Data was collected from four rivers in eastern, southern, and southwest England. Eels were captured monthly from May to September 2021 in the River Frome using back-mounted electric fishing (LR-24, Smith-Root, Vancouver, WA, USA). In the River Piddle, eels were captured weekly with a trap operated over 24-hour periods on an existing elver pass. Monthly monitoring traps installed over 24-hour periods were used to capture eels in the River Parrett from March to June in 2021 and 2022. Similarly, in the River Chelmer, eels were captured once a month between March and September in 2021 and 2022 using monitoring traps over 24-hour periods.