How to Trap Eels

Trapping eels is similar to trapping many other seafaring creatures. Commercial eel traps can be optimally effective when used at specific times and places and with certain baits. Other traps, such as minnow traps, may also be modified to trap eels. Eels are caught for a variety of reasons --- as a food source for sushi and other seafood, or to bait specific types of fish.

Things You'll Need

  • Eel trap
  • Crushed crab pieces
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Instructions

    • 1

      Set up the trap with crushed crab meat on its trigger or triggers. (Eels are scavengers and prefer to eat the dead carcasses of other sea creatures, especially crab.) Add at least 2 oz. of crab meat to each trigger.

    • 2

      Open the side door of the trap and ensure that it will stay open properly. Set the trap just off a beach; eels are nocturnal and bury themselves in shallow sand during the day, so it is best to set traps off of a pier that settles at least 20 feet offshore.

    • 3

      Set the traps just after sunset. As soon as the sky is fully dark, the eels will rise from the sand and scavenge. After the eels swim into the trap and eat the crab meat, the door will close shut and the eels will be ready to be harvested the next morning.