Under the Great Bear; Amongst the Smell of Apple Wood Smoke One hundred and forty miles north of New York City, nestled in the rolling mountains of the Catskills, lies an eight-hundred-foot-long eel weir. At the apex of the wall rising out of the flowing waters of the East Branch Delaware River, bleached, twisted, and weathered sits a handmade fifty-foot-long wooden trap, referred to as the “rack”. This structure occupies the same area of the river that has had a weir on its riverbed for over a century. What is the contraption's purpose? To capture the American Eels that live in these waters. The engineer of the weir is an elderly fisherman in late his 60s. A stern-looking man with weathered skin, a smoky-colored beard down to his chest and always sporting a traditional pakol hat, a hat gifted to him by a US soldier when on tour in Afghanistan. Locals call him “The Eel Man” and he has been fishing river eel on the East Branch Delaware River right outside of Hancock, New York for over thirty years.
A veteran himself, serving in Panama during the Vietnam War, Ray "The Eel Man" Turner looked for ways to re-assimilate into civilian life. He began by working odd-job construction projects around the area. Over a few years following the death of his twin brother, Turner searched for a solitary life that led him to the eel weir and became its maintainer. Over a few decades, Turner has made his livelihood out of catching and smoking American river eel and selling it out of a small cabin with red peeling paint on his property. This year, however, the weir had experienced one of its most historically low harvests to date leaving Ray “The Eel Man” Turner contemplating hanging his waders up for good, closing his famous eel weir, and retiring from the eel business entirely.
This project is a glimpse into the unpredictability of life on the river, and the daily work that goes into running his famous smoke shop “Delaware Delicacies” as it stands for the moment with its doors open on the outskirts of Hancock, New York.
Selections of images published in "End of an Era" for Anglers Journal on January 8, 2024
Ray "The Eel Man" Turner looks upstream and checks the status of the weir and its wall. The 900 stones when paired with the natural power of the river create a hydraulic funnel that forces eel to his trap.
The afternoon sun falls over a map of the East Branch Delaware River in the Catskill Mountains in New York. The map displays the weir operated by Ray "The Eel Man" Turner that encompasses the breadth of the river and the various stream systems that feed into the river system that silver eels navigate south to Delaware Bay and eventually to the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic to spawn.
A bucket holds several dozen eels at Turner's smoke shop in Hancock, New York. A natural mucus, due to fear, coats the eels as they are transported to the freezer. The freezing period plays an important role in the smoking process, by naturally separating the mucus from the eels before smoking.
Photographs displaying "Eel Ray" over the years building his weir, cooking, and fishing, hang at the entrance of his smoke shop.
Hand-painted signs are placed along Rhodes Road, a dirt path that runs parallel to the East Branch Delaware River. Travelers follow this road in search of smoked eel at Turner’s shop “Delaware Delicacies Smoke Shop”.
Ray "The Eel Man" Turner cuts and packages smoked eel at his smoke shop on the outskirts of Hancock, New York during one of the worst eel harvests in recent memory.
Ray "The Eel Man" Turner shows off one of the many tags issued to him over the years. These tags were given yearly by the NYS to be displayed on the weir. Over time they were replaced with plastic ID cards.
In a holding pen next to the smoker of Turners’s shop live several eels caught during the first week of this year's harvest, with some ages ranging from 15-25 years, guesses Turner.
Ray "The Eel Man" Turner cleans the weir’s lattice panels of dead foliage and elodea. Over time this mix of the two creates a mortar-type compound that results in a clogged and ineffective trap.
Amongst a variety of goods from local businesses in the area and news clippings sits a painting of an American Eel on a shelf in the shop.
Under the dim light in his office, Turner reviews the shop's inventory before closing its door for the day. On this particular Friday, he sold the last batch of his smoked eel to customers from Buffalo, New York. He hopes to have a full trap by the night's end to keep up with the high demand for the coveted fish.
The rush of water from the East Branch Delaware River flows through Turner’s eel weir lattice panels. The weir has caught hundreds of eels on the river for decades.
Air-sealed packages of smoked eel being weighed and sold to a customer from Maryland at Turner's smoke shop in Hancock, New York.
Turner tends to a customer from Pennsylvania at his shop in the Catskill Mountains. When asked if he had a business card Turner says jokingly “People use cards because they want to grow their business, I want to slow it down”.
A view of a hand-painted sign for Delaware Delicacies and a sign that reads "NO DRILL, NO SPILL" greet customers seeking smoked eel at the entrance to the smoke shop in the Catskill Mountains.
Under the high midday sun, Turner uses a large net to scoop eels from a holding tank used to house recently caught eels in his weir. Once caught, the eels are placed into a cardboard box to be frozen and stored until he is ready to smoke them. This year catch numbers were historically low, hurting his shop's profits and his customers' demands for the fish.
Turner empties the holding tank of 60 eels, a low number during this time of year. After bagging, and boxing the eels are placed into a freezer to help remove the mucus that covers their bodies.
“Have you ever met someone that swam in the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean on the same day?” “Well, you do now!” Turner said chuckling as he told stories about his time stationed in Panama. As a veteran of the Vietnam War himself, his support for the military is displayed throughout his shop.
Turner prepares the final two smoked eels, from the season's low harvest, to sell at his smoke shop “Delaware Delicacies”.
Smoked eel is what Turner's Delaware Delicacies Smoke Shop is renowned for. Along with eel, his shop also sells a variety of smoked items such as salmon, shrimp, trout, duck, Cornish hen, and cheese.
Worn and sunbleached photographs showing moments on the weir over the years hang proudly in the entryway of Turner’s smoke shop.
Ray "The Eel Man" Turner outside his home on the outskirts of Hancock, New York in the Catskill Mountains.
Waters from the East Branch Delaware River flow through the lattice panels of Turner’s eel weir box. The river's force pushes the eel over the lattice panels and into tunnels placed beneath the steps. Once inside the tunnels, the eels follow the path of least resistance eventually making their way to the traps holding pen.
JOSÉ A. ALVARADO JR.
José A. Alvarado Jr. is a visual storyteller devoted to documenting cultural and social issues, as well as human interest stories in the US and Puerto Rico.