Fresh water eel?

I could swear I saw one 35 years ago on the warrior river about a mile upriver from the Hwy 269 bridge. Is this possible? I was a kid so it may have been a deformed catfish. I can’t remember seeing one ever again. Let me know…

There used to be some in the Locust fork. Daddy caught a pretty good one when i was a kid. An old friend of mine said they caught em pretty regular decades ago.

Doesn’t locust fork drain to the black warrior with no locks in between? Haven’t been out that way in many moons.

My dad used to catch em out of the Coosa before the dams were built

Seen a couple of them below Guntersville a bunch of years ago. Slimy nasty things they are. 😬

Got into the eels and blackfish some years ago when I fished in North Florida and South Alabama. Some spots nothing but those species at certain times of the year. Their high numbers had to hurt the local fish. I would classify both as evasive species and suggest all wiped out if possible. When you hook up with a 3 foot eel their pull is a unique pull and you immediately want to start cussing cause you know you have one of those slimy !@#$$'s on. Usually, might as well pack up and go home, cause if they are in an area most other fish are hiding! We would use a lightweight bream hook and hope they straightened it or broke the line. If not, when one got to the boat you could try snatching it off. Nothing no more funny that seeing someone trying to bring it up to the boat and remove the hook with a pair of pliers. If it comes in the boat it slimes everything! If it rolls up your arm you will have a come apart. Can't hardly get that slime off. They are a delicacy in certain parts and foreigners will pay good money. Funny stories in past watching folks deal with eels! Did I say I hate those !@#$$%'s!

I caught one on the Conecuh river this spring while running hooks for catfish. I have pictures but I’m not sure how to post them on here off of my phone lol

Yes

Been years, but i do remember eels being caught in decatur.

Plenty of freshwater eels

Years ago you could take a deep net and catch 1000s if wanted them at Jordan damn . They'd try to run up the spill way on the damn .

Damn we caught the fish at the bottom of that damn back then.

I've caught 2-3 the past year or so on the Alabama fishing for catfish. The State biologists were wanting specimens so I saved it and froze it. Emailed them about submitting it and never heard a word.

This was caught on Blackwater at the Scout Camp in Walker County, just down the creek from us, about a month ago. It does drain into the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior...

used to catch them all the time bottom fishing on the Alabama river, but that was a long time ago..

You find the right holes in the Pea or Conecuh you can catch a mess of them.

Use to catch the heck out of them in a creek that ran through the property I grew up on. My step-granddad use to eat every one I caught.

I caught one once. If I remember right I think I caught it on a cricket.

He must have been one hungry son of a gun.

I heard they are ok as long as you eat them hot

Don't eat em rare you'll die...blood is poisonous

Caught one out of the cahaba near 280 about 25 years ago. Nasty thing. So slippery you couldn't hardly hold it unless you wrapped it in a towel.

We would carry bread bags with us, drop them in the bag, cut the line and tie the bag shut. Take them home and freeze them. When you wanted to use them for bait, take one out, get your hook back, and while still frozen cut it cross ways with a hack saw into 3/8” thick rings. Made great trot line bait.

Caught several out of Buttahtchee lake my grandfather actually had a glove for taking them off the hook were about elbow length and had these weird looking aluminum grippers on the fingers was bright orange.

He was a highly educated, smarter than his on good, weird fellow. LOL!!! But was fun to hang around with as a kid.

Funny you say this. I was told that if you don’t eat them hot they go back to raw. Is this what you heard too? I’m not testing it though.

We caught and ate them regularly on the Warrior as I was growing up. Not much different than a catfish.
Their blood is poisonous? Yeah, and if you pick at a splinter with a pin, not a needle, you'll get blood poisoning, because pins are brass, and brass is poisonous.
Tell me another one.

Caught several in Chewacla Creek in th' early 70's.....just above Lake Ogletree.....Lee County, Ala.

Grew up on Warrior river and caught so many of those things
We ate them or we threw them back
I do remember they tasted much better when hot out of the grease and not so much when cold

A cobia or a big snapper will slurp one of those down when rigged on a hook alive. use a dry paper towel as a disposable gripper.

When I would catfish with my grandfather around lock 5 we caught a bunch of them. He had a piece of 2x6 with a hole drilled in the center and a slot cut out to slide the line through. Would pull the head through and "separate" them as he called it. He hated them. Also took a .22 revolver with rat shot when he didn't want to fool with the board.

Million dollar lake had some in the 60's and 70's before it got drained -mean any ugly

Yes, indeed they will. Get a bucket of sand and a shop rag. Drop eel in sand, sand will coat him and make him easy to hold, grab him behind the head with shop rag and insert 6/0 owner mutu light circle hook under his chin and out through the snout. Throw him in front of a cruising cobia or send him down on a piece of hard bottom or structure and hang on.

A friend caught one years ago around guntersville or tenn river. Maybe a foot long. I have never seen one since.

what about the Asian carps ☠

I see them on the New Hope side below Guntersville dam certain times of the year. I figure they are mating or spawning because ill see alot

A guy posted a pic on FB of one caught at the dam just a day or two ago. The page is Guntersville Dam Wall Fishing. I’ve never seen one.

Use to catch them fairly regular running trot lines years ago on the tombigbee. Those slimy things will throw a hook in you quick

same on the Choctawhatchee River too.

I catch them on Bankhead where valley creek flows into the main river all the time. They fight like no other.