‘New dimension’
Anglers can try different strategies to catch walleye in Lake Erie shallows before their annual migration
ERIE, Pa. — The eastern horizon blazed a brilliant orange at sunrise. Just outside Presque Isle Bay, Lake Erie’s waters were fertile and tinted green with the burgeoning aquatic plants of spring. A light wind from the west stirred the surface and pushed dark storm clouds.
Conditions were right for a morning walleye trolling trip with one important exception: It was May 31, weeks before the annual migration that will bring walleye from western Lake Erie spawning waters to Pennsylvania and beyond.
On this morning, Captain Steve Small of Beaver County took his 31-foot Tiara yacht on a cruise to scout the near-shore walleye potential before the western wave arrived. Mate Lenny Fritzley, also of Beaver, put out the planer boards and rigged the rods with deep-diving 5- and 6-inch crankbaits in chartreuse and orange, while Mr. Small checked the water depth, 8-14 feet, and temperature, about 3 degrees cooler than the optimal 62 degrees.
Between 6:30 and 7:45 a.m., we boated two nice walleye of 29 and 27 inches, lost another and released a 20-inch smallmouth bass and two sheepshead. Exploring waters in the 20-30 feet range, we didn’t have a strike. At 11:30 a.m. we powered down to control the wake as we motored back into the bay.
“That tells me what I need to know,” said Mr. Small. “They’re right on the bottom in less than 20 feet. The water is still a little cool. Another week, when it gets up to 62 degrees, these fish will be on fire.
“Charter operators, local fishermen, we’ve known for a long time that we could catch walleye weeks or months before the migration got here from the west,” said Mr. Small, as the boat chugged past the Hammermill smokestacks. “We knew it, but we couldn’t prove it.”
With no scientific basis for the existence of a resident walleye population, their pre-migration catches were just fishing stories.
In 2016-17, wildlife agencies in Ohio and New York launched GPS telemetry studies that confirmed the existence of walleye that spend their lives in Lake Erie’s eastern waters. In 2018 the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission launched i-Tag, a similar study funded by fishing organizations. Led by biologist Mark Haffley, researchers capture walleye and surgically implant GPS tracking devices. Receivers dropped in a grid on the lake floor gather information, rise to the surface and are collected and analyzed. Using newer, more sophisticated telemetry equipment than was available to other states, the Pennsylvania study charts the movement of individual walleye, date and time, depth and other data. A second tag implanted under the skin alerts anglers that they’ve caught a research specimen.
Two years into the threeyear study, new information has emerged about the lake’s eastern walleye. The findings could influence the strategies and techniques of charter operators and smallboat anglers.
In 2019 and March of this year, Mr. Haffley shared iTag information with anglers at Great Lakes Walleye University, an annual seminar Mr. Small organizes for the Erie Pennsylvania Charter Boat Association.
“Mark was the speaker everybody wanted to see,” Mr. Small said. “He’s got a big monitor that shows the movements of all these tagged [walleye] residents. They’re not where you’d expect them to be.”
The resident fish spawn at or before ice-out on rocky shoals, generally in less than 15 feet of water. Some stay nearby year-round despite rising water temperatures; others move to deep waters off Long Point, Ontario, in summer and return every year to spawn at the same spot.
Spawning occurs at about the same time for the majority walleye population in the warmer, shallower waters of the lake’s western basin, roughly between Toledo and Put-in-Bay, Ohio. Several successful years of spawning in consecutive years have filled Lake Erie with an estimated 100 million toothy walleye. This year the fishery is expected to mirror its 2017-19 status, when the walleye catch rate for Pennsylvania anglers was three times the long-term average.
Typically the first waves of migrating walleye arrive off Pennsylvania shores in mid-June and are caught at 40 feet or shallower. As the lake warms, the walleye follow forage fish to deeper, cooler waters. By late July anglers may follow the fish several miles offshore in 7090 feet of water.
“That takes a lot of fuel, but that’s where the walleye go,” said Mr. Small. “It can be expensive. Now that we have proof that these residents are just off shore in 20-40 feet, maybe [anglers] will reconsider going farther out.”
As the first drops of a rainstorm splashed into the water May 31, Mr. Haffley met us at the dock. His study doesn’t include a population estimate of Erie County’s near-shore resident walleye, he said, but the number appears to be growing.
“We’re not sure why but there seem to be more now than when we started,” he said. “We need more research to give you an estimate.”
The three-year study will conclude this year.
Lake Erie is famous for its near-shore smallmouth fishing. Some walleye are caught incidentally by bass anglers, but large numbers of resident walleye haven’t been detected.
“In 20 feet of water, the walleye are mixed in with a lot of bass, perch, sheepshead and other fish,” said Mr. Haffley. “Walleye aren’t usually attracted to split-tails and other soft plastics used for smallmouths, and those areas are mostly fished by smallmouth guys. So they didn’t notice there were so many walleye there.”
He recommended approaching those nearshore smallmouth waters with walleye tactics — trolling or drifting plugs, spoons and worm harnesses.
“I don’t know if fishermen will use this new information, but at Walleye U they asked a lot of detailed questions,” said Mr. Haffley. “I think they believe the science. The charter captains might start trying it first and later the regular fishermen. I think it’s exciting. It adds a whole new dimension to walleye fishing.” Information about Mr. Small’s Small Program Fishing Charters is posted at smallprogramcharters.com. Anglers who catch a tagged walleye are asked to report the fish at 814-474-1515.