Keeping eels (Short Term)

[STEVE IN MASS]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'm being lazy so......
I plan on getting some eels this afternoon for use about midnight on Saturday. Will a wet rag and a blue ice pack do to keep them alive till then? I have no aerator. I know ice cubes are a no-no unless the melted water can drain away, but I've got some of those ice packs. Thanks.

[Fishpart]

Steve, I don't think they'll last that long that way. It will take some time to build but the Saltheart three five gallon bucket method should work. You drill holes in two five gallon buckets so water/ice can drain. You set the first holy bucket into an undrilled one(to catch the drips) and put the eels with some seaweed in the holy bucket then you put the second holy bucket into the first one and keep ice in it. The key is to keep the catch bucket drained so the eels don't drown.

[JohnR]

The ice packs won't last that long anyway...

Even quicker setup with just two buckets. A 4qt shiner bucket with a bunch of small 3/8 " holes DRILLED into the bottom. (A drill is just much cleaner as there is little plastic flash left over to scrape the eels). A 5 gallon bucket with a brick, bigger rock, or block of wood on the bottom. Fill the bottom layer of the shiner bucket with ice cubes. Give the ice a quick mist of the hose, put the eels on top and put the "eel" bucket into the 5 gal on top of the block. All of the melt will fall into the big bucket and the eels won't drown in there slime.

There is one advantage to the two bucket, the eels are slowed down more when on the ice then just cold water dripping on top of them. The disadvantage is that the three bucket has slightly lower maintenance as you need to rotate the ice more frequently and give the eels an occasional mist with the 2 bucket...

[Roccus]

I do a slight variation on the two-bucket system...I have the one with holes drilled in it resting inside the other "catch" bucket...my inside bucket is slightly smaller than the catch bucket and the ridges around the top hold it about four inches off the bottom of the catch bucket. So I put ice inside the catch bucket, then slide the holed bucket inside where it rests just over the ice. Keeps the eels cool & quiet and no danger of drowning because the melted ice water never reaches the top bucket.

[STEVE IN MASS]

Thanks guys, but, as John would say, I was having a "brain fart". I have a fridge in the basement used exclusively for bait and beer. I put them in an old vegetable steamer basket inside a bucket. Couldn't get any seaweed, so I used some "bolted" lettuce from my garden. (It's gotta be close). Dampened the whole thing down slightly, put a wet rag on top and some damp newspaper. Whole thing into the fridge. We'll see what happens. I suppose if they die, I can use Salthearts "rigged" thread.