Lake Erie Dally Creel Limit for Walleyes Is Six Beginning May 1

Published: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 7:00 am
By: Department of Natural Resources and Environment

The daily creel limit for walleyes in Michigan's waters of Lake Erie will be six beginning May 1, the Department of Natural Resources announced.

Michigan has adopted a process for setting regulations that allows the DNR to use real-time population data instead of using year-old survey results. This process parallels one adopted by Ohio last year.

"This change to the regulations process is critical to helping us manage walleyes in Lake Erie in a timely manner," said DNR Lake Erie Basin Coordinator Liz Hay-Chmielewski. "In order to do that, we have to set regulations in March instead of the previous autumn."

Michigan's daily creel limit for walleyes on Lake Erie is based on its share of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the lake, which is determined by the Lake Erie Committee under the aegis of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. The TAC is generally based on overall abundance of walleyes; the Committee establishes quotas for each jurisdiction based on the percentage of habitat for adult walleyes in each jurisdiction's waters of the lake. The daily limit is based on a formula that projects how many walleyes anglers can keep but still remain within the quota.

See Below for an explanation of the formula used to set the daily creel limit.

The Total Allowable Catch for Lake Erie for 2011 is 2.919 million pounds, making Michigan's quota 0.17 million fish.

The new regulations process means that the creel limit for walleyes on Lake Erie will not be set until TACs are determined each March, after the Michigan Fishing Guide goes to press. Anglers will need to check for changes annually.

There are no changes to either the fishing season or size limit for walleyes on Lake Erie.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr.

If Michigan's share of the annual TAC is then the daily possession limit for walleye shall be:

greater than 108,364                           six (6)

96,958 to 108,364                                five (5)

85,551 to 96,957                                  four (4)

74,144 to 85,550                                  three (3)

62,737 to– 74,143                                two (2)

less than 62,737                                  one (1) 

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