Lake Erie has been a top walleye fishing “go to” spot for many years. And a recent Ohio trawl survey of fingerling fish shows why Lake Erie walleye fishing will continue to be outstanding for years to come.
“Erie’s spring walleye hatch seems to get better every year,” Ohio’s Lake Erie Fisheries Administrator Travis Hartman tells Wired2fish. “Eight of the last 11 years Erie has had great walleye hatches during the spring spawn. Every year there seems to be more fish and they get bigger, too.”
The Ohio trawl survey targets small 3- to 4-inch-long walleye fingerlings to learn how good the spring spawn was on Erie. Hartman says the fish spawn in March and April and the trawl survey is done in August. Fingerlings are young-of-the-year walleyes that grow to catchable 15-inch size in about two years.
“This year’s hatch is the 6th largest we’ve recorded in the 38 years that we’ve run the trawl survey,” says Hartman, a 22-year veteran with the Ohio DNR. “The lake has a superb food chain base, with lots of zooplankton for walleye larva and fry to feast on…