Lamprey Eel's

We had fun fishing eels today.

Awesome! Take it they scholl up super heavy and you can just scoop em out ? Smoking them ?

Yea they run up the river pretty thick. I never smoked any but that sounds good. They taste sort of like sardines. Pretty much like the ones in the sushi bar

Here is a video if you haven't seen it from years ago. We had a commercial fishery for them.

I usually only see them stuck to.fish!
Or signs that they were.

We ate the big lake eels here but never knew anyone ate them ones.We liked to smoke the eels here.Do you guys eat them or use them for dog food?

This last summer I saw marks from them on Lake trout we caught up on Lake Superior. Been years since I’ve seen it.
Not a good thing if they are making a comeback,

Osky

We eat them, and use them for dog feed and had a commercial fishery or them at one time,we got a buck a lb for them.

Our salmon runs have not been good the past few years to the point we are closed completely to salmon fishing. The eels could be the culprit.

I’ve sold them for medical research about 20 years ago.Got paid $6.00 each but rumor had it the end buyer was paying around $100.00.The last time I was going to sell the buyer never showed up and wouldn’t answer the phone.

Judging by how many Lampreys you have there,I wouldn't doubt they could be the culprit.I know they do a lot of damage to the trout and salmon here.Nothing to catch a big Brown Trout in Lake Ontario and have two or three Lampreys attached to it.

I would like to hear more about the thin board with what looks like nails in it all around for catching them. You can see one man using one for a brief second in the video and one strapped to the 4 wheeler.

And I dig the Pink Floyd playing Wish you were here!

The eel stick is the traditional Eskimo way of catching them. The one on the four wheeler is one I made about 35 years ago.

A trench type hole is cut in the ice across the current and the stick with nails is swung back and fourth under the water until you feel the eels bump and impale themseves on the nails, then they are quickly swung up and through the air and shook off the stick,and out onto the ice. Its pretty fun.

The lamprey they are dipping is not the same invasive lamprey specie we have here in the Great Lakes. The non native (not native to all except Lake Ontario) Sea lamprey is the one we fight to control. The ones in the Yukon are, I believe, called Arctic lamprey. Jeff, chime in if I'm full of beans! Those things must be incredibly thick to be able to scoop them up in numbers like that. What a tremendous food source for those folks. I'll bet a guy could can up a cooker or two full in no time. Interesting stuff, thanks Yukonjeff.

We used to dip Smelt the same way here.Couple or three dips would fill a five gallon pail.When they started stocking the big trout and salmon in Lake Ontario,,the Smelt pretty much disappeared.

The lamprey eels were first noticed here(Lake Ontario Region) in 1830s.However the Erie Canal was opened in 1825.So they are not 100% sure if they are native here,,or introduced throuh the canal.

That's some cool stuff!!

In lake Erie I heard they were introduced from the balasts on big ships

That's not the same eel they catch along the east coast and sell to Asian countries is it?

There's a Conger eel in the Chesapeake.
Good eating and very popular "over there".
Get big too ! ... up to 125 lb.
Here is a 96 lb'r from the UK.

Great show Jeff, thanks.
At the end, your dryfish vid popped up ... had to watch it.
Had my mouth watering, wanted a chunk of that real bad. DANG it looked tasty.
Dried, cold/smoked. wish I had some fish here to try that on.
Thank you !

Wow that is crazy. They must be just thick when they are moving.

Did not know that conger eels got that big, 96 pounds wow we used to get them up to 4 foot but only 15 pounds maybe, not sure of weight.....jk

I never saw them dip lamprey when I was at Galena. Where on the Yukon was the video taken? I see we have two types of them in ND. I have never see any sign of them here. When I was working in WA, the USDA guys fished pike minnows off the power deck of the dam. They used a olive green tube jig and as soon as one of them caught a pike minnow they would collect lamprey about four inches long and add them to the tube jug hook. You could catch a lot more pike minnow with them than without. Every pike minnow had lamprey in them. Even at four inches they were very durable on a hook. You could catch a lot of pike minnow and not need a new one.

Jeff lives around 100 river miles from the Yukon delta. Mountain Village. Looonnng ways from Galena.
Jeff, are you serious about the eels affecting salmon numbers?

I figured he was closer to the coast from other video's I have seen of his. Do you think the lamprey don't go up the river as far as Galena? Are they a salt water lamprey that comes up into the fresh water to span?

Thanks guys.

Yes correct .They are Arctic Lamprey. I have jarred them before and worked great. Tasted like canned sardines. Just mix it with mayo and made a good spread.

I am 70 miles inland, I know they go as far as Grayling, probably farther, salmon swim that far I imagine eels can.

They are salt water eels that drop off when the salmon hit fresh water,then they come into fresh water during November to spawn in the mud.

I never saw one on a salmon but I see the marks. I imagine if several got attached to a young salmon, I believe they could in fact hurt its chances of survival, if not kill it.

Thanks Jeff, that is what I figured they did. Now that you mention them dropping off salmon in the fresh water, I can remember hearing that before. Despite their similar body shape, the lamprey and eel are not closely related. Lamprey are actually more closely related to hagfish and sharks. Thanks for sharing.

Hi jeff , i sent u a pm as well , but is it possible for the artic lamprey to be harvested n sold ? Ive been looking for lamprey from the west coast and cant seem to find any.

Yes there is a commercial fishery here, but you may be a little late this year.