Go Fish!

Before you lies one of the most biologically diverse landmarks in North America. Lake Erie, because of its shallowness and drainage basin fertility, boasts the most productive and significant fish community of the Great Lakes, hosting a remarkable 114 species of fishes that birds and anglers alike swarm to find. The shallow depths of Lake Erie are famed for a staggeringly large walleye and yellow perch population, making this vital water source a significant sport and commercial fishing epicenter.

The spectacle becomes most visible during spring and fall migrations when hundreds of thousands of diving ducks, loons and grebes and several million gulls wing their way to Lake Erie’s waters to feast on small fishes. In spring and fall, these feathered anglers pour down from the Arctic tundra and eastern seaboard to stage on Lake Erie, a vital crossroads and rest stop on their epic migrations. One of the world’s largest populations of red-breasted mergansers collects here in masses. Scaup, canvasback, goldeneye, common loon and horned grebe can be seen in rafts off the coastline, beefing up their energy supplies before departing for their breeding grounds.