Perch fishing on decline, walleye fishing remains good

SANDUSKY — Walleye fishing in Lake Erie has been great and should continue to be good — but yellow perch fishing has declined, one of Ohio's top fishing officials says. If you are a Lake Erie angler trying to catch yellow perch, "Things aren't as good as they were," said Travis Hartman, the Lake Erie fisheries program administrator in Sandusky for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife. Walleye fishing is excellent and seems likely to remain so, he said. In the central basins of Lake Erie, in Lake Erie from Huron to Conneaut, "We're not getting hatches," Hartman said. But in the western basin west of Huron, "We are getting hatches," Hartman said. The Register interviewed Hartman after the wildlife division released its August yellow perch hatch survey, which showed below average to poor results in the central basin but a good hatch in the western basin. "The division of wildlife's yellow perch surveys, completed during August in Lake Erie's west zone, resulted in an index of 380 perch per hectare, a standard measure of catch per area. This is the 11th-highest value on record and just below the 34-year average of 398 perch per hectare," a news release stated. The situation in the western basin is probably better than the Ohio survey suggests, Hartman said. He explained that Canada's Ontario province also carried out an August survey. Usually, the Ohio and Canada surveys in the western basin show similar results. But this year, they diverged. Ontario had "some of their highest perch catches they have ever seen," Hartman said. Hartman explained that it's easier to get a good hatch for walleye because they adjust for temperatures. Yellow perch spawn in a two- or three-week window every year, regardless of conditions, and it's rare that conditions are good all across the lake. "We very rarely get good hatches in both basins in the same year," Hartman said. As a result, perch fishing in the western basin is going to be good for the next few years on days when conditions are right. But in the central basin, "It is not going to get better. We are looking at tough fishing until we get hatches again," Hartman said.