HUGE EELS CAUGHT

Waipa Post, Volume 38, Issue 2271, 21 February 1929, Page 4

HUGE EELS CAUGHT

A MONSTER IN THE PUNIU.

A monster eel was caught this week in the Puniu stream, Wharepapa,. some miles upstream from Kihikihi. An angler, Mr G. Ridgewell, noticed the huge dimensions of the eel while he was trout fishing, and reported the fact to some Maoris living in the neighbourhood. The maoris at once set about catching the tuna-nui, and Rev. Pihama was one who joined in the effort. After some probing and feeling along under the banks, a few chains above Watson's crossing, he felt the fish, and forthwith dug a shark hook, attached tb a long piece of clothes line into the flesh. Scrambling on to the bank he tied the line to a sapling and watched the unavailing efforts of the eel tlo escape. When it was tired out with its struggles Mr Pihama hauled his catch on to the bank, amid the admiration of the assembled party. When taken home the eel was weighed and measued —it was seven feet long and turned the scales at 341 b—quite a record so far as any Maoris know for the Waikato. Mr Pihama is n|ot a short man, but an idea of the length of the eel may be gathered when it is stated that he hung the body over his shoulder.' The head was level with his vest pocket, yet the tail was trailing on the ground. The eel caught last Thursday in the Hatea stream (Whangarei district), although large, cannot lay claim to record size, for there are several authenticated captures of even, greater size. Nobody knows the weight of the largest eel ever caught, but Lake Wakatipu is reputed to have produced a 70-lb monster. Unfortunately, the late Dr Hector, when he interested himself in the matter, was never able to obtain complete authentication. There are, however, many record eels having been captured weighing over 35 lbs. A contemporary mentions the capture of a 46-lb eel in an eel-pot in the Wanganui River, while in 1916 a 36-lb eel was caught in the upper reaches of the same river. An eel caught in the Moumahaki stream, although not weighed, measured 6 feet 1 inqh long, with a girth of 20 inches. Eels exceeding 20 lbs have several times been captured in Waikato streams, but none has weighed over 30 lbs. The commonest methods of capturing eels are by spearing and in special eel pots. Mr Elsdon Best, however, actually shot a 19i-lb eel in a drain near Otaki with a .45 Winchester rifle in 1886. It is only recently that scientists have even partially solved the riddle of the, eel. It is now well known that the American and European eels meet in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, off Bermuda, for breeding purposes. The young eels subsequently find their way back to the respective continents of their parents. At present a scientific party is investigating the habits of the New Zealand eels, and two likely spots in the Pacific Ocean are under observation. Normally, eels do not remain longer than five or six years in £!esh water before, making their trip to the spawning grounds, which, in some oases, exceed a distance of sand miles. Eels that have been prevented from making this journey remain barren, but appear to live indefinitely. In England there' have been well-auth-enticated instances of eels under these conditipns having lived for the last forty years. They grow to enormous size and develop voracious appetites. In the Bay of Islands an eel has lived in a. well for the last twelve years; it was a considerable size when first discovered, indicating that it had been living there for some considerable time. Although it is never fed it appears, to be capable of deriving sufficient nourishment from the water to keep it in excellent condition.