First off I have to thank Mr. Sandman for his input on designing an eel condo for storing live eels between trips. Late last season I put it into operation and it is working well.

I am lucky enough to have a small stream next to my house that flows all year, so I thought that it would be a good idea to save my eels between trips rather than letting my extras go. I had an old dry chlorine bucket with a screw top hanging around the house, I painted the inside black and drilled it full of 3/8” holes. I put a stone inside and rope on the handle and now I have a home for my eels between trips.

With all the rain we have had over the summer I lost a few because the current would wash the bucket up out of the hole onto a sandbar and once the water level dropped to normal a significant amount of the bucket ended up out of the water. I moved the spot where the bucket was tied off and they have been surviving much better.

There does appear to be a limit to the amount of time that the eels will live in their new habitat, I bought a large amount of eels back on August 29th and have been using them on and off ever since. It seems as if one to five of them die each week, I don’t know if it is a result of damage they sustain when I “take them for a walk” or if their habitat is less than ideal. As of September 26th I am down to 4 living eels and they are starting to look pretty ratty.

If anyone has any suggestions on improving my “eel condo”, I would love to hear them.

I think they enjoy being sung to ocassionally. Just kidding!
I keep mine alive in a 5gal bucket with a aerator (sp?). I usually only keep them there a week or so. It seems to work, do you think they are starving to death? Maybe you can throw some chicken guts in there or something?

I find once you use the eel and put it back in the bucket...it generally dies. Sometimes it lives but generally they die.

I have had about 3 doz in my bucket submerged in a salt pond (about 5-6' deep) all summer, I think I lost 3 or 4 all summer. (that is my emergency back up bucket)

I think you are going to have some die no matter what. I think some of the eels actually eat the weak ones. Its an ugly world down in the mud. THe bucket system is not perfect but it keeps most of them alive esp if you do not use them. Also if you take them out of the water all night and stress them out, it is likely one or two may die.

What I do is only take out what I need. I don't take 2 doz with me for a 2-3 hour surf trip I only take 6 and leave the rest in the bucket. I loose far fewer that way.

Most guys I know use the bucke with holes to hold their eels. I think the reason I like it is that you don't have a lot of $ tied up in it...just a $4 bucket. You can build a high end live well but you are into big bucks an a lot of maintence.

I'd hafta say that losing an eel a week isn't bad odds

I can,t tell you how many eels I,ve lost this season, I,m using a 6 gallon bucket / w /holes at my slip=this year the water has been tooooooooo warm and stagnant, I buy mine by the pound & it hasn,t been worth it
Sandman =your in much colder,cleaner water///