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Fifty years is just one shot in the timeline of our planet, but it’s more than enough time for one of Earth’s most remarkable comeback stories to come to fruition.
Once thought to be dead, Lake Erie is now very much alive with teeming populations of popular hunting fish that are attracting substantial interest from anglers across the United States and Canada.
Rainbow trout and smallmouth bass, prized by sport fishermen for their fighting abilities, continued to advance as Erie’s water became cleaner and fish populations- baits flourished.
But walleye are arguably the main draw for millions of anglers – and no place on Earth is a better walleye fishing hole than Lake Erie. The walleye world received more good news this week as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division issued a press release under the headline, “Fishing in the walleye capital of the world just keeps getting better.”
Indeed! Thousands of fishermen can vouch for this statement.
“Fishing for walleye in Lake Erie has never been more exciting thanks to several exceptional years of fish production in the West Basin” says the first line of the ODNR press release.
Mankind can take credit for helping walleye on their way home, with the Clean Water Act and better treatment of sewage and industrial wastewater helping Erie’s recovery.
But Mother Nature deserves a good pat on the back, of course, as the recent wave of highly productive spawning seasons has resulted in a kindergarten filled with golden kids who are no doubt the baby boomers of the fishing world.
As a baby boomer myself, I can relate to – especially from an eyewitness perspective of the Great Lake’s return to glory.
My dad bought a Starcraft Islander cuddy cabin cruiser in 1975 just as rumor started to spread that the Bass Island area had started producing some nice walleye catches for drift fishermen, Captain Dan Galbincea’s Erie Dearie and other heavy spinners forward with nocturnal caterpillars.
Lots of walleye collapsed on the deck of daddy’s boat. I have also reaped the rewards of the guiding expertise of Captain Jerry Abele, Captain Jim Perrine and several other Erie skippers over the years and have been fortunate enough to be an angler at aboard the pioneer boats of the Art and Rusty Lyon central basin.
The Lyon brothers were among the first to explore the untapped schools of deep-water walleye 10 miles north of Ashtabula and Conneaut.
Today, while many aspire to “The good old days”, the walleye population is as good as it has ever been in Lake Erie. At a meeting last week, Ohio fisheries biologists reported that the 2021 walleye outbreak was the fifth largest on record in the past 35 years.
They know this from trawl surveys at nearly 40 locations between Toledo and Huron.
Wildlife Division Chief Kendra Walker said the 21-year-old class will reach an exploitable size in 2023.
“Waiting for,” she said, “With an incredible string of strong outbreaks starting in 2015, there has never been a better time to fish Lake Erie. “
Scientific evidence is one thing, but the proof is in the catch, and Erie fishermen have caught it this year at an average rate of almost one fish per hour.
In addition, walleye the size of a trophy appear regularly.
Smiles from ear to ear from Erie’s walleye fans prove that the good old days are here and now.
Jack Wollitz’s new book, The Common Angler: A Celebration of Fishing, shares his life of fishing adventures. He loves emails from readers. Send a note to [email protected].
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