We used to catch yellow/adult eels in the river at home fairly regularly growing up. Anytime you were after catfish, you'd occasionally catch them. They're quit

We used to catch yellow/adult eels in the river at home fairly regularly growing up. Anytime you were after catfish, you'd occasionally catch them. They're quite tasty! I can definitely see why they'd be considered valuable. Sadly, they're a lot more rare now. I don't recall the last time I saw one... It's probably been 20 years... From what I understand, the American eel population started coming under intense commercial fishing pressure in the 90's and especially after 2011, when the tsunami from the Tohoku earthquake essentially wiped out the Japanese commercial eel fishing industry. Couple that with the KY lake dam we're behind, and a lot fewer make it into the rivers at home. (The dam does have locks and fish ladders, but it's a significant barrier.) It was always wild to me to see them and know it was a fish that had migrated from the Atlantic ocean, into the gulf, up the Mississippi, around a large dam, and made it to middle TN.