I too started fishing lake Erie with my father when I was a young boy in the late sixties. There was no limit on perch back in the late sixties and remember always looking forward to the fall season when you would catch the Jumbo's. You are right I never heard anyone mention walleye fishing back then. I can remember land practically being given away back then. And people that had extra money back then and did buy land became very wealthy people as the lake became The Walleye Capital of the world. As the late seventies and early eighties I guess I became pretty spoiled up there, because a 6 man limit was pretty common back then all summer long just casting Erie Dreariest and your golden nuggets. Then came the Zebra mussels which really cleaned up the water but in turn changed the walleye fishing tremendously. Then the white perch and the Goby came along and also had an effect on the walleye and perch .Dont get me wrong I know there are still fish out there,I was with 5 guys on the North side of Kelly's about 4 weeks ago and while the skipper was rigging up gear to do some trolling we dropped anchor to try to catch perch and catch perch we did, " BIG PERCH " and we ended up just 44 fish from our limit in 2 hours. All the 6 pack boats also started perch jerking and many limits were caught all around us. We would have had ours easily but we had other commitments that forced us to go in. I dont want people to think I dont want to work for my fish, I don't mind that at. all but when I come in and talk to all the other fishermen and 98% of them are having the same luck I know its not just me and I myself think it has gotten worse every year for the l last 4years, right about the time when the algae started showing up all over the place
I know some people are stills doing fairly good catching fish but also think if they are honest they have to admit things are getting tougher. I just hope our DNR is paying. attention too and we can continue to enjoy the Lakes bounty. Gas is getting to exspensive to run all over the lake and not have much at all to put in the freezer.