The highlight of the recent school holidays for my boys was our first try at eel netting on a family farm in Northland. After my 7-year-old fishing mad boy had spent hours trying to catch an eel on a hand line in summer when I was back at work, his auntie thoughtfully gave him a fyke net as a surprise gift - hoping that might reward his patience and determination.
Our winter trip up to the farm was our first chance to try it. Having zero knowledge of, or experience with, that kind of net, I did the obligatory YouTube search and found a video of someone using a fyke in the Wairarapa. Very helpful.
It had bucketed down like a typical Northland winter, flooding the stream that runs through the farm. So the next afternoon saw us beside a swollen, chocolate-milk coloured drain running from a swamp to the main creek - with me in my old neoprene fly fishing waders putting a chunk of rump steak into the end of the net, and attaching the net and also a plastic berley basket with a roast chicken frame in it (for extra luck!) to an electric fence standard.
Next morning the boys sprinted across the paddock in gumboots and wet weather gear to - beyond all expectations on my part - find seven eels wriggling in the end nearest the meat. What excitement and fun for the boys as they wrestled the eels and released them into the drain. And the wily elderly retired farm dog got a surprise breakfast of steak amid the excitement, when I had my back turned.
We all knew what we'd be doing late that afternoon. For our second attempt we chose a different side creek entering the now dropping main stream. It looked promising when I decided to slightly re-position the net five minutes after I set it, and there was already one eel inside. The next morning saw me struggling to haul out a net bulging with an astounding 21 eels - including some very sizeable ones. Again, they were released out of the open end and quickly slithered towards the water and down the bank to the creek amid shrieks from the boys about slime and instructions to "come back here, eel!".
I can report that absolutely no eels were harmed in the making of those indelible memories for our two boys.
Partly because I'm dubious about the eating quality of eels from that kind of muddy farm creek, and also because I have no clue about how to process them (soaking in water, then skinning, I've since heard). And I didn't have a smoker to hand.
But I'd recommend eel netting as one of the cheapest and most enjoyable rural pastimes for Kiwi kids who like the outdoors (and mums and dads too!).