Fishing season off to early start

Local businesses welcome revenue boost

Sam Fair of Whitehouse shops for lures at Maumee Tackle in Maumee, one of the many local businesses benefiting from a booming and early fishing season.

the blade/andy morrison
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A fisherman lands walleye near Sidecut Metropark in Maumee. Fishing season is early, thanks to the unseasonably high temperatures.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, it looked as if the Maumee River was being invaded because of the slew of boats and nearly 30 figures standing off the shore in the water.

The full-fledged fishing season is under way, weeks earlier than normal thanks to unseasonably high temperatures.

And for several local businesses, that means opening early for a boom of customers following a winter when ice fishing was virtually nonexistent.

It's equally good news for city officials who say the tourism dollars strengthen the local economy.

"There is a huge economic impact," said Sandy Bihn, an Oregon city council member and director of Lake Erie Waterkeeper Inc.

Charter boat trips and rich fishing waters draw people to northwest Ohio from Wisconsin, Kentucky, Indiana, and the rest of the state, said Ms. Bihn.

"The early walleye run will have a positive effect on the community," she said. Visitors spend money at local restaurants and hotels, although revenues from tourism isn't easy for officials to measure.

In Port Clinton, Jeff "AJ" Goehring said he fielded "a couple of hundred" phone calls and emails from fishermen asking when he's going to open for the year.

Sam Fair of Whitehouse shops for lures at Maumee Tackle in Maumee, one of the many local businesses benefiting from a booming and early fishing season.

"We've had a lot of people pushing us to get open," said Mr. Goehring, owner A-N-J Bait & Tackle at 6797 W. Lakeshore Dr. "Normally, this is a dead time of year until sometime in April."

Mr. Goehring decided to open his tackle shop March 13, several weeks ahead of schedule. It's the earliest opening in 29 years.

He usually starts the season at the end of March or on April 1.

"We think it's going to be a very excellent spring," the shop owner said.

He has planned at least one charter expedition this month -- a 12-person trip on two boats to catch walleye in Lake Erie. In contrast, in most springs, charters typically don't start until the first two weeks in April.

Already, Lake Erie is warmer than normal at about 40 degrees, almost at the prime temperature of 42 degrees for the best walleye catching, Mr. Goehring said last week.

Normally at this time, the water is only 36 degrees, he said.

The warm spring follows a warm winter that hurt the ice fishing industry, said Mr. Goehring, a wholesaler of bait to 200 stores.

"There was no ice fishing this year. There was no ice fishing at all," Mr. Goehring said. "Anybody in that business lost a lot."

At one Maumee tackle shop, business dropped about 25 percent during the winter because of the lack of snow and ice.

But Janice and Gary Lowry, the husband-and-wife owners of Maumee Tackle, sold 500 fishing licenses during a recent weekend, about double what they sold last year during the same period.

Sales of fishing supplies such as rods jumped about 50 percent compared with this time last year at the store at 104 W. Wayne St., Mrs. Lowry said.

The uptick in business is good news for the couple, who have owned the store for 22 years.

Every day, Mr. Lowry measures the Maumee River's temperature and records the water conditions to post on the store's Web site for fishermen who are seeking walleye or 50-pound catfish to follow.

"The Maumee River is really clean. The ecosystem is good," Mrs. Lowry said. "It should be a good year, fishingwise and businesswise."