End of an Era

Eel man Ray Turner became known for catching eels using a stone-and-wood weir and running a small smoke house

By William Sisson

January 8, 2024

The timeworn fish weir on the East Branch of the Delaware River may have trapped its last eel. The stone-and-wood structure in Hancock, New York, has been operated for decades by Ray Turner, whom locals refer to as “The Eel Man.” Turner also runs Delaware Delicacies Smokehouse, where he sells a variety of smoked foods, from cheese to shrimp and fish, including the eels he captures in his weir.

The weir has caught eels on the river for decades, according to Ben Rinker, 68, a fly-fishing guide who lives two miles downriver from Turner and has helped him maintain the structure. “The footprint has been there for a long time, at least 80 years,” and likely far longer, Rinker says.

Damage from ice and water requires significant repairs each year, the primary reason Turner didn’t operate it this season. “Geezerism,” Rinker quips. “It’s a ton of hard work.”

Eels and other fish are led into the weir by two 800-foot stone walls that converge on a wooden structure called the “rack,” where eels and other fish move along a series of slatted inclined planes and eventually are trapped in a wooden box. “They just follow the natural course of the river, down the chute and into the trap, and then into the catch box,” Rinker says. Fish other than eels are released.

Turner is something of a recluse, a throwback to earlier times and the analog world. Rinker says his friend is comfortable in own his skin, living a mostly solitary life. “He’s his own man,” Rinker says. “He’s a hard worker, and he’s resourceful. Not a man of convenience. His only modern conveniences are a coffee pot and a toaster.” And Turner is not apt to answer the landline.

Turner’s piercing eyes, long beard and Afghani pakol hat (a gift from a U.S. veteran) give him a stern countenance. “He’s good people, a good guy,” says Rinker, who notes that Turner served in Panama during the Vietnam War. “He’s happy with his life. What gives him a nice, warm feeling is when he looks at his woodshed, and it’s filled at the end of June.”

Turner does his thing, on his property, on his terms, Rinker says. If you come to buy smoked goods, you must first wash your hands outside and wear a mask inside. He might ask if you’ve had your Covid shots. “If you can’t adhere to his guidelines, you can find another place to go,” says Rinker, who operates East Branch Outfitters and is also a licensed cannabis farmer. “He’s no brag, just fact.”

The weir encompasses the breadth of the river except for a 20- to 25-foot slot along one bank to allow boats to pass. Rinker has calculated that the amount of stone used in the weir is roughly equivalent to the quantity carried by 100 dump trucks.

Rinker says he and Turner worked with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation some years back, which was interested in aging the eels Turner caught by studying the growth rings in their otoliths, which are found in the fish’s inner ear. Turner supplied the biologists with eel heads. Some of the eels were as old as 35 years.

The mature silver eels ultimately make their way into Delaware Bay, and from there begin their long migration to the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic, where they spawn.