By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It should be a decent year for catching walleye on Lake Erie. Fish from the 2007 hatch will be on the hook this year; that hatch was better than originally thought, plus they’re growing well past the 15-inch length limit size.

The walleye fishing regulations are unchanged from last year, though rules affecting other fish, amphibians and reptiles were passed at the April meeting of the Ohio Wildlife Council, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.

“The walleye regulations on Lake Erie remain the same (15-inch minimum),” said Scott Hale, acting executive administrator of fish management research, Division of Wildlife. “They’re unchanged from last year. Yellow perch is still 30 fish a day – no matter where you fish in the lake.”

The process for developing those regulations involves much science and estimates of the size of the fish population, Hale said.

“When we crunch the numbers, working with our neighbors in the other states and the province of Ontario, we come out with a final number. Then we allocate the total allowable catch (TAC) for the lake. That is divided into quotas for each of the states and Ontario. Based on those quotas, we determine what the daily limit will be,” he explained.

In 2010 for all of Lake Erie, 2.2 million fish was the TAC, Hale said. Out of that Ohio’s quota was 1.1 million, about 51 percent of the walleye quota. That’s because Ohio has that much of the percentage of the walleye habitat in its waters.

In 2011 the TAC for the entire lake is 2.9 million and the quota for Ohio is 1.49 million walleye. “Our catch from last year was estimated to be just a shade below our quota, so we caught quite a few fish,” Hale said.

The Ohio Wildlife Council also passed a 15-inch minimum size limit on walleye, sauger and saugeye on 16 inland waterways. The lakes and reservoirs include Acton (Butler and Preble counties), Alum Creek (Delaware), Atwood (Carroll and Tuscarawas), Buckeye (Fairfield, Licking and Perry), Caesar Creek (Clinton, Greene and Warren) Ferguson (Allen), Findlay (Hancock), Indian (Logan), Lake Snowden (Athens), Metzger (Allen), Piedmont (Belmont, Guernsey and Harrison), Pleasant Hill (Ashland and Richland), Rocky Fork (Highland), Seneca (Guernsey and Noble), Tappan (Harrison) and West Branch (Portage).
Rules dealing with certain turtles and frogs were also approved. The daily bag limit for bullfrogs and green frogs will be raised to 15. There will be no possession limit on these frogs. Those pursuing frogs will still have to have a valid fishing license.

Snapping and soft shell turtles will have a minimum shell size limit of 13 inches imposed for harvest. The closed season for these turtles will be extended from May 1 through June 30. Currently, the closed season is May 1 through the second Friday in June. The proposal allows continued turtle harvest for food, while restricting the take of the most viable breeding-age female turtles.
For more information visit the ODNR web site at www.ohiodnr.com and click on “Wildlife,” then “Fishing.”