Landing an Eel

Tried out a new location over the weekend in the new forest called hordle lakes.  Nice venue with some interesting swims, plus two good sized lakes - Bob's lake for the 20lb+ carp and Willow Lake for Silver fish and smaller Carp..

One of the days highlights for me was the landing of an Eel ..It caused great confusion when reeling in this beast, peering down to the water, expecting to see a fin and being confronted with a snake like apparition...I was certainly very apprehensive about lifting it out of the landing net (this was my first Eel encounter) while musing over the "do they have teeth" while cursing at leaving my "A-Z of freshwater species" at home...doh - my apprehension really wasn't helped by the jeering from nearby anglers "good luck with that...your gonna need it"...*gulp*..luckily the hook was lodged on the side, so I had no need to get near the mouth end to find out if they have teeth  however, I can now fully appreciate the saying "as slippery as an Eel" after being in close hand combat with one of these...the amount of slime it produced was truelly gross..by the time it was unhooked and returned back to the lake, most bits of clothing and equipement in a 5 meter radius were covered in a gloopy layer of putrid slime (mainly from the thing protesting and flicking around so much)..nice..

Anyway, I'm pleased to of seen my first Eel, but I really don't want to catch another one anytime again soon

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