APRIL 15-17 WALLEYE BITE SLOW BUT IMPROVING

Fish three days running trips for Pooh Bear Charters. Walleye bite getting better but with the cold fronts and wind still not typical April success but some nice fish caught both at Niagara Reef and west of Kelly Island. Bandits producing more fish than reef runners 1.4 to 1.5 knots IB Frozen and Natural Perch best crank.

FIRST MATE IN TRAINING GREAT JOB  COLTON

APRIL 11-13 2016 FIRST THREE TRIPS OF THE YEAR SNOW SNOW AND MORE SNOW

April has been a tough month with the walleye bite varying from day to day based on the weather. First trip April 11 with team Nedved from Minnesota what a great bunch of guys. The first day was after a snow storm and I had to shovel snow from the boat so we could get out. We fished for three days using bandits on Niagara Reef and west of Kelly Island.

SPRING 2016 WALLEYE TRIP RESERVATIONS

Well,  its hard to think spring fishing is just around the corner and with the mild weather I have my fingers crossed hoping to be on the lake much earlier than last year. Here are two pictures from last April showing some nice walleye hawgs. Its time to make those reservations before dates close out,  get the wall hanger you always wanted. See you on the water.

2015 WALLEYE HATCH AS REPORTED BY THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH AND ODNR

Lake Erie and some of its denizens can both astonish and surprise even those who keep them close — perhaps especially those who keep them close.

Nearer from an organismic point of view than most to the enigmatic lake is Jeff Tyson, a Missourian who has worked as an Ohio Division of Wildlife fisheries biologist since 1994 and as Lake Erie fish management supervisor since 2013.

Two decades into a career spent studying the smallest, the warmest and the most meddled with of the Great Lakes, Tyson sometimes sounds more like an admirer than a scientist when pronouncing on what might remain the most biologically productive of the five.

“Lake Erie is still amazing to me,” he said.

What coaxed Tyson’s tribute last week were the findings about this year’s walleye hatch as ascertained by trawl surveys and subsequent number-crunching that concluded this month.

“Pretty decent for walleye, for sure,” Tyson said. “It’s the best hatch we’ve had since 2003, and a top-five hatch overall.”

The annual count goes back to 1987, late in the decade when the walleye population exploded and Lake Erie earned a reputation as the “walleye capital of the world.”

The brand didn’t seem at all hyperbolic when an estimated 100 million walleye saturated the lake and limit catches of 10 fish per day year-round didn’t seem extraordinary. For reasons not yet fully understood, the boom gave way to a long period of diminished returns.

Strong and successful walleye hatches occurred in 1994, 1999 and 2003, the latter among the best on record. The years since have been remarkable mostly for their run of mediocrity, as models indicate the walleye population comprising fish age 2 and older has slipped to some 24 million, a fraction of the number from 10 years before.

The 2015 hatch, however, should be a game-changer, at least for a while.

“This seems similar to the ’94 hatch,” Tyson said, “though we can’t put it into any kind of context yet.”

It will be two years before the 2015 hatch has any impact on sport fishing, though its influence will continue for a decade and longer. As for what happened to the 1994 class, Tyson said that hatch added some 20 million walleyes to the catchable fish population after two growing seasons.

When Tyson was asked what made a difference between this year’s successful walleye hatch and so many of its predecessors, he offered a one-word answer: “Winter.”

Gaining acceptance is the notion that Lake Erie walleyes best produce offspring after cold winters that allow the lake’s surface to freeze for a substantial time.

To be sure, the 2013-14 winter was colder and ice cover lasted longer than during the winter just past, yet its results were closer to average than to spectacular.

So why the different results?

The difference between this year’s production and last, Tyson said, suggests a distinction between the number of walleyes that hatch and the number that make it through a gauntlet of conditions that affect survival after the hatch. Those includes the levels of phosphorous, nitrogen and suspended silt resulting from spring and summer runoff, storms and water current, predation by competing species and, to some extent, the intensity of toxic algae blooms.

Despite consecutive winters during which Lake Erie’s surface froze, ice cover becomes less likely as the climate warms, meaning strong hatches might not occur with regularity. That doesn’t necessarily spell doom for walleyes, though it’s a cool-water species, as long as the lake is made fish-friendly enough to allow the young walleyes to survive when strong hatches do occur.

“One thing climate change means is a lot of variability,” Tyson said, meaning cold winters simply won’t disappear despite increasing global temperatures.

However, they and those big walleye hatches might be farther between.

outdoors@dispatch.com

LAST SATURDAY US WATERS WEST OF GULL SHOAL

Fished last Saturday in US waters for the first time since the blow two weeks ago. 6 man limit 37 walleyes all good eaters no hawgs. Ran night crawlers with green edge willow leaf blades pulling most of the fish. A north to south troll seam to work the best with a speed of 1.8 to 2.0 knots. August dates still available for walleye or perch charters 419-602-4486. See you on the water!

EXCELLENT FISHING CANADIAN WATERS DURING JUNE

 Here are some of the fish caught this June fishing in Canadian waters. Used the same program the entire month, night crawler harnesses with double willow blades while running 1.7 t0 1.9 knots. Fished east of middle island across the Canadian line 15 of the last 17 days, time for a three day rest.

LIMITED OUT LAST TWO TRIPS G00D EATERS

Fished east of south passage and limited out with 36 and 37 walleyes. Running all scorpion spoons, bite me, budman gold, pooh bear purple and jaeger bomb were the best colors. North to south troll at 1.7 to 1.8 knots. No hawgs but nice eaters.