The lake derives its name from the Erie tribe of local Americans who lived along its shore. The rest of its water comes from rain. Lake Erie is the least deep of the Great Lakes and is particularly in danger of irregular water levels.
The lake has good temperatures and is the most productive of the Great Lakes, and the Lake Erie walleye fishery has been reputed as one of the best in the world.
The lake has been the source of great industrial development through waterborne navigation, commerce, power production and manufacturing. An examination of the eating habits of walleye first requires an understanding of the fish itself.
As they grow, the diet of walleye changes very rapidly from invertebrates to fish. According to Fletcher, he was happy when he got wind of the hatch. Fletcher said people from all over the nation travel to fish Lake Erie. Each year, fisheries managers in Ontario and Ohio get together to figure out how many new walleye there are in Lake Erie.
They target, in late summer and early autumn, the fish that hatched earlier in spring. Ohio biologists conduct about 40 trawls in the Western Basin. Maddie Mesnard happily tows a small ice fishing operation on Lake Erie.
Fisheries managers with Ontario and the other Lake Erie states will meet in late winter to set the total allowable catch for the next season. In Ohio commercial netting of walleye is prohibited — walleye are taken only by hook and line anglers.
Drouin said biologists are especially pleased because numbers have been high for multiple years. I wish we could take credit for it but it was all Mother Nature. Based on models of the combined research efforts, Hartman speculated, there could be a population of million walleye in the lake. Or more. Trolling is a technique where rods are set on a boat that moves very slowly, usually between 1 and 2 mph, and baits are pulled behind.
Sometimes a boat carrying six passengers could have 12 or 14 lines in the water at one time. Anglers grab a rod and reel it in once a fish is hooked. Twice as many rods can be used and more water is covered. And most anglers on the lake are trolling nowadays. Recent hatches will provide catchable walleye for the next decade. Most of my customers like to have a fishing rod in their hands the whole time. My excitement overwhelmed me. Since I was able to respond to the feel of the bite and set the hook, I thought perhaps I was missing fish on the static rod in the holder, so my new plan was for a rod in each hand.
Sure enough, the disruption in the water from the motor turning on had the fish going after both lines. After about 10 minutes of nonstop bites, the action completely halted again.
We repeated this process over a nine-hour period on the water, moving locations a couple of times until the bite eventually stopped for good. With 40 impressive perch in our cooler, we wrapped up the day with high-fives and headed back to start cleaning them all. Releasing a nice walleye. Besides perch, many anglers head to Lake Erie for the prized walleye.
Walleye require different bait and fishing methods. Strict bag limit and size regulations for walleyes keep the fish populations in Lake Erie in check.
It's one of the reasons that the walleyes in these basins are able to grow to such large sizes. Walleyes in other states don't typically grow to the size of Lake Erie walleyes and therefore result in bigger freezer bags of filets.
Many walleyes caught range from three to five pounds and oftentimes over 15 inches long, the state minimum for keeping them. But Lake Erie walleyes grow even bigger and are quite exciting to catch and eat. The Ohio Division of Wildlife has a Fish Ohio program that rewards anglers with commemorative lapel pins for significant catches that must meet qualifying sizes for the various species. Walleyes are schooling fish. Some of them stick closer to shore year-round, and others migrate from shallower waters in the Western Basin in the winter and spring then move to the Central and Eastern Basins in the summer and fall as temperatures rise.
There are various techniques used for getting bait into the strike zone for walleyes. All Lake Erie anglers have their own preferences when it comes to the use of planer boards, divers, downriggers, weighted spinners, or flatlining while targeting walleyes.
During our second day out on Lake Erie during a September visit, we targeted walleyes in the Western Basin with mild results, as the fish seemed to be schooling slightly east of our location.
We used side planning boards to maximize the number of lines we could launch. We also used divers and downriggers in some locations to get lures of various colors into the spread of options on our line to see what the walleye would respond to. Lake Erie lends itself to year-round fishing for perch and walleye. As long as conditions are favorable, ice fishing for both is quite exciting and adds a layer of challenge for anglers who enjoy fishing for these species.
One of the best places to ice fish for perch and walleye is near South Bass Island. A short charter flight is easy to catch from Port Clinton to the island, and during the winter, a few bed and breakfasts stay open to cater to anglers. It is especially critical to hire a guide for ice fishing who consistently checks ice conditions before your trip and during the day as you fish in the shanty. Just as weather conditions can change rapidly on Lake Erie during the spring and summer, they do in winter as well, with temperature fluctuations that can cause unexpected ice melt, presenting a danger to anglers.
Every year, inexperienced anglers are rescued from Lake Erie when they go adrift while ice fishing. You should only trust a seasoned and recommended guide who is obsessed about ice conditions and your safety. There is a lot to know before perch and walleye fishing on Lake Erie so that you have the most productive experience. Here are six things to know when planning your trip, so you can return ready for the best fish fry of your life.
Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues. Cooler full of freshly caught perch Photo Copyright: Anietra Hamper. Lake Erie fishing is exciting, and you will relive the trip with every bite of perch and walleye that you cook for dinner, but there are some key things to know before you go.
First things first: educate yourself on the Lake Erie fishing regulations. Since bag limits are reviewed each year, it is important to know what they are for the species that you are targeting, as the regulations are strict. Anglers and captains should be checking fish sizes, and if they are questionable, it is best to throw them back.
Better safe than sorry. As they filter food out of the water, they also filter other contaminants like PCBs and heavy metals. Their bodies cannot digest these contaminants, so these toxic chemicals are simply stored in the body tissues of the mollusks. Other fish eat these mollusks by the thousands, and the same thing happens.
When the biggest fish of all eat those fish, they also absorb all those harmful chemicals and store them in their muscle tissues. This is when it becomes dangerous to humans, because these large game fish have eaten all the contaminants that millions of mollusks have filtered out of the water. These fish are not safe for humans to eat, because their bodies are full of toxins.
The truth is that all of the fish in Lake Erie are safe to eat. But, some of them should only be eaten about once a month, and a few should be eaten less frequently than that. Years ago, Lake Erie was extremely polluted, so badly that some of the rivers that fed it actually caught fire from all the chemical wastes.
Thankfully, the government on federal, state, and local levels spent millions of dollars to clean up the worst of the pollution, and things have improved dramatically over the last few decades. Unfortunately, some of the toxins that were dumped into the waterways do not break down quickly.
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