A months-long drought put one of the Midwest's signature fishing events at risk this spring, leaving Ohio's famous Maumee River walleye run hanging on whatever water the weather could deliver.
Each spring the run pulls an estimated 20,000 anglers from around the world to the river near Maumee and Perrysburg, where millions of walleye leave Lake Erie to spawn over the rocky bottom. This year a drought stretching back to August left the Maumee unusually low, putting both the fish and the season under pressure.
Temperature is the trigger — the run gets going once the river reaches 40 to 45 degrees. A low river complicates that, because less water warms faster, shortening the event. The sooner the water heats, the sooner the spawn finishes, and warm water shoves the walleye back into deeper, colder parts of Lake Erie where they become much tougher to catch.
For the bait shops at the centre of it all, the run is everything, and its global draw was on display long before the fish showed. "We've already had people from the Czech Republic, Russia, Poland come in to get their fishing license and get ready for the walleye run," one local bait shop operator said, describing how shops watch river levels day by day.
When the conditions click, the change is sudden. "When the temperature finally hits the sweet spot, the fish arrive almost overnight," the report noted. "We go from a shop full of nothing to thousands of people a day, and it's a lot of fun," the operator said. "People are here, they're in a good mood."
There was some late reprieve, with recent rain and snowmelt lifting the river to its highest level since August — though still below average.
The run is also an economic engine for the area, and the community marked that this year by launching the first annual Maumee River Fest on April 11, complete with a team tournament and raffle prizes.
Anglers heading out need a valid 2026 Ohio fishing license, and the daily limit is six walleye over 15 inches.
More than anything, the season underlined how dependent a marquee fishery is on its watershed. The Maumee run is among the most dependable spectacles in freshwater fishing, yet as this year showed, even an event that draws tens of thousands can be knocked sideways by a long stretch of low water.