From Eugene on Monday, September 28, 2009 at 22:34:34

Feedback: Hello! My message is Eugene. I have seen eels considerably bigger than the 15 kg eel that you have in a pic (caught in 1981). I didn't catch the eels I mention. These eels live in a lake in a place called Taharoa - Maori call them Tunaheke. They are distinctive looking eels i.e. darker then normal, very broad headed and distinctive horns (all eels such horns) that protrude further then you normally see (on river eels). The eels from Lake Taharoa grow to sizes I have never seen before. I have caught hundreds if not thousands of eels. A lot of them over 20 pounds. But Taharoa eels for some reason grow to huge sizes. I have seen them at our local Marae when Taharoa Maori bring them out for Tangi. I have tried a couple of times to catch them but without any luck. When I tried to catch one I was with localsâ ¦who are basically the only people allowed to catch them.

On Sep 29, 2009, at 7:41 PM, Eugene C [Surname withheld until permission granted to publish]wrote:

Ill see if I can get some pics,

As mentioned I have seen them brought to our local Marae for Tangi and too seen photos taken by a mate of mine Johnny Mc [Surname withheld until permission granted to publish]. Johnny Mc [Surname withheld until permission granted to publish] is widely regarded as the master of catching Tunaheke. They are caught when they exit the lake at a tributary that feeds out to the open sea. They will sit for days...up to weeks waiting for the right time to run...then they go.

Johnny gets in and lifts the weeds up to see if there are any Tunaheke in them (I have seen him do it but wouldn't do it myself). Sometimes they sit in the open water (kids have seen them and told Johnny and he has gone down and caught one) He uses a 12 inch piece of Manuka which has a short run of twine running off it (about 2 foot long). On the end of the twine is a gaff hook. When he finds one he gaffs it, the tunaheke goes ballistic. John leans back as the eel tries to run and he lets it fight his body weight. He then pulls it up on banks where he dispatches it.

As mentioned I have had three goes at catching these Tunaheke with no luck. Will catch one one day.

When you split these eels (Taharoa) open for smoking (something I have done) there inner stomach is lined with huge layers of fat (of the likes I have never seen). Apparently this fat is stored for the trip up to the trenches of Tonga.

Tunaheke occur in a number of places around the King Country. They are also found in a little place called Piopio. Think I saw one there once. Would have been early 2000s. Was an absolutely massive eel (bigger then any eel I have ever caught). It wouldn't take a bait however that's not unusual. When Tuna run to sea to spawn the don't take a bait. Their primary priority is breeding and they show absolutely no interest in food. Another cousin of mine has seen the Piopio run of eels. They come through the main river in their thousands. I've never seen this but did see one in the South Island on TV. Quite a phenomenal thing to see.

The Taharoa eels are currently subject to a scientific study. A group of Scientists are studying their life cycle, populations in the river etc, etc.

In our area - Waitomo (inland from Taharoa) - we basically farm our eels. We only take one eel per hole (deep slow stretch of water). We used to catch as many as we could but have learned over the years that the eel population takes years to recover if you put to much pressure on any given river system. Now days we are very, very careful about how we catch and where we catch eels.

I now go into the back country rivers. Big eel populations. Never seen humans. I eel almost solely during the day. Eels by nature are nocturnal. But the reality of it is, is they will come to a bait at any time of day if you put one in the water. Eeling in the day is warmer and easier and you don't need a torch. In the back country rivers of Waitomo I tie a Bonito off my knee and stand in knee deep water. You often see a dozen plus eels per hole. Ill gaff one out and move upstream (I always eels upstream if I can).

If your interested ill send you some photos of one eeling trip. It was for a wedding and an 80th birthday. Very, very big river eels. One was well over 20 pounds. The rest between 10 and 20 pounds. Caught 2 dozen from that particular river between 11 am and 3 pm. Saw hundreds of eels that day. Think we took some photos of eels in the river swimming around my knees trying to get at the Bonito. Some rivers we go into take a couple of hours to walk in to.

Waitomo where I am from is renowned for its tasty eels. Old people from our area turn their noses up when offered eels from anywhere else other then Waitomo. In fact even if eels are caught from particular areas around Waitomo they won't eat them (they don't rate eels from a river called the Moakaraua which is in Waitomo). However eels out of the Waitomo River are prized. Even though both eels come from the same catchment they are totally different in constitution. Waitomo rivers are you classical Silver bellies (very clean looking). Moakaraua river eels look like smaller Tunaheke (very dark, bull headed etc).

Some old Maori say the Limestone river systems makes eels sweeter. Maybe a rural myth. I don't know. But highly regarded eels Waitomo River eels.

I could bore you with hundreds of stories about eels. Being chasing them since I was a kid all over the King Country. Have seen so many of them. I was eeling on Wednesday of last week in fact.