New technology tracks Lake Erie walleye, no matter where they swim. 
HURON, Ohio – Lake Erie's walleye can swim like crazy and travel long distances seemingly overnight, but they can't hide from Chris Vandergoot and the fisheries experts with the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
The supervisor of the Sandusky Fisheries Research Unit, Vandergoot is relying on the Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observation System (GLATOS) to reveal walleye travel patterns, as well as preferred water temperatures and depths. With 600 underwater receivers sprinkled around the Great Lakes, including 80 in Lake Erie, GLATOS also tracks sturgeon, lamprey and lake trout.
Instead of guessing at fish movements, GLATOS is unravelling the mysteries of fish behavior. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission developed the tracking program with support from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Projects can be tracked at data.glos.us/glatos.
At Saturday's 30th annual Ohio Charter Captains Conference hosted by Ohio Sea Grant at Bowling Green State University's Firelands Campus, Vandergoot showed Lake Erie fishing guides how transmitters the size of AA batteries were implanted in 200 walleye from the Maumee River in 2011. Another 165 walleye were outfitted with transmitters last year in the Toussaint Reef area of Western Lake Erie, and Vandergoot expects about 600 walleye to be tagged by 2015.
GLATOS has already produced some walleye surprises.
"We discovered a few walleye swimming all the way to Lake Huron after spawning in Western Lake Erie," said Vandergoot. "Just as surprising, some walleye spawning in Michigan's Tittabawassee River were later found in Lake Erie, making the Huron-to-Erie corridor a two-way street."
The transmitters are surgically implanted and an external orange straw-style plastic tag is attached to help recover transmitters. The battery life of a transmitter is about four years. The signal reaches 500 meters to 1 kilometer, and GLATOS receivers have had about 57 million "hits."
The receivers – small data-logging computers -- are anchored to the lake bottom. They can be triggered to float to the surface and download information.
Vandergoot wants to implant transmitters in walleye spawning in the Sandusky River. With the possibility of the Ballville Dam in Fremont being removed, there is a need to know if walleye will spawn upstream of the dam location, and where they go after spawning.
Larger Lake Erie walleye are temperature sensitive, generally heading east from Western Lake Erie's prime spawning grounds to feed in cooler water. Small walleye have a tendency to hang around Western Lake Erie into the summer months.
"It's like old folks and young folks," said Vandergoot. "The old timers head south in winter, while the youngsters stay up north."
GLATOS receivers are finding walleye in the open water of Central Lake Erie, revealing suitable walleye habitat there for the first time. A female walleye was tracked swimming in a big circle from the Cleveland area to the Ontario shoreline, and then back again.
Understanding walleye behavior helps set walleye fishing regulations.
"Some fishermen wonder why we allow walleye fishing during the spawning season," said Vandergoot. "Research shows the females spend very little time spawning while smaller male walleye will hang around for weeks and are the ones most likely caught by fishermen. The total walleye catch through the ice and in spring is not large enough, compared to summertime catches, to require a closed season."
The present walleye population is about 20 million, down from the 100 million in the 1980s and after the 2003 hatch, but Lake Erie catch rates are still the best of any walleye waters in the United States, said Vandergoot
The lake-wide total allowable walleye catch will be finalized at the Lake Erie Committee Meeting on March 27-28 in Windsor, Ontario. Ohio and Ontario get the largest slices of the walleye pie.
Vandergoot says the Lake Erie walleye population is stable and the Ohio daily bag limit should again be six walleye for most of the year. The record 2003 class of walleye makes up about 30 percent of the population, a guarantee of plentiful trophy walleye
A big crowd of walleye doesn't mean spawning success.
"Environmental conditions determine success," Vandergoot said. "This winter's colder temperatures and ice cover could mean a better hatch this spring. The quality of walleye eggs improve during an especially cold winter, and it also kills gizzard shad and alewives competing with young-of-the-year walleye for food.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed, and always hope for another class of walleye like we had in 2003."
Supervisor Chris Vandergoot of the Ohio Division of Wildlife's Sandusky Fisheries Research Unit explains the high-tech Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry System to a group of Amish anglers in Mt. Hope on Feb. 22. The system is used to track walleye migration patterns throughout Lake Erie and the Great Lakes. (D'Arcy Egan, The Plain Dealer)[attachment deleted by admin]
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