwear i say!
Do you know what country/culture this pair is from?

Cape Cod Culture, David they recently sold at our local auction house.
Eel spears are nasty things; 5 tines at least and all of them barbed at the business end. Something very unpleasant to put through your foot accidentally, Marius.
Often spearing them happens in muddy/turbid water.

[Kmaddock]

Believe it or not I just purchased an eel fishing fork head on Monday night
I have yet to clean them up but here they are
Quiet a vicious implement
Vendor said his grand father used them eel fishing in rural Ireland
I presume these are home forged
Just over 21 inches long in total
Funny how the timings of posts come along
In some countries such implements are known as a "gig"
Regards
Ken

[Rick]

Most of the old ones I see here are blacksmith made, Ken.
Eeling used to be quite a fishery around here.
A friend has collected a nice selection which I will try to photograph tomorrow.
The designs are quite varied.

[David R]

I used to have an eel spear that I bought in Denmark, but not really in my main area of collecting and only had space for just so much. Interesting items in themselves.

[Rick]

In Winter here the Eels ball-up in voids that exist in the salt marsh I live next to.
In the old days around Christmas and New years there was an increased demand for this delicacy.
Lucky was the fellow who discovered one of these 'dens' ; he could dig the top out and spear maybe a hundred or more in one place.

[mariusgmioc]

Very interesting! Had no idea that you spear the eels and not catch them with a normal fishing hook.

[Rick]

Well, here we also catch them in eel pots; the smaller ones wind up on a hook, but as live bait for Striped Bass in season.
No one spears them much in Summer anymore around here.
They'll spear them in the cold weather when they have gone into the mud for the winter. There is still a good demand for them during the Holiday Season.

Eels have a very interesting life cycle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_eel

[Jens Nordlunde]

In Denmark they were cought by night, going out in a boat with a light in front, and a man armed with an eel iron - like shown above.
I think it is now forbidden to fish eels in Denmark as there are too few.

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

Very interesting! Had no idea that you spear the eels and not catch them with a normal fishing hook.

you CAN catch them on a hook. i caught one fishing for bass on the lake behind our house on long island once as a teen. it's outlet was only a hundred yards or so from the great south bay. about as fat around as my wrist. nasty slimey thing wrapped itself around my line then in a ball, was rather difficult to get the hook out. granma happened to be watching and cam e out and claimed it before i could throw it back. she thumped it once and it departed for other realms. musta weighed 5 pounds. she gutted it and cut it into about 2 inch sections and fried it. tried to get me to eat some, i ran. she jellied it and ate the whole thing over a couple days. she took great glee in sucking on the head in front of me with gusto. she was originally austo-hungarian from galetia. now part of poland.

[Jens Nordlunde]

It has a very fine tast cooked or smoked - I especially like the smoked version, but I have also heard that many find them snake like, so they wont eat them - what a pity for them :-).

[Rick]

Originally Posted by kronckew

you CAN catch them on a hook. i caught one fishing for bass on the lake behind our house on long island once as a teen. it's outlet was only a hundred yards or so from the great south bay. about as fat around as my wrist. nasty slimey thing wrapped itself around my line then in a ball, was rather difficult to get the hook out. granma happened to be watching and cam e out and claimed it before i could throw it back. she thumped it once and it departed for other realms. musta weighed 5 pounds. she gutted it and cut it into about 2 inch sections and fried it. tried to get me to eat some, i ran. she jellied it and ate the whole thing over a couple days. she took great glee in sucking on the head in front of me with gusto. she was originally austo-hungarian from galetia. now part of poland.

Hey, I got a bite!
And you reel in a living bowline knot..