Use a sheep to snare an eel

A powerful, winding estuary runs through the marshes below my house. It was a thrilling place to play when I was a child, and the deep, salty channel made for a handy escape route in my teenage years. The ebb tide draws everything downstream past the pub in the harbour, so my brother and I would often paddle our little boat down for an evening pint.

Salmon and sea-trout ride up this estuary to spawn in the hill streams and I used to try for them with a spinner when the rain came. I never had any luck in the brackish, murky water but I did once catch an eel on a hook baited with worms. It was purely an accident but the sight of an eel squirming and tying himself in knots at the end