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Northeast Ohio's on-again-off-again spring weather is the only thing keeping our local reservoirs from hosting a huge horde of anglers who are excited to get started on their 2022 fishing season.
The time for teasing us is over. The week ahead looks like we'll experience highs in the 50s and low 60s, which are trending in the right direction. But the truth is most prefer to wait for snow flurries to subside and the mercury to scratch 70 before hauling out the gear for walleyes, crappies and bass.
Another few days of chilly, rainy weather will only intensify the eagerness of the thousands of us who are ready to get after it. When the time is right, the lakes will be crowded. Here's a look at what we might expect:
Lake Erie again is forecast as the place to be for walleyes, yellow perch and smallmouth bass, according to the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
Erie's daily walleye limit is six fish per angler. They must be 15 inches or longer. The fishing is expected to be outstanding again this spring and summer.
The best perch fishing on Lake Erie will be in the western waters from Huron to Toledo. Ohio fisheries managers forecast good fishing July through August and again in October and November.
In the central and eastern Erie waters, perch fishing again is predicted to be slow due to poor to moderate hatches in recent years.
Erie continues as of the United States' best smallmouth bass fisheries. Anglers are reminded the bass spawning season from May 1 through June 24 limits anglers to possess just one bass and it must be over 18 inches long. Now through April 30 and again starting June 24, Erie's bass limit is five per angler, measuring 14 inches or longer.
Inland reservoirs also will offer good fishing in 2022, with Mosquito and Pymatuning leading the charge for walleye anglers. Both lakes also are expected to be productive for crappie anglers, along with Milton, Berlin and Shenango Reservoir in western Pennsylvania.
Milton will be a good place to try for smallmouth bass as we move into late April, May and early June. The main lake shorelines will yield plenty of fish in the 11- to 13-inch class, with a few larger bass as well. Smallies three pounds and heftier typically lurk around offshore ledges and rock piles.
Berlin again is looking like a good place for smallmouth bass, particularly around the rocky structure downstream from the Ohio 14 bridge to the dam. Largemouth fishing will start to improve in late May and be steady (but not spectacular) throughout the summer.
The region's best largemouth fishing likely will be at Mosquito, Pymatuning and Shenango. The prolific weed beds at Mosquito and Pymatuning will get most of the bass anglers' attention, while they will focus at Shenango on the stumps and numerous trees that have toppled into the reservoir over the years.
For big fish with nasty teeth and voracious appetites, anglers will head to West Branch and Pymatuning for 20-pound-plus muskies and to Mosquito for its abundant 3-foot-long northern pike.
All in all, 2022 should be another fun year for local anglers. Now if only the weather would cooperate, we could get the party started.
Jack Wollitz's book, "The Common Angler," dives into the highs and lows that combine to make fishing a passion for so many people. He likes emails from readers. Send a note to jackbbaass@gmail.com.