People come from all over Ohio and the world to fish Lake Erie. Locals know that walleye are more abundant this year than any fisherman can remember in a long time. Soon, anglers from elsewhere will catch wind that walleye are biting more and flock to the shores of Lorain, Erie and Huron counties.

“Over the years I’ve had men and women come from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Sweden and more places to fish our Great Lake,” said Captain Ed Abel who owns Abel’s Tight-Line Charters, based out of Lorain for 42 years. Abel is seeing a lot more anglers from all over Ohio and Canada having fun trying to tame Lake Erie while taking home quite a catch, but this summer the lake is extra busy.

“Due to warmer and longer falls in recent years you can usually fish much later into the season, if ice doesn’t form early and it hasn’t,” the seasoned mariner said. “The biggest mayfly hatch in years has also helped with more walleye.

“Walleye season used to slow down by mid-August around 10 years ago, but now the fishing season has recently been going until Christmas with the lake temperatures trending warmer much, much longer.”

Astonishing

“Lake Erie’s walleye production is way, way, way more than ever,” said Grafton resident Dave Kelch, retired associate professor at Ohio State University who spent his career researching Lake Erie for the Ohio State University Sea Grant Program.

“The amount of fish that spawn in the spring in the Western Basin of Lake Erie around Maumee Bay has been astonishing,” Kelch added. “As the water temperature warms, schools of walleye head to Vermilion and Lorain creating great fishing, then onto Pennsylvania and New York.

“As Lake Erie gets warmer earlier and stays warmer longer, more fish spawn, therefore more fish are hatching than ever, year after year,” he said.

Drone fishing catching on

If you’ve seen mysterious bright muti-colored blinking lights hovering low over the water not far from shore, it’s called drone fishing and it’s catching on.

“Anglers tie their fishing line to the drone, fly it over the water, drop bait and fish are drawn to the glistening lights,” Abel said.

“Drone fishing on Lake Erie is just another piece of equipment to catch fish and it’s quite creative,” Kelch said.

As a retired professor and nationally respected researcher Kelch said he had an, “Incredibly rewarding career on Lake Erie.”

What does Kelch do these days? “I fish and hunt, then I fish and hunt, then I fish and hunt some more,” Kelch said, smiling and laughing.