Maine’s glass eel season opened Sunday. Above, is a Fyke net perched at the mouth of Surry Stream to trap migrating glass eels, sometimes called elvers, that will swim up the stream when the tide comes in. These nets, named after a 19th Century Dutch fish trap, apparently are the favored method of catching the transparent baby American eels. Below is an eel’s eye view of a trap:
Fyke (usually pronounced “Fick”) nets, basically, are large, thin-meshed funnel nets supported by long poles with an eel trap and capture bag at the end. They’re placed in the historic paths of the incoming eels that migrate here from the Sargasso Sea. Most of those that are caught here will be air-shipped to Asia, where they’ll be cultivated and sold as delicacies when mature.
These prized baby fish (yes, eels are fish) are seeking fresh water to mature and reside in. After several years, the adults will migrate back to the Sargasso area, breed, and die there. Many of their offspring mysteriously will return to American waters to have their fates sealed with a Fyke net or some other means. Under Maine regulations, the young eels also may be caught with a dip net or a “Sheldon eel trap,” which is a netted or screened box trap that is named after its Maine inventor.
The Maine glass eel fishery has been in decline for complicated reasons. There were only two Fyke nets at Patten Stream yesterday, while there were as many as seven in prior years. Meanwhile, Surry Stream has kept on churning.
(Images taken in Surry, Maine, on March 25, 2026.)