thedrifter
08-21-08, 07:58 AM
August 21, 2008
Ex-Marine catches unexpected state record: Eel
By MIKE ORGAN
Staff Writer
CARTHAGE — Kelly Rollin Jr. thought he'd seen his last eel when he left Okinawa, Japan, on a tour with the Marines in 2002.
He was quite brave when it came to eating while abroad and willing to try all types of fare from the ocean, including eel.
"I can't remember exactly how I ate the eel, raw or cooked,'' Rollin said. "I ate so much different stuff out of the ocean — some eat-able and some not."
That is why Rollin, 32, was more than a bit shocked when he landed the largest eel ever caught in Tennessee recently while fishing at night in the tail waters beneath Cordell Hull dam.
It turned out to be a 40-inch American eel weighing
5 pounds, 11 ounces.
"It fought hard, I was expecting it to be a 20- or 30-pound catfish,'' Rollin said. "I got it up on the bank and saw the thing and it looked awfully skinny and I thought, 'Holy cow this thing is long! This ain't a dad-gum catfish.' ''
Since he had eaten eel before, Rollin planned to do the same with the large creature he caught on a special concoction of shrimp, garlic and salt — bait he and fishing buddy Michael Grisham had devised.
He checked the Internet that night to see if he could find instructions on how to clean and cook the eel. He came across a picture of the Alabama state-record American eel.
After checking the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Fishing Guide, Rollin saw that the state record was 4 pounds, 8 ounces in Watts Bar in 1980.
"I hadn't weighed it but I was like, shoot, I know this thing weighs more than any 4 pounds just by holding it,'' Rollin said.
The next day he took the eel to TWRA headquarters in Nashville where officers weighed it and confirmed it was a state record. That's when Rollin decided not to eat the eel. He plans to have it mounted instead.
The largest American eel ever caught was 9 pounds, 4 ounces in 1995 in Cape May, N.J.
Considering the size of Rollin's eel, it could be 10 years or older, TWRA biologist Mike Bramlett said.
"They mature anywhere between five and 10 years,'' Bramlett said. "And the lifespan is pretty high. Twenty-five-years-old is common."
The oldest captive eel ever lived to be 88 years old.
Rollin said he was surprised to learn that all American eel are catadromous, meaning they spawn in salt water and live as adults in fresh water.
"Even the one I caught this far away from the ocean, when it would have come time for it to spawn it would have returned to the ocean,'' Rollin said.
Not much is known about American eel in Tennessee because they are seldom seen, Bramlett said. Eel are on TWRA's "in need of management" list.
"That means we really need more data on it,'' Bramlett said. "We just don't have it at this time on the eel. So we can't say for certain what is the population or much else about them out there."
Ellie
Ex-Marine catches unexpected state record: Eel
By MIKE ORGAN
Staff Writer
CARTHAGE — Kelly Rollin Jr. thought he'd seen his last eel when he left Okinawa, Japan, on a tour with the Marines in 2002.
He was quite brave when it came to eating while abroad and willing to try all types of fare from the ocean, including eel.
"I can't remember exactly how I ate the eel, raw or cooked,'' Rollin said. "I ate so much different stuff out of the ocean — some eat-able and some not."
That is why Rollin, 32, was more than a bit shocked when he landed the largest eel ever caught in Tennessee recently while fishing at night in the tail waters beneath Cordell Hull dam.
It turned out to be a 40-inch American eel weighing
5 pounds, 11 ounces.
"It fought hard, I was expecting it to be a 20- or 30-pound catfish,'' Rollin said. "I got it up on the bank and saw the thing and it looked awfully skinny and I thought, 'Holy cow this thing is long! This ain't a dad-gum catfish.' ''
Since he had eaten eel before, Rollin planned to do the same with the large creature he caught on a special concoction of shrimp, garlic and salt — bait he and fishing buddy Michael Grisham had devised.
He checked the Internet that night to see if he could find instructions on how to clean and cook the eel. He came across a picture of the Alabama state-record American eel.
After checking the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Fishing Guide, Rollin saw that the state record was 4 pounds, 8 ounces in Watts Bar in 1980.
"I hadn't weighed it but I was like, shoot, I know this thing weighs more than any 4 pounds just by holding it,'' Rollin said.
The next day he took the eel to TWRA headquarters in Nashville where officers weighed it and confirmed it was a state record. That's when Rollin decided not to eat the eel. He plans to have it mounted instead.
The largest American eel ever caught was 9 pounds, 4 ounces in 1995 in Cape May, N.J.
Considering the size of Rollin's eel, it could be 10 years or older, TWRA biologist Mike Bramlett said.
"They mature anywhere between five and 10 years,'' Bramlett said. "And the lifespan is pretty high. Twenty-five-years-old is common."
The oldest captive eel ever lived to be 88 years old.
Rollin said he was surprised to learn that all American eel are catadromous, meaning they spawn in salt water and live as adults in fresh water.
"Even the one I caught this far away from the ocean, when it would have come time for it to spawn it would have returned to the ocean,'' Rollin said.
Not much is known about American eel in Tennessee because they are seldom seen, Bramlett said. Eel are on TWRA's "in need of management" list.
"That means we really need more data on it,'' Bramlett said. "We just don't have it at this time on the eel. So we can't say for certain what is the population or much else about them out there."
Ellie