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OLD HAMPSHIRE EELSPEARING IMspearing is an ancient pursuit on the South Hampshire euast and old fishermen relate that their grandfathers knew of its existence for many generations before they were born From Ports ¬ mouth Harbor in the east to Hurst Castle in the west there is to be found along the greater part of the coast the mud as it is called a great marine and estuarine deposit aloiig the shores of ooze in which eels make holes and hibernate from October to March It is interesting to note that the eel never hibernates in unclean mud or water or in decaying vegetable matter but always in old clean mud which resembles blue slipper clay of rather less density than this clay when met with inshore inshoreDuriiiK DuriiiK hibernation especially m midwinter when the weather and water are cold the eel is torpid and its eyes which seem then to grow smaller are covered witli a kind of dull glaze over the eyeball the effect of living in complete dark ¬ ness and in constant contact with mud mudEvery Every eel burrow has as a rule three holes one fairly deep down generally to a point below low water mark of spring tides and two higher up more or less parallel in point of height and each above Iqw water level Spring tides Year by year eels hibernate in the same stretcjies of mud in old or new holes whereas as in other places they never seem to hibernate at all though there is no obvious reason why they should not do so Perhaps this preference for some places is due to the fact that the mud faces toward or away from the sun or it may be owing to the existence of stronger or weaker currents of water which keep the breathing or bolt holes clear of deposit It is remarkable that where there is a live hole that is where an eel is in occupation of a burrow The entrance and exit are always clear and this is no doubt caused by some slight movements of the eel from time to time which prevent the entrances and exits being silted up upThe The spear most comnitihly used on the Hamp ¬ shire coast consists 6f a central prong without a barb and three or four prongs on each side of it each with barb turned inward The writer has used this kind of spear since 1880 and found it very effective in catching eels It is important that the barbs should be kept sharp and for this purpose he always files the points or scrapes them with the back of a knife in order to prevent tlveir getting bluut with rust Mud pattens generally have to he used for standing while spearing as the mud is too soft to stand upon in ordinary boots The usual plan is to strike at the mud between the two upper holes between which the eel presumably lies and with a little experience one can tell at once whether the spear has passed over the body of an eel It is on the upstroke that the eel U caught being squeezed between the prongti of tlie spear with the barb holding the eels body firm or else the barb actually penetrates the body of the eel and prevents it going backward and forward through the prongs pf the spear spearThe The best bag in one days spearing ever re ¬ membered was when the mill dam at Beaulieu was lowered early in the spring of the year 1894 or 1895 with the result that one got eightyone eels in a little over two hours This of course was exceptional but he lias often in former years caught between a dozen and twenty diiring one period of low water about one and a half hours Low water spring tides provide the most favorable times as the tide then falls much lower than at neaps and the biggest and best eels are to be found low down rather than high up on the mud mudWhen When the eels have been speared and have lain in the bottom of the boat for soine time they be ¬ come much more lively and if put into fresh water in a tank they soon become almost as lively as they are in the summer time From the eating point of view the flesh of hibernating eehi1 caught spearing is sunerior to that at any other time off the year It is white firm and very fat arid with no trace of uiiiddiness and good judges declare it to be equal to sole when filleted Another advantage of eels as a food is that they keep well when travel ¬ ling the flesh being hard
