Millions of walleye will soon head up the Detroit River

• About 14 million walleye are beginning their annual run from Lake Erie up the Detroit River
• That makes for what some call the best walleye fishing in the world
• The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says we’re at the tail end of an uptick in the walleye population that hasn’t been this big since around 2005

The sun began to rise while Chesterfield residents John “Jay” Addy IV and his buddies, Dave Treadwell and Bruce Zurawski, sat in a boat on the Detroit River, just south of the Belle Isle bridge. 

It was 30 degrees out, and the trio were dressed in layers of winter wear. They held out their fishing rods and dropped their bait — a live minnow coupled with a rubbery fake fish and a three-sided stinger hook — to the bottom of the riverbed about 20 feet below. 

They began lifting their rods up and down, up and down. 

The group was jigging for walleye, hoping to catch some of the earliest fish taking part in the Detroit River’s famed walleye run. 

This spring, about 14 million of the estimated 77 million walleye that overwintered in Lake Erie will head up the river after spawning, many eventually making their way to Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River and Saginaw Bay.

The season heats up alongside water temperatures, which were still in the 30s this week. Walleye make their run after spawning, which begins when water temperatures reach about 40 degrees and peaks when temperatures fall between 44 degrees and 48 degrees. This year, Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials estimate that will happen around April 15, which explains why there were only a couple other boats sitting near the Belle Isle bridge beside Addy’s crew early Tuesday morning. 

“Into April, when the fish are thick in here, all the good spots will have 100 boats,” Addy said. “The boats will be packed together like a cord of wood.”

The concentration of fish going up a narrow river and the fact that they’re tired and hungry from spawning are parts of what makes Detroit River walleye fishing so good. 

A report from the Walleye Task Group, a consortium of American and Canadian governmental entities that manage the waters of Lake Erie, said Lake Erie anglers in 2024 each caught roughly one walleye per hour. Detroit River regulars like Addy say that, during peak season, it’s not unusual to catch their Detroit River limit of six fish per day within an hour. 

“It’s like an addiction, really,” said Addy, who this year started taking his boat out to fish for walleye even before all the ice had melted. While it’s still early in the season, he’s already caught his limit a couple times. 

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On a trip out about a week ago, his buddy, Zurawski, reeled in a nine-and-a-half-pounder that they threw back.

“It’s a girl fish, so she’s gonna have babies,” Zurawski explained.

‘As good as it gets’

About 10% to 20% of the walleye that overwinter in Lake Erie end up heading up the Detroit River. The rest make their way east across Lake Erie toward New York waters. 

According to Walleye Task Group estimates, walleye counts for the lake currently sit at the tail end of eight remarkably high years. After staying down around the 25 million to 55 million range between 2008 to 2016, the population shot up to more than 118 million in 2017 and hasn’t dropped below 70 million since. Last year, there were 81 million estimated walleye in Lake Erie. This year, the Walleye Task Group estimates there will be about 77 million. 

“I keep telling anglers right now that the ‘good old days’ are today, because we’re at historic numbers right now,” said Jim Francis, Lake Erie Basin coordinator for the Michigan DNR. “The fishery has really been as good as it gets.”

The business of fish

It’s hard to know exactly how many dollars are generated specifically from fishing for walleye, but the American Sportfishing Association estimates that 243,220 resident and non-resident anglers in the Detroit area spend $431 million on fishing-related purchases in Michigan per year. 

People can and do fish for walleye from the shore, but a lot of people say the best fishing is by boat, where there’s more flexibility to move around to areas with different depths and water clarity (a little muddy, but not too muddy, anglers tend to agree, is best). Those who want to go offshore but don’t own their own boat can pay around $200 to $500 for multiple people to be taken out for a few hours by a charter fishing captain. There are more than 50 charters available to take people walleye fishing on the Detroit River according to a website called Fishing Booker.

Eric Jaehn is one of them. He said that, from April through June, his business is all walleye tours. It’s a great time of year, he said, because everyone is catching fish.

“There’s thousands of boats out there and all you see is nets flying,” he said. “I had a 2-year-old on a charter last year that was catching walleye.”

Jaehn’s customers come from all over — from Detroit to Ohio to China — to get in on what some say is the best walleye fishing on the planet.

Tide change

While the area has experienced a walleye boon for the last several years, that is expected to change soon.

Starting next year, the walleye population in Lake Erie is estimated to drop down to around 51.8 million. The future population will also be impacted by the spawn rate of 2024. 

“Our spawn last year wasn't so good,” said Francis, of the DNR. “That was the first downturn we've seen in our spawn. But those fish don't hit the fishery, they don't reach that 15 inches for another two years.”

Detroit River walleye have to be at least 15 inches long for anglers to keep them.

Those fluctuations in population size are part of normal cycles and are not necessarily cause for concern, but they do mean it’s unclear when walleye fishing will be as good, in the near future, as it’s projected to be this season. 

Still, Francis isn’t worried.

“It’s a phenomenal fishery we have out there.”