“It is a weird day,” I overheard one of the dental hygienists say from another room during my teeth cleaning on Wednesday.
For some reason it stuck with me.
Indeed it was. The temperatures that fluctuated from the mid-70s on Monday and the 60s on Tuesday sank into the low 40s on Wednesday in the Toledo area. I surmised correctly that it would affect the walleye spawning run negatively on the Maumee River.
As I approached Maumee Tackle Fishing Outfitters, I could see fewer anglers out on the water than usual like when there is good action.
And some were out farther in the current, which seemed unusual.
Weird day was soon swapped out for “anomaly.”
Mario Campos, proprietor of the shop that is basically the staple for walleye run information in town for 34 years, said this year is unlike others: an anomaly.
“The water has been low since last May, the river since last summer has been almost bone dry, old timers are testifying, ‘Hey we haven’t seen it this low since we were kids back in the whatever ... ’60s, ’50s.’ Kinda carried over to this year,” he said. “Water is about 4 feet below normal. We’ve had one good rain when we had the snowmelt and the rain. That was it. Since last year we haven’t had a fill-up-the-river rain.
“But what that translates into is shallow water warms up faster so now the river is warm, the walleye are trickling in because that warm Maumee River water is hitting Lake Erie, which is still in the 30s. Maumee River is in the low to mid-40s triggering that spawning instinct. Then they’re coming up. We just need some real rain to fill up the river to bring the big push in.”
That and warmer weather, Campos says, “Boom, they come up and it’s crazy.”
Another variable that helped the fishing success earlier this week was a storm front.
“With the storm system coming in, even though it didn’t storm, the barometric pressure ... turned them on,” he said. “We saw limits. We saw some good fishing [Tuesday].
“Should be a good run once we get some water in,” he added.
Another anomaly he agreed with me on was the early warm-up over three days last month — Feb. 7-9 — because I noted I saw some nice walleye pictured on the Maumee Tackle website then.
“Some guy comes in on the 7th and says, ‘I caught a walleye,’ and I’m like, No way,'” Campos said, “So I head out thinking I’m gonna give him a lesson of fish identification on his carp ... and it was a walleye.”
Then a little bit later, another guy comes in with a walleye, he said.
“Pretty much everyone that went out then got one or two.”
One anomaly that didn’t happen on Wednesday: cavities. Another clean checkup.
Maumee Tackle Fishing Outfitters is located at 104 W. Wayne, Maumee 43537. Campos has been proprietor for nine years. For up-to-date information on the river conditions and other fishing tidbits go to its website at www.maumeetackle.net or on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/maumeetackle.net/.
First Published March 10, 2024, 11:15 a.m.
