Sooner or later, life teaches us, we will experience a hiccup in the unprecedented run of years of fantastic Lake Erie walleye fishing.

In fishing, as in baseball, basketball and football, we fans know we cannot win them all. Undefeated is as good as it gets, and nobody I know is undefeated.

Lake Erie has come close, however, though recent news reveals a reminder that the big water is not to be taken for granted.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife recently reported Lake Erie western and central basin walleye hatches were below average in 2024. The report is based on annual trawl surveys conducted by the Ohio Division of Wildlife and data collected by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

While “below average” is not great news, anglers can take comfort in the fact that last year’s hatch blip followed five years of very successful spawns and hatches. The ODNR is still using words like “remarkable” and “fantastic” to describe Erie’s walleye fishing.

“Although the 2024 walleye hatch was below average, anglers will be able to enjoy many more years of remarkable fishing thanks to robust hatches from 2018 to 2023,” the ODNR said in a recent news release.

ODNR said the 2024 western basin hatch index was 19 fish per hectare (an area of approximately 2.5 acres), compared to an average of 58 fish per hectare. In the central basin, the hatch index was 7 walleye per hectare, just a tick below the average of 7.6 per hectare.

The 2024 hatchlings will grow to approximately 15 inches in two years.

“Because recent hatches have been above average, and walleye can live for more than a decade, Lake Erie anglers can expect walleye fishing to remain fantastic for many years,” ODNR said.

The outlook for yellow perch, also prized by Erie anglers, is good.

“The western basin yellow perch hatch was above average and should make a noticeable contribution to the catchable adult population in 2026,” the ODNR said.

The central basin’s two management zones — Huron to Fairport Harbor and Fairport Harbor to the Ohio-Pennsylvania line — had mixed results. The Huron-to-Fairport zone had an above average hatch, while the Fairport to the state line zone was below average.

Perch hatch success is “largely determined by the timing and availability of favorable conditions for spawning and survival of newly hatched yellow perch in the spring and summer,” the ODNR said. “Strong lake-wide yellow perch hatches are rare.”

Walleye fishing is very popular all along Erie’s Ohio coastline, with hundreds of charter and private boats venturing out to the big lake any day weather permits.

Armed with data that can immediately spot a hiccup in hatch success, the Lake Erie Committee of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission sets harvest levels to ensure excellent fishing will continue and prevent hiccups from compounding into catastrophes.

Columnist Jack Wollitz caught his first Lake Erie walleye in 1976 and boated a 6-pounder in 2024. Contact him at jackbbaaass@gmail.com.