Lake Information for Lake Erie

In 2007, sport anglers made over one million trips to fish Lake Erie. Private sport fishing effort topped 5.0 million hours. This was an increase of 23% from 2006. Charter boat fishing effort was about 0.4 million hours; a 1% decrease from 2006 levels. Most of the private boat effort (63%) was directed at walleye, followed by yellow perch, 29%; and smallmouth and largemouth bass, 5%. White bass (0.3%) and steelhead (0.8%) were minor components of the open water sport fishery. Private boat anglers seeking anything that bites made up 1.2% of the 2007 estimated angler effort. Charter boat anglers mainly sought walleye (85%), followed by yellow perch (14.7%), then steelhead (0.2%), and smallmouth bass (0.1%). Sport harvest of walleye, steelhead, and channel catfish increased over the previous year, but declined for many other species.

The Ohio commercial fishery had a very good year in 2007, with a total harvest of 4.49 million pounds. The yellow perch total harvest (1.95 million pounds) was the highest on record in the trap net era (since 1984). The total dockside value increased to $5.3 million, mostly attributed to the $4.45 million yellow perch harvest. The harvest of most other commodity species declined; white bass (-30%); white perch (-12%); channel catfish (-11%); and freshwater drum (-22%). Lake whitefish harvest increased to 41,554 lbs, up 39% from 2006.