Eel Hunting..

[Memo]

I have a moroccan friend who cooks them for me in a Tagine with moroccan spices, onions, raisins, cinammon

Man it is awesome

Ask Memo about it HAHAHAHA

The flesh is very fine and has a few spines in it. Discard anything about 5-10cm below anus as the amount of spines radically increases here.

Frying this fish is also AWESOME. The skin is easier to remove once fried IMHO, dont waste your time

HELL IT WAS DELICIOUS!! Believe me conger eel is a meat that you dont wanna throw away...

I have my full confidence on morroccan style conger but still not sure about morroccan moray! rofl

 

[shaneshac]

This is a Tagine.

Basically they put all ingredients in here and whack it in the oven. It keeps the temp very high and keeps the moisture too mmmmmmmmmmmmm

I will see if i can get the full recipe from him

 

[paddythefrog]

Have yet to taste the Tagine though it sounds delicious judging by shaneshacs description, vague memories of it being brought up in conversation while talking about cooking our fish, thanks for the reminder!

 

[anton]

Thanks Shane/Alison,

Now that I see a picture I know what it is. Maggie and I had stuff made in tagines almost exclusively in Oman. Nothing like a good tenderloin steak cooked in one of those things (great thing about the persian gulf, Thai cook using a morocan tagine to cook an australian tenderloin for an american/hungarian couple in Oman) ... hmmm Talk about multi-culti!

 

[old dave]

Pekka
It is illegal to shoot silver eels (anguilla anguilla) in the U.K.seafisherys officers object!!! Conger eels (conger conger) O.k lots to be caught in english channel south coast u.k vast numbers if you know where to hunt very small to 40+ kilos british spearfishing record average 25-30 kilos easy to catch mares medisten 8 mm spear shoot them if you must?
good hunting

 

[Geoff]

Hi all,Only ever shot one conger,it was "out in the open",it did,nt see me & I looked at it for a long time, (from above).I was very apprehensive about shooting it,thoughts of it turning on me after being shot ran through my mind, it looked, HUGE!.Any way, I shot it & swam away FAST!,not even looking to see if I had hit it,I waited on the surface, for about two Min's,then went to see if I had, "got it".There it was, in exactly the same place,I need,nt have worried,the shaft had hit it "Dead Center", through it,s head, killing it instantly,phew, what I relief!.I cooked it in the oven,wrapped in foil,absolutely delicious!.Would like to taste Morray, but those baby,s look "Awesome!".I have to admit, I am scared of them.The thought of it sinking it,s teeth into me, fill,s me with dread.Incidentally,I,v read that their blood is poisonous, but after cooking ,there O.K to eat,but if they bite you,you have to go to Hospital to get a "Jab".......Geoff. PS:Weight Only about three Kgs,tried to upload a photo but all I get Is "page unavailable".

 

[jimy286]

I have wanted to shoot one for ages but not seen any yet.

I know there about on my swallow reef in dorset but i think night time is the go.

Good post....

Dnt think il kill it though il just come bak at 2 in the moring and chuck it in bed with the girl frend!!!!!

 

[spaghetti]

Dnt think il kill it though il just come bak at 2 in the moring and chuck it in bed with the girl frend!!!!!

FYI, there are least five or six well known Deeperblue forum members who would do the same scary "effect" on the girl (and they don't need to catch a conger before rofl)...
...italian humour: just couldn't resist :t
Geoff: congrats on your catch but for me it's never a good idea to shoot a conger or a moray eel "out in the open": if you don't hit them right in the head they might give you a very hard time.

 

[strangelove]

My Brother in law shot one years ago (moray eel), the eel wrap it self on the shaft, he had to leave the water and clobber the thing.
They were very tasty I will have to say but a lot of trouble to eat. In one of the HSD magazines they mention that more people get insured with moray eels then sharks.

 

[jwells1989]

i saw a conger onece it was absolutly MASSIVE, must of been about 5 foot long, i was to scared to shoot it as i have heared that they can bite, so left it, what is conger eel like to eat.

 

[spaghetti]

i saw a conger onece it was absolutly MASSIVE, must of been about 5 foot long, i was to scared to shoot it as i have heared that they can bite, so left it, what is conger eel like to eat.

As far as I know, english congers are the biggest of them all. Here in the Mediterranean Sea, a 10 kilograms conger would be considered a monster, a phenomenal spcimen, while in the english waters I'm told it is quite normal to find bigger ones, up to 20 kilograms and more. Me I wouldn't shoot a thing like that If I'm alone. With a buddy, I could give it a try but I think it would take one or two hours and at least two shots to retrieve it.
An idea of strategy:
1) First shot must be paralyzing, given right into the head, one inch behind the eyes, with a 70cm pneumatic with 8mm shaft, 5 pronger and reel.
2) In the post shot, open the reel, dive up and secure the gun to the float to keep the conger under tension (so it won't swim back deeper into his hole).
3) Buddy dives down for a second shot and follows the same procedure.
4) duck diving up and down to pull it off, maybe with a third shot necessary.
5) pictures, videos and full story posted on Deeperblue :martial
Eating: yes they're good but pretty fat. We chop them in wheel shaped slices and bbq to melt the fat. Smaller ones are stewed in spicy tomato soup (grongo in umido: Grongo in umido* Sardinia recipes Sardinian cousine guide of Sardinia Sardinien Sardegna Cerdena Sardaigne).

 

[atomichaggis]

Good eating. I prefer em steaked and fried in seasoned flour.
I personally wouldn't attack or provoke a conger, they are incredible strong fish and they can bite better than the average fishy.
If You are still keen then I reckon...
1) Make peace with Death
2) Go in numbers
3) Go heavy... lots of sharp pointy stuff attached to float.
4) Go nuts on it, in turns.
5) write up and photies on DB

 

[dave]

The best strategy for congers is to get someone else to catch it! Mainly because it takes ages to get conger slime off a wetsuit
If you must do it the strategy is;
1)shoot it in the head with whatever gun you have handy
2) immediately pull it out of the hole before it knows what is happening
3)cut spine to kill it
4) Game over, total time about 45seconds

cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment

 

[atomichaggis]

Some latvian fellas bagged the Norwegian record for speared conger at 19.6 kilos.
It went for them after the first shot... so If you do shoot a conger then make sure its a size you can handle coming after You.

 

[spaghetti]

The best strategy for congers is to get someone else to catch it! Mainly because it takes ages to get conger slime off a wetsuit
If you must do it the strategy is;
1)shoot it in the head with whatever gun you have handy
2) immediately pull it out of the hole before it knows what is happening
3)cut spine to kill it
4) Game over, total time about 45seconds

cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment

Sure that's it with our smallish mediterranean ones: pull them out as soon as possible. But I was guessing that a 20 kg needs a special treatment, not as easy as this:
http://www.apneamagazine.com/allegati/grongoweb.wmv

 

[atomichaggis]

Nice video... got any moray spearing vids?

 

[jwells1989]

i can imagine if one of those things wraps itself around you spear it will bend the hell out of it especially if its anywhere near 20 kilos.

 

[TriniDivr]

i've been hunting around trinidad for along time and ive speared some green morays in my time.. the best way to kill them is a head shot, then driving a knife through their throats.. this seems to stunn them giving you time to pull them from their holes. but however you have to be really carefull when cutting its throat as ive been bitten once and it was not pretty at all.

 

[Spaniard]

In all my spearing years i've shot 2 congers and I moray eel. The congers were about 5kg and 6kg respectively and caused no end of havoc. However, the moray was about 3kg and that f****r refused to die and I spent about 2 hours getting it out of its lair, off the spear and into the boat. I have never bothered with morays since but christ they have superhuman strength. The boatman, a local from Isla Ponsa Italy, made it into a delicious stew, lots of bones but very tasty. I leave all eels alone now.

 

[jwells1989]

yeah, i heared that they have a tendancy not to die very easily. i have caught small silver eels to a out 3 pounds on the rod and they so slimy, are congers slimey like that aswell or are they sort of different.