Let's review what makes Lake Erie "The Walleye Capital of the World".
What makes Lake Erie fishing so unique-The southern most, warmest, shallowest, and most biologically productive of all Great Lakes. The reasons are many but almost all of the tributary streams flow inward to this lake and this produces more warm, cool, and cold water fish than all other four Great Lakes combined.
With such a bounty of quality walleyes to be caught you must have a formula in place to protect this resource among Sport Fisherman and the ongoing commercial fishers in Canada. The Lake Erie's Fisheries Resource act of 1998 states that sport fishers get the first opportunity to take the harvestable portion of the annual quota and commercial fisherman may be allotted the remainder.
The following rules are strictly enforced by our DNR and they include daily limits, minimum size limits, closed seasons, protected species and tackle restrictions. The science includes stock statistics determined by harvest, trawling and gill net surveys.
While the total number of walleye have declined from nearly 5 million fish harvested in the late 1980's to less than 2 million in recent years, the catch rates have remained excellent.
The 2003 walleye year-class continues to survive in good numbers and will produce trophy catches for years to come, possibly producing a record or two in Ohio. The 2014 hatch looks very promising and the commercial minnow captains claim they seen more baby walleyes in there nets than ever before including the amazing 2003 hatch.
For more information on Lake Erie Walleye Fishing visit the Erie Drifter website.
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