CLEVELAND — Fishing in Lake Erie is a big part of the economy in northern Ohio. That’s why a new Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) limit on how many fish a single person can haul in per day is tough news for those who fish for fun and for a living.
Along the pier in Huron, Michael Breay baited his hook.
“I call this a river rig; we’re just tight-lining this off the bottom here on the river. We got some shiners, emerald shiners here going on. They’re kind of in small quantities these days,” Breay explained.
He casted his line — one of his favorite things to do since childhood.
“Fishing out here, and fishing anywhere, is therapy for us,” said Breay. “I grew up out here; it’s something about being on or near the water just relaxes you. How’s that? It keeps me sane.”
Breay runs a fishing social media group called Church of Perch, which has more than 7,000 members. So when major fishing news breaks, he’s one of the first to know.
“At first, my phone starts blowing up, you know what I mean? It’ll be ringing out of my pocket thinking that maybe something national security happened. But people go crazy and they’ll want to tell me about it.”
ODNR’s Division of Wildlife will drop the daily yellow perch limit from 30 to 10 starting May 1 from Huron to Fairport Harbor. It said it needs to act quickly for the low yellow perch population to improve. ODNR said there’s several factors contributing to the decline in the central basin of Lake Erie. It said that most perch are hatching eggs in the western region, and recent mild winters also contributed to the decrease.
“When we get our hardest winters, we tend to see the best perch hatches following those hard winters. So it’s part of the story, too. If you don’t get the right winter conditions, if you don’t get the right amount of ice cover and length of ice cover as far as time, it potentially impacts the timing of spring conditions and the success of the perch hatch,” said Travis Hartman, the Lake Erie Fisheries Program administrator for the Division of Wildlife.
The news can be aggravating for those who fish and make a living in the area.
“The knee-jerk reaction when it first came out was crazy. People just rage and people (are) mad. What’s the cutoff line? How are they going to do this? Where’s the perch? Why are they not doing things about it?” said Breay.
But with walleye populations still high and other regions staying at a 30-perch limit, the pope of the Church of Perch is optimistic this can still be a good season if fishermen and women make the right adjustments.
“It’s all going to be good. You just gotta be smart, get to the ramps early, get your bait the night before, avoid the crowds, then on the eastern end, I don’t know. I mean, you get three guys on a boat, you get 30, so you know that’s a lot of perch for down there. It’ll be good!”
The Church of Perch is praying for conditions to improve so those who love to fish can cast a line with no worries.
