Small walleye good sign for future of Lake Erie fishing

PORT CLINTON - Many of the walleye were young and too small to keep, but they did not stop biting for a big crowd of government officials from throughout Ohio who came to town for the 37th annual Governor’s Fish Ohio Day.

Ray Petering, Division of Wildlife chief for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said the fishing on Tuesday was among the best the event has ever had.

“The weather was perfect and the fishing was as good as we’ve ever seen for Fish Ohio Day, at least from a numbers standpoint,” Petering said.

Although Gov. John Kasich could not make the event, Lt. Governor Mary Taylor was able to attend and enjoy the fishing, saying she was lucky enough to have won the coin toss on who got to go.

In fact, Taylor caught the first walleye of the day on the charter she shared. It was such a good day on Lake Erie that Taylor described it as the sort of day you could “put on a postcard.”

“Today is one of those days that you understand why people come from all over to fish right here in Lake Erie,” Taylor said.

Dave Spangler, of Dr. Bug’s Charters and the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, said the day’s fishing was “hard to beat.” Despite so many “throwbacks” - a fish caught that is too small to legally keep under ODNR regulation - it was still a great sign of a healthy fish population.

“You had a good look at what our future is out there,” Spangler said of Lake Erie’s fishing. “You saw all those young walleye. Next year, gang, it’s going to be unbelievable out there - and for many years down the road.”

Thanks to some good, healthy hatches, the fish populations are recovering and getting back to where they are supposed to be, Spangler said. He also noted that it is a stark difference compared to the struggle they had last year to reel in the walleye during Fish Ohio Day.

The harmful algal bloom of 2015 was the worst ever recorded and caused a big hit to fishing in Lake Erie and the surrounding tourism industry associated with it.

Lake Erie tourism alone accounts for over $14 billion in economic impact for the state of Ohio, according to Larry Fletcher, executive director of Lake Erie Shores & Islands.

Spangler stressed, though, that the threat of harmful algal blooms in the future and other concerns facing the lake are not solved yet.

“We will not forget that we still have challenges in front of us,” said Craig Butler, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Butler said while the science is improving every day, experts do not have all of the answers to solve every problem. But they also don’t have the luxury of waiting around.

This is why Ohio committed to a 40 percent reduction in phosphorus and the Lake Erie Commission is close to finishing a clear, expansive plan on how they are going to get there.

“I’m looking forward to coming back next year,” Taylor said. “We’re going to have all those little fish we’re going to be able to haul in. We caught quite a few.”

“It’s already the best in the world,” Spangler said of angling in Lake Erie. “It’s going to get even better.”

jstinchcom@gannett.com

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Twitter: @JonDBN