NORTHWEST, Ohio — The walleye run is underway along the Maumee River and over the next few weeks, people from all over the country are making their way to northwest Ohio to take advantage.
The muddy Maumee is a hotbed for walleye spawning. As the fish make their way out to Lake Erie, people come from all over the country to collect their daily limits.
Zack George, a charter captain for Fish and Fowl adventures, grew up in northwest Ohio and still appreciates exactly what we have here in our area.
"I think it's amazing. We have a treasure in northwest Ohio. It's here year-round but the Walleye fishing specifically, there's no place in the world that you can catch fish like this. Any guy can without a boat, very little equipment, little experience. It's fantastic." said George. "My charter business, just in this run, I have guys from as far as northern Minnesota that come and Minnesota is revered as a walleye location."
Roger Bonnette has made the four-plus hour trip from Marietta, Ohio every year for more than five decades. Today, he was out with friends and it’s a trip he will never miss.
"Even if it's for a day, we would drive four and a half hours, come up here, catch our limit, get in the car and I could be back home before my wife got home from teaching school," said Bonnette. "After you come up and get started and caught your first limit, it's all over with then. You're going to be back."
If you haven’t been able to make it out yet, that’s OK. There is still plenty of time and there is plenty of fish still left to catch.
"We haven't even touched the peak of the run yet. We're still way early," said George. "Usually the best fishing occurs on average between the last week of March through the last week of April. So we are just starting."