OHIO — The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said the 2025 Lake Erie trawl surveys show that the walleye hatch was the sixth largest in the past 38 years, and the 2025 west zone yellow perch hatch was the seventh largest.
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The walleye hatch was above average in the western basin
As for yellow perch, they were below average in the central and east zones
Yellow perch was also above average for the western zone
ODNR explained that the annual trawl surveys show spawning success, as well as the survival of young walleye and yellow perch. From the results, biologists can predict how many fish will enter the catchable population as 2-year-olds in 2027.
Lake Erie is known as The Walleye Capital of the World, and with this year’s results, it’s adding more to its reputation. The 2025 western basin walleye hatch index was 128 fish per hectare — a standard measure of catch per area, ODNR explained. A hectare is about 2.5 acres. This is well above the average of 57 fish per hectare.
As for the central basin, the index measures 26 young walleye per hectare, which is above the long-term average of eight per hectare. This makes this index ranked fourth in the past 36 years.
For yellow perch, they were above average for the western zone (Toledo to Huron). The index showed 733 young yellow perch per hectare, which is above the average of 467 fish per hectare, ranking seventh in the survey’s 38 years.
For both the central (Huron to Fairport Harbor) and east zone (Fairport Harbor to the Ohio-Pennsylvania border), survey catches for yellow perch were below average.
“Variability in regional yellow perch hatch success is expected on Lake Erie because of the size of the lake, differences among basins and zones, and prevailing weather conditions,” ODNR said. “Hatch success is largely determined by the timing and availability of favorable conditions for both spawning and survival of newly hatched yellow perch in the spring and summer. Strong lake-wide yellow perch hatches are rare.”