These Eel-Bucks were picturesque things. They are placed generally in Backwaters out of the Course of the regular Navigation, in parts where the Stream runs very sharply; a Stage is raised up like a little Wooden Bridge, on the Down-stream side of which a Set of Square Frames like Gallows is erected; up these Frames the Eel-Baskets are raised by small Wooden Windlasses. When the Baskets are up, there is just room for a Boat to pass through the Square opening underneath; all the passages of the Water above are fenced off, so that the Fish are forced to go through the Bucks on their way down, the Backwater becoming a sort of Funnel, with the Baskets as Strainers at the end of it. There is often a small Passage at the side, through which a Boat can get past the Bucks.
The Fine Art of Trapping Eels: The smaller Traps being known as ‘grig-wheels’, or ‘ground-wheels’ particularly in the South, in Official Documents like the Thames Conservancy Acts. In times past small Eels were known as Grigs by the River Men & ‘weel’ may be derived from a Saxon word for a Wooden Fish Trap, also used for any Deep Pool or Eddy in a River, the sort of place where eels might be got. The biggest Traps were called ‘Bucks’, the name for any large Basket – although Big Traps were also known as Pots. Their Spirit lives on in the Small Island on the Thames, Buck Ait, on the Stretch above Shiplake Lock near Sonning. In the 19thC, the Bucks on the Shore of the Island & in St Patrick’s Stream on the opposite Bank a little way Upriver were a Hazard to Navigation. If a River had eels, it had Traps, which meant that they were found almost everywhere: at one time they were common on the Chalk Streams. The curvaceous Works of Wicker Art that were once the Trademark of each Family that made them.
eel Trappers were a varied lot. Millers knew very well how much money there was to be made from Eels & they didn’t miss a trick, which is understandable, given that all they had to do was lean over & pull up their Taps out of the Race & on a good night, there might be a thick knot of black gold writhing around inside, ready to be Sold with the Flour in the morning. Money for nothing & more to be had tomorrow, though it was a Seasonal Catch & dependent on the weather, dark windy autumn nights being the Miller’s Prayer. Others were faced with a more difficult choice. Upstream & down of a 19thC Mill an Otter in search of dinner might come across a Grig Weel or 2, usually shaped like large Crayfish Baskets that could be Bought, Baited, Weighted & Stoppered for 7s-6d each. These items were made with wide circular Mouths & one side flat so that they laid comfortably on the bottom & although sometimes they were tied to a Stake in the Bank with a piece of Twine, very often the position was marked with no more than a snapped Branch or a Knot in a Reed.
The 2nd Cone is usually only just large enough to admit a good-sized Eel, the sharp edges on the Soft Willow Canes bending to let it in, but making it difficult for the Fish to find its way back; the more sophisticated Traps use a cunning arrangement of Willow ‘Petals’ that separate to allow the Eel through on the way in, but completely Bar its way Back out. When the Trap is lifted, the Owner holds a Sack over the ‘downstream’ end, releases the Bung & pours his Catch out. It is one of the most efficient ways of catching fish ever devised, given that a well-made Trap could be expected to last 2 or 3-Seasons if the Owner remembered to dunk it in the Water occasionally during the Summer to stop it drying & splitting. Considering how little effort was involved & there must have been worse ways of living, but if you wanted to catch eels on a Commercial Scale, you needed to build a Stage & mount a Team of 6–eel Bucks.
Fish & Flour go together as Bye-products of nearly all our large Rivers. The combination comes about thus: Wherever there is a Water-mill, a Mill Cut is made to take the Water to it. The larger the River, the bigger & deeper the Mill Cut & Dam, unless the Mill is built across an Arm of the Stream itself. This Mill-dam, as every Trout-Fisher knows, holds the biggest Fish & where there are no Trout, or few Trout, it will be full of big Fish, while in the Pool below there are perhaps as many more. Of all the food Fishes of our Rivers the eel is really far the most important. He flourishes everywhere, in the smallest Pools & Brooks as well as in the Largest Rivers & grows up to a weight of 9-lb or 10-lb & sometimes, though rarely, more. His price indicates his worth & never falls below 10d per lb. Consequently he is valuable as well as plentiful & the Millers know this well. On nearly all Rivers the Millers have eel-Traps, some of the Ancient sort being “Bucks,” made of Withes & worked by expensive, old-fashioned Machinery like the Mill Gear. Another & most Paying Dodge of the Machine-made Order is worked in the Mill itself & makes an Annexe to the Mill-wheel.
Made from woven Willow, they were lowered into the River during the Season when Eels were caught in the Basket.
Grigs were weighted with a Flat Stone at either end & the standard method of Fishing them out was to use a Boathook or a Grapple, which made retrieving them a slightly chancy business, but the chance was worth taking. Grigs were laid at Dusk with the Mouths facing Downstream, the idea being to catch small Eels on their way upstream, attracted to a Bait of Gudgeons or Fish Gut.
The last ones Built in the traditional style with Wooden Frames vanished so long ago because for such an efficient Instrument, there was something indecently Sensual about them. Stages had to be carefully placed because although they could be very Productive, the Season lasted 3-months late spring till Autumn at most – unlike Grigs, the Mouths of Bucks faced Upstream, because they were used to catch migrating Adult Eels. The ideal place for a Stage was where a strong Current formed as a big River Split around an Island – hence the Obstruction caused at Bucks Ait, or by the Set that used to exist just below the Railway Bridge at Maidenhead. Bucks mounted on Stages were the largest sort of eel Traps made, most of them fully 9 or 10-ft long, with yawning mouths & a Siphon woven in at right angles near the Downstream end in which the eels would Hide from the Current. When the run began in October, the eel Men would go out each afternoon & lower the Bucks using a Windlass, the Frame that Held the Buck sliding down in a groove between the Stage & movable Posts called ‘Rimers’, the bottom ends of which were slotted into Staples fixed into the base of the Stage. Raising & Lowering Bucks was usually a 1-Man job, but in very heavy Water, an extra hand might be needed to help push the Traps Underwater using Poles braced against the Frames. The theory had it that most Eels were taken between 9 & 12-pm & when the Bucks were raised in the morning, each was emptied by pulling out a Pin that held a Wicker Stopper over the finely woven end of the Buck. On a good night, the take from a Team of 6-Bucks could Top 56-lbs, which, considering that eels Sold for a 1/- a lb in the 1870s, wasn’t bad money at all.
Bucks were such heavy things that they were normally left mounted on the Stages all year round. Made as they were from Green Willow, the colour of the Baskets varying from Olive Green to Brownish-Purple & set against the weathered Timber of the Frames, many Sets were extraordinarily Picturesque.
Eel Traps were such a commonplace, pictures of Bucks mainly turn up as a handful of Engravings, although the River & Rowing Museum at Henley has Images buried in their Collection. Even in their heyday, these Traps seem to have been subject to something of a Conspiracy of Silence, with the result that now, it is as if Eel Bucks did not exist and the name is at risk of Extinction.
The European Eel has been listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2008 due to dramatic declines in abundance recorded across all stages of its Life Cycle & much of its natural Range. For instance, monitoring of the Upstream Migration shows that Recruitment of Young Eel into the River Thames & other European Rivers is only at approximately 10% of what it was Prior to the 1980s.
Eels (Anguilla Anguilla) are born in the Sargasso Sea & it takes them around 3-yrs to reach UK Waters as tiny transparent Elvers known as Glass Eels. Moving upstream en masse (once known as the Elver Run), the pigmented Elvers disperse into Freshwater Habitats where many will spend the majority of their life, growing over many years as Yellow Eels. As they Mature, they begin to transform into Silver Eels. Silver Eels only reach full maturity during the 6-month journey back to the Sargasso Sea; this downstream migration of the Sea-bound Silver Eel happens in the Autumn. They can live to be 100-yrs old. It took 100s of years of Research to piece together the puzzle of the Eel’s Life, & it was not until 1920 that Johannes Schmidt discovered the probable location of where European Eels Spawn. He Trawled the Atlantic Ocean over many years looking for smaller Larvae until he established that their life must begin within the Sargasso Sea. Much of the Eel’s life is still a Mystery to Scientists; no one has ever seen them Mate or successfully tracked an Adult Eel’s return Migration all the way back to where it is believed they Spawn.
I was much interested one day in May, in watching the 1,000s of small eels which were making their way up the River. It was some distance from the Mouth, and where the Stream, confined by a narrow Rocky Channel, ran with great strength. Nevertheless these little Eels, which were about 6-ins long & as large round as a Quill, persevered in swimming against the Stream. When they came to a Fall, where they could not possibly ascend, they wriggled out of the Water & Gliding along the Rock close to the edge, where the Stone was constantly Wet from the Splashing & Spray of the fall, they made their way up till they got above the difficulty & then again slipping into the Water, they continued their Course. For several hours there was a continued succession of these little Fish going up in the same way; & for more than a week the same thing was to be seen every day. The perseverance they displayed was very great, for frequently, although washed back several times, an eel would always continue its efforts till it managed to Ascend. Towards Winter they are said to Descend the River again, in equal numbers. Trout & many Birds feed constantly on these small eels, catching them with great ease in the Shallows.
One summer day I was amused by watching the singular proceedings of 2– Lampreys in a small Ditch of clear running Water near my house. They were about 6-ins in length & as large round as a Pencil. The 2-little creatures were most busily & anxiously employed in making little triangular heaps of Stones, using for the purpose irregularly shaped bits of Gravel about the size of a large pea. When they wished to move a larger Stone, they helped each other in endeavouring to Roll it into the desired situation: occasionally they both left off their Labours & appeared to rest for a short time & then to return to the work with fresh vigour. The object of their Building I am not sufficiently learned in the natural history of the Lamprey to divine; but I conclude that their work had something to do with the placing of their Spawn. I had, however, a good opportunity of watching them, as the Water was quite clear & shallow & they were so intent upon what they were at, that they took no notice whatever of me. I had intended to examine the little heaps of Stones which they had made, but going from home the next day put it out of my recollection & I lost the opportunity. It seems, however, so singular a manoeuvre on the part of Fish to build up regular little Pyramids of Gravel, bringing some of the Stones from the distance of 2-ft against the current & rolling them to the place with evident difficulty, that the Lampreys must have some good reason which induces them to take this trouble. It is a great pity that the habits of Fish & Animals living in water are so difficult to observe with any degree of exactness.
Aston Rowant & Chilterns Spring Line Villages 