I forgot who posted it but it was on one of the recent eels threads...He said he painted it buckets black so the eels would not try to adapt their skin color to the white bucket. Funny, I always thought they were stayed black but they DO change. They go from a black to a olive.-white..I would not call them "white" but they are much lighter in color. Most of them do stay black but some changed to a drab olive with white underbelly.

They both seem to work. I thought the white ones might actually work better (poorer camo) but they seem to like them about the same.
Maybe we should paint the bucked(s) different colors!

Mr. Sandman I took your advice and I have a bucket ready for the next time I have extra eels. My neighbor just turned his stream into a pond, so I have plenty of storage space. Do you think they'll make it through the winter under the ice in 15 feet of water? I painted the bucket black as Saltheart suggested.

I never put them in fresh water...I left them at the dock in a salt pond. But I think eels spawn in fresh (or brackash) water and they might make it . If it is a salt pond... I think they they will make it. 15 feet sounds more then enough water. (currently I am keeping them alive (short term between nights fishing) in about 4 or 5 ft.. You might loose a couple but most should make it. I have lost 2 eels this season do to dying in the pot. (one was used for the night and returned, the the other was being eaten by his brotha's) I would not worry about any ice. (unless it cuts you line to your pot)

eels are interesting critters, they live thier lives in fresh water and spawn in the salt somewhere near the sargasso sea. In Rhody I have caught eels in fresh water above the Scituate Reservoir.

I just use a black bucket . My Ice and catch buckets are white . Its a reverse OREO cookie ! Got Milk ?