European eel

Quick facts

How to identify it

A snake-like, muscular body with a single continuous fin running from the middle of the back around the tail to the vent, small pectoral fins and no pelvic fins. The skin is thick and slimy, with tiny scales embedded so deeply it looks scaleless; the lower jaw projects beyond the upper. Freshwater-resident yellow eels are olive-brown above with a yellowish belly and small eyes; silver eels, ready to migrate, turn dark on the back and bright silver on the flanks, with larger eyes and a sharper snout. The conger has a longer upper jaw, a dorsal fin starting just behind the pectorals and is strictly marine; the burbot has a chin barbel and two dorsal fins, and the lamprey has neither jaws nor paired fins.

Where it lives

Eels turn up almost everywhere water flows to the sea: lowland rivers and their backwaters, canals, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, marshes and drains, estuaries, coastal lagoons and inshore waters. They are bottom-dwellers that hide by day in mud, under stones, in root masses, sunken timber, weed beds and harbour walls, and they can wriggle overland through wet grass to reach isolated ponds. In rivers they favour slow, deep margins and silty bends; in lakes, the soft-bottomed bays and inflow mouths. Numbers are highest in the lower reaches of rivers and in waters with a clear route to the sea, but stocked and trapped populations persist far inland, including in the Danube basin, where naturally migrating eels only rarely arrive.

Season and behaviour

Eels spawn in the Sargasso Sea in spring, and the leaf-shaped larvae drift for one to three years before arriving as transparent glass eels on Europe's coasts, ascending rivers as pigmented elvers. In fresh water they grow slowly for 5–20 years and feed mainly at night and in low light, hunting by smell along the bottom. They are active only in warm water, roughly above 10 °C: the season runs from May to September, with the best fishing on warm, humid, overcast nights, during thunderstorms and when rising, coloured water washes food into the river. On dark, stormy nights in autumn the silver eels begin their downstream migration to the sea. In winter they bury themselves in mud and eat little, so winter catches are rare.

Fishing methods

Ledgering after dark is the standard: a simple running rig with a light lead, a short, strong hooklink of 15–30 cm and a small, sharp hook fished hard on the bottom in the margins, near cover or on the edge of a silty bend. Fish two rods with different baits, use a bite alarm or a bobbin and strike early — eels swallow bait fast and a delayed strike means a deep-hooked fish; a circle hook or a lift-and-drop bite that is hit on the first run avoids this. In lakes and canals a float rig fished on the bottom lets you spot the twitchy, unhurried bite. Keep line tension from the moment you hook one, because an eel that reaches a snag or knots itself around the line is lost. Bring an unhooking mat, a damp cloth for grip, long forceps and a large landing net.

Baits and lures

Eels hunt by scent, so smell matters more than looks. Lobworms, singly or in a bunch on a size 4–6 hook, are the universal bait; small dead fish such as bleak, gudgeon and roach, whole or as sections, select the bigger eels, and a fillet or head section leaks scent for hours. Maggots, prawn, squid strips, liver and fish-oil-soaked baits all work, and a little chopped worm or fish scattered in the swim draws eels along the bottom to your hookbait.

Tips from the bank

1. 01Fish the warm, muggy nights from late spring to early autumn — a thunderstorm brewing is the best forecast an eel angler can get.
2. 02Cast into the margins and along the bank, not into the middle: eels patrol the edges where the mud, roots and weed hold their food.
3. 03Keep hooklinks short and strong, and check them after every fish — an eel's spinning fight and abrasive jaws wear them out.
4. 04Strike on the first steady run rather than waiting; it saves deep hooking and gives you a fish you can release safely.
5. 05Keep the rod high and the eel moving towards the net; if it reaches a root mass or spins round the line it will be gone.
6. 06Unhook on a wet mat with a damp cloth over the eel's eyes to calm it, and cut the line at the hook if it is hooked deep.
7. 07Release every eel you can — the species is critically endangered, and many waters now require it anyway.

Where to catch European eel

Waters where Shoalmap's fishing reports list European eel.

• Laguna di Ponente
• Narva jõgi - Narva
• Liqeni i Gramës
• Λίμνη Μεγαλόπολης-Λίμνη Τραπεζούντας
• Μονοδένδρι
• Fosso Vorga
• Bezыmяnnый
• VII. (Büdös-tói)-csatorna
• Arroyo de Valbueno
• بحيرة قارون
• نهر النيل
• Szelestei-patak
• Sacred Lake of El Kab (Nekheb)

Related species

• Conger eel
  Conger conger

  The night-hunting heavyweight of rocks, harbour walls and wrecks.

• Burbot
  Lota lota

  The only freshwater cod — a cold-water night hunter that bites best in winter.

• Wels catfish
  Silurus glanis

  Europe's biggest freshwater fish — a night-feeding giant of deep, slow rivers.

• Black bullhead
  Ameiurus melas

  The small, spiny, invasive American catfish that bites on almost anything.

Frequently asked questions