John,
I think I did get the point - your advice was a sure way to kill the eels
not keep them alive. I've done just what you said - a couple of inches of
water - and they soon depleted the oxygen and died.
Larry,
All your suggestions were right on except the direct contact of ice to eels.
Thats how I did it for years. I never had an eel stick to an ice cube. They
become moist and calm. It lowers their metabolism so they require less O2 also.
But here again you must have many holes in your inner bucket to drain the
water which the melting ice produces and the eel slime or they will die in
short order.
A friend who does a lot of eel fishing keeps quantities of eels alive for months
by placing them in a large cooler with 2 holes drilled in it - one for a hose
which is left to run very slowly into the cooler - the other hole is to allo
water to drain out. You probably need well water - no chlorine - to do this.
If a few die - no matter. Just rig them on a couple of 8/0 Siwash hooks and fish
them like a plug. You don't have to worry about deep hooking either.