SANDUSKY, Ohio — The weather this summer is creating great conditions for anglers on Lake Erie.
Eric Weimer, a fisheries biologist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said it’s because of the weather that’s put Lake Erie in great health. Thursday, Weimer and his crew were collecting and assessing the fish populations and harvests in Lake Erie.
“There’s two elements to it. There’s the human health aspect of the contaminate sampling, and there there’s making sure we are not harvesting our population of fish so we get good, safe harvest levels so we can maintain the quality of fish populations that we have,” said Weimer.
Anglers were on the lake trying their best to catch a bite.
“From the shore, it’s not that great. A few here, and a few there, but out on the lake, I imagine it’s pretty good,” said Steve Borzy of Sandusky. “I’m hoping for a good walleye season.”
Weimer said since the lake’s fish populations are so large, it’s a great time for people take advantage or even cast a line for their first time.
“The best news is that our walleye population in Lake Erie is really (as) good as we’ve seen it. We’ve had four or five years of really solid to excellent recruitment, which is the strength of the hatches each year for walleye, and that’s gotten us to a place where we have an estimated 116 million adult walleye in the lake,” Weimer said.
