Eels

Last night, I hung a light off the end of the dock. I heard that rockfish come in to lighted docks in the summer, so I eventually plan to put up something bigger, like a street light. But last night, I just plugged in a light bulb barely above the water to see what would happen. As expected, the bugs attracted lots of small fish. I noticed a few small crabs swimming circles under the light, and the perch soon came along to see what the excitement was about. When the rockfish move into the river, if they haven't already, I don't see how they can resist the brightly lit smorgasboard. I didn't fish for them last night, instead just throwing out a lazy piece of shrimp while talking to Dianne who joined me on the dock with a magazine and her camera. -- It only took about 10 seconds after baiting and casting for the line to start dancing. To my surprise, I soon started catching eels on my shrimp baits. Until now, I've never caught an eel before. These eels don't look as fearsome as some I've seen, but it still didn't take long before I was frustrated with them interfering with my fishing. I did some research and found that these American Eels actually begin their life in the Sargasso Sea near the Bahamas. They drift as larvae into the Bay, then eat and grow for a few years before traveling back to the tropics to mate and die. Even though they are harvested commercially as a delicacy to be shipped to Europe and Asia (and here in the US - the same ones on the combo in the sushi bars) I won't be eating any of these. They just look too nasty to prepare. I wonder if catching eels is a summertime thing, or a result of the lighted dock? -S