Lake Erie, Ohio - Reports, Lake Info, Pictures

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Latest Lake Erie Report

Western Basin Walleye fishing slowed over the past week, but there was still good fishing around the western basin. The best fishing was around... Continued

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Description:

Lake Erie is a Lake in Ashtabula, Ohio.

Have you fished Lake Erie? Help your fellow anglers out by giving a fishing report, some fishing tips or general information about Lake Erie.

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Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake (by surface area) of the five Great Lakes, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the Canadian province of Ontario, on the south by the U.S. states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, and on the west by the state of Michigan. The lake is named after the Erie tribe of Native Americans who lived along its southern shore.

Because it is the shallowest, it is also the warmest of the Great Lakes.

Lake Erie is primarily fed by the Detroit River (from Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair) and drains via the Niagara River and Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario. Navigation downstream is provided by the Welland Canal, part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Other major contributors to Lake Erie include the Grand River, the Huron River, the Maumee River, the Sandusky River and the Cuyahoga River.

The drainage basin covers 30,140 square miles (78,000 sq. km).

Fishing Description:

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.

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