Tips on How to Build an Eel Weir

Georges Henri Lizotte explains when and how he starts to build his weir

Georges-Henri Lizotte is standing in the collecting box of an eel trap. He is using a saillebarde to remove the eels from the box, and hands all of them to someone outside the box.

[Interviewer] When do you start cleaning out the holes, George? When do you start installing the poles?

Mr. Lizotte stops working and explains the different steps involved in building a weir.

[Georges-Henri Lizotte] You start by planting stakes in the ground.
After that, you install the piece of wood on top, the big bar on top.
After that, you put your branches at the bottom, followed by a plank.
After that, you add your poles on top, fastening them to the stakes.
Then you attach the net.
You install the bottom part, which is 4 ft. long, and after that you install the upper part.
People do it this way because if a lot of debris washes in and the thing breaks, it’s only the top part that breaks.
They’re putting it up now and are almost finished.
If the bottom part comes off, that’s it for you. You won’t be able to fish anymore.

The fisher returns to what he was doing and the camera zooms in on the leader of the weir that is being worked on by two men. One of them is driving a tractor whose bucket has been modified to serve as scaffolding. The other man is standing on this elevated structure and attaches the top of the nets to the poles.