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OUTDOORS: Walleye season brings uncertainty on Lake Erie
March 18, 2004
BY ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Walleye fishing in western Lake Erie will be a mixed bag this spring.
Michigan waters are closed to walleye anglers in April and May. Ohio waters remain open, but with a three-fish limit per day in March and April and six fish after that. Walleye fishing is closed in Ontario through May 7, and then six fish a day will be allowed with no minimum size limit.
The two-month closure in Michigan is controversial, and the controversy likely will increase next month, when Ontario decides what it will do about the commercial quota that accounts for 95 percent of the province's walleye catch.
Ontario has the last commercial walleye fishing on the lake, which infuriates American sportfishermen. They blame the netters for drastic decreases in the walleye population, though many scientists blame environmental factors, including a decreased forage base.
Because it owns 43.3 percent of the surface waters of Lake Erie, Ontario is allotted 43.3 percent of the walleye catch by the international commission that controls Great Lakes fishing.
Ontario already has reduced the commercial walleye catch by about half, although it has remained the same for the past three years. But commercial fishermen on the Canadian side are already grumbling about what they expect will be a further reduction to satisfy the four American states that border the lake. All have reduced the daily quota for sportfishermen, the length of the season or both.
Once Michigan's Lake Erie waters open June 1, the bag limit will be five walleye a day with a 15-inch minimum size, down from six fish and 13 inches last year.
Pennsylvania and New York closed their waters from March 15 through April 30. Both set a four-fish daily limit, with minimum sizes of 18 inches in Pennsylvania and 15 in New York.
Wayne Banycky, a charter captain who fishes walleyes out of Ohio ports in spring, said the new rules mean "that I'll see 1,000 more boats fishing around me, because with Michigan closed in May, all of those guys are going to come to Ohio waters."
Ohio has the longest Lake Erie shoreline on the American side and the biggest harvest quota. After allowing three walleye a day in March and April, Ohio will allow six the rest of the year. But Banycky said the weather in March and April is so uncertain that few people fish on Lake Erie.
"I do hear a lot of people say that because the Michigan waters are closed in April and May, they'll just go and fish the Detroit River," he said. "I think that's what everyone is waiting to see -- how the closures affect the fishery in the river."
The potential for increased traffic from neighboring states has not been lost on Ohio. It has increased the price of a daily fishing license, the kind bought by most people who go out on walleye charter boats, from $7 to $11. When I fish Lake Erie, I usually have at least three licenses in my pocket -- Michigan, Ohio and Ontario. We usually go where the best concentrations of fish are, and you can't be sure where that will be.
Even with Lake Erie's Michigan waters closed through May to walleye anglers, there still will be plenty of opportunity in Lake St. Clair and the Detroit and St. Clair rivers. The Michigan side of Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River are open all year, with a daily bag limit of six fish and a minimum size of 13 inches.
The Canadian side of those waters is also open all year, with the same six-fish limit, no minimum size and a maximum of one fish bigger than 18 inches.
Both sides of the Detroit River are open year-round. The daily limit on the American side is five fish with a minimum size of 15 inches. There is no minimum size on the Canadian side, but the daily limits are four fish in March and April and six after that.
Many Michigan anglers think that closing the state's Lake Erie waters will cause a harmful increase in angling pressure on walleye spawning in the Detroit River. Scientists say that won't happen because fishermen take less than 5 percent of the spawning run.
There is some potential good news in the walleye numbers. Fisheries scientists say the 2003 walleye spawning run was extremely successful. This run came during a cold, late spring, which some scientists think is crucial for good walleye spawning. The 2003 year-class will be of catchable size for Michigan anglers in 2005. And if this spring is as cold as the winter has been, the 2004 run that starts soon should produce another excellent crop of walleyes.
Scientists now think walleye population have always fluctuated pretty wildly. If they are right, the adult population estimate of about 11-million fish in Lake Erie could rocket back up quickly with a few years of good spawning, perhaps nearing the record numbers of more than 80 million.
What do you want to bet that would stop the whining?
Eric Sharp will speak on Michigan fisheries and the Great Lakes at 7 p.m. today at the St. Clair Shores Public Library, 22500 11 Mile (corner of Jefferson). Admission is free. Contact ERIC SHARP at 313-222-2511 or esharp@freepress.com
March 18, 2004
BY ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Walleye fishing in western Lake Erie will be a mixed bag this spring.
Michigan waters are closed to walleye anglers in April and May. Ohio waters remain open, but with a three-fish limit per day in March and April and six fish after that. Walleye fishing is closed in Ontario through May 7, and then six fish a day will be allowed with no minimum size limit.
The two-month closure in Michigan is controversial, and the controversy likely will increase next month, when Ontario decides what it will do about the commercial quota that accounts for 95 percent of the province's walleye catch.
Ontario has the last commercial walleye fishing on the lake, which infuriates American sportfishermen. They blame the netters for drastic decreases in the walleye population, though many scientists blame environmental factors, including a decreased forage base.
Because it owns 43.3 percent of the surface waters of Lake Erie, Ontario is allotted 43.3 percent of the walleye catch by the international commission that controls Great Lakes fishing.
Ontario already has reduced the commercial walleye catch by about half, although it has remained the same for the past three years. But commercial fishermen on the Canadian side are already grumbling about what they expect will be a further reduction to satisfy the four American states that border the lake. All have reduced the daily quota for sportfishermen, the length of the season or both.
Once Michigan's Lake Erie waters open June 1, the bag limit will be five walleye a day with a 15-inch minimum size, down from six fish and 13 inches last year.
Pennsylvania and New York closed their waters from March 15 through April 30. Both set a four-fish daily limit, with minimum sizes of 18 inches in Pennsylvania and 15 in New York.
Wayne Banycky, a charter captain who fishes walleyes out of Ohio ports in spring, said the new rules mean "that I'll see 1,000 more boats fishing around me, because with Michigan closed in May, all of those guys are going to come to Ohio waters."
Ohio has the longest Lake Erie shoreline on the American side and the biggest harvest quota. After allowing three walleye a day in March and April, Ohio will allow six the rest of the year. But Banycky said the weather in March and April is so uncertain that few people fish on Lake Erie.
"I do hear a lot of people say that because the Michigan waters are closed in April and May, they'll just go and fish the Detroit River," he said. "I think that's what everyone is waiting to see -- how the closures affect the fishery in the river."
The potential for increased traffic from neighboring states has not been lost on Ohio. It has increased the price of a daily fishing license, the kind bought by most people who go out on walleye charter boats, from $7 to $11. When I fish Lake Erie, I usually have at least three licenses in my pocket -- Michigan, Ohio and Ontario. We usually go where the best concentrations of fish are, and you can't be sure where that will be.
Even with Lake Erie's Michigan waters closed through May to walleye anglers, there still will be plenty of opportunity in Lake St. Clair and the Detroit and St. Clair rivers. The Michigan side of Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River are open all year, with a daily bag limit of six fish and a minimum size of 13 inches.
The Canadian side of those waters is also open all year, with the same six-fish limit, no minimum size and a maximum of one fish bigger than 18 inches.
Both sides of the Detroit River are open year-round. The daily limit on the American side is five fish with a minimum size of 15 inches. There is no minimum size on the Canadian side, but the daily limits are four fish in March and April and six after that.
Many Michigan anglers think that closing the state's Lake Erie waters will cause a harmful increase in angling pressure on walleye spawning in the Detroit River. Scientists say that won't happen because fishermen take less than 5 percent of the spawning run.
There is some potential good news in the walleye numbers. Fisheries scientists say the 2003 walleye spawning run was extremely successful. This run came during a cold, late spring, which some scientists think is crucial for good walleye spawning. The 2003 year-class will be of catchable size for Michigan anglers in 2005. And if this spring is as cold as the winter has been, the 2004 run that starts soon should produce another excellent crop of walleyes.
Scientists now think walleye population have always fluctuated pretty wildly. If they are right, the adult population estimate of about 11-million fish in Lake Erie could rocket back up quickly with a few years of good spawning, perhaps nearing the record numbers of more than 80 million.
What do you want to bet that would stop the whining?
Eric Sharp will speak on Michigan fisheries and the Great Lakes at 7 p.m. today at the St. Clair Shores Public Library, 22500 11 Mile (corner of Jefferson). Admission is free. Contact ERIC SHARP at 313-222-2511 or esharp@freepress.com
