While Lake Erie walleye anglers will certainly find a record number of walleye this angling season they also will face another – far less desirable – record shattering figure.
That being, of course, the cost of fuel to get to the fish in the first place.
Even before the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and the subsequent fallout, crude oil prices and thus refined gasoline costs were on the rise. The crisis in the Ukraine has simply become a highly combustible accelerant that is adding upward pressure on these fuel prices.
All ready in parts of the United States where recreational and commercial sport fishing activities are underway, dockside prices for gasoline have risen to $6 and more per gallon.
Such higher costs are obviously of concern to Lake Erie anglers; both those who charter for a living and those who make frequent runs to fish for walleye.
Yet a theme of determination to access Lake Erie’s fisheries bounty continues to exist among anglers. Even if that desire also is accompanied by a drain on the wallet brought about by eye-popping higher gasoline prices.
“Right now I see charter captains raising prices,” said Don McGee, Vice President of the 150-200-member Lake Erie Charter Boat Association. “I think it will be somewhere in the range of $30 to $60 per trip.”
Such an increase, McGee added quickly, would translate into an additional cost of between $5 and $10 per person for a six-person charter.
“No one I know intends to back out of chartering, though,” said McGee who added that fuel costs represent about 20 percent of his business expenses.
“I have a 30-foot Sportcraft that gets about one mile per gallon,” McGee said, illustrating the impact of higher fuel prices will extract on his business.
Other charter captains are likewise looking at the issue in the same context. Among them is Marv DeGreen, a charter boat captain who starts in the lake’s Western Basin around May 1 and moves to the Grand River about one month later.
DeGreen said, however, that many of his fellow charters skippers anticipated higher fuel prices last fall. They thus made adjustments to their proposed charter rates months ago, DeGreen said.
A good thing, too, since DeGreen said a run from Grand River to Marblehead alone consumes about 100 gallons of fuel.
Consequently, both McGee and DeGreen are hoping that walleye again will be found closer to port. In the best of angling worlds the last thing they want are making a lot of long-distance runs to find fish.
“I also think you’ll see more cooperation between captains; better communication between them, helping each other out,” DeGreen says.
The thing is, though, for well-established charters with a consistent clientele, “there will always be people with money” who’ll be open to pay the price for accessing Lake Erie’s famed horde of walleye, DeGreen said.
Which is why more than a few of the so-called “private” Lake Erie boat anglers do not see themselves mowing the lawn on a Saturday. Rather they intend to keep hooking up the trailer with its boat and outboard for a day of walleye fishing on the big lake.
“I’m going to chase walleye wherever they are, but I normally don’t fish out beyond 60 feet of water anyway, maybe just a couple of times a year out to 75 feet,” said Tommy Oehlenschlager.
Oehlenschlager has about a 45-minute drive from his home near Jefferson Village in Ashtabula County to the public boat launch ramps in either Ashtabula Harbor or Conneaut Harbor.
“Fuel prices aren’t going to make a difference in what I do, and I’ll definitely go fishing every opportunity I get,” Oehlenschlager said. “Besides, I’d just spend the money somewhere else anyway.”
And for outdoors writer Chip Gross, a run from his home in Knox County to a preferred launch site in the Western Basin or else the far western edge of the Central Basin represents a drive of up to two hours.
Even so, Gross said neither the distance nor the increasing fuel prices will discourage him and his wife, Jan, from soon seeking out Lake Erie walleye.
“You go where the fish are,” Gross said, adding that he does not intended to reduce the number of trips he seasonally makes, either.
“We’re retired and we like to fish,” Gross said.
Fortunately for private boat owners, having a fishing buddy kick in a few dollars to help pay for a tank of gas is all perfectly legal
“There is certainly nothing wrong with individuals voluntarily splitting a tank of gas at the fuel dock on a fishing trip. However, the actual charging of a fee above and beyond that would require the boat owner to possess the captain’s license and meet all legal requirements,” said Brian Banbury, Ohio Division of Wildlife Executive Administrator, responding to a request from “Ohio Outdoor News” on the subject.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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