Tony,
Did you ever try gaffing them in the fall at night as they run up the rivers?
We used to use a gaff hook that had 3 or 4 pairs of fish hooks soldered on to it. We would spread some sand on the bottom so we could see them. They generally would came in on the high tides of the new and full moons of September, October and November.
It was great fun. I used to go with a friend and his grandfather. They got the eels to eat and I got the skins to use on lures. I'd get a few eels for my Grandmother, but I didn't like the taste of them.
It would give you a bit of a scare when a 3 or 4 ft. eel would bump into the back of your wader in the dark stream at midnight....
There were guys that did it commercially and would get 300 - 500 lbs a night.
We speared eels thru the ice a few times. It was amazing how many there would be in a small area if you could find them.