Since Scott Heston was 7, he and his grandfather spent most weekends fishing on Sandusky Bay.
In the spring, they fished for yellow perch, and the rest of the season, they searched for
channel catfish and usually came home with a bounty of fish.
Even back then, Heston wondered why there weren’t charter boats offering to take anglers out specifically for catfish, which can grow to 30 pounds or more, are fun to reel in and make a tasty meal.
“There are all these walleye charters, and I thought there are people who would pay to catch these fish that fight really hard,” Heston says.
Nine years ago, he started the first catfishing charter on the Sandusky Bay,
Captain Scott’s Catfish Charter. Since then, more charters targeting channel catfish have popped up, and the fish is rising in popularity on Lake Erie, which is
already world-renowned for its walleye fishing, as well as
perch and smallmouth bass.
“I went to a charter captains' meeting, and I was telling people I was planning on doing it,” says Heston, who lives in Sandusky. “They looked at me like I was nuts. The very next year, I had some guys come up and shake my hand and say, ‘Man, you’re a genius.’”
Heston quickly had much more business than he expected, confirming there was a need for this type of fishing charter. Sport fishing on Lake Erie is a major part of local tourism, which brought $20 billion last year to the eight Ohio counties on Lake Erie, according to
Shores and Islands Ohio.
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Courtesy of John HagemanCapt. Jeff Tipple of Jig-N-Pig Guide Service with Andy Hageman (left) of Toledo and Jerry Bambauer, (right) of New Bremen.
“(Channel catfish) fight as hard or harder than anything I’ve caught, much harder than the walleye,” he says. “I like to fish for anything, but out of all the fish up there, I think the catfish fight the hardest. And they’re readily available in large numbers, and we catch a lot of fish.”
There are some advantages to this type of charter fishing. Heston uses a flat pontoon boat that is easily accessible for most people, including those with mobility issues.
He also stays on the bay, which tends to be calmer and more sheltered from high winds and changing weather conditions. That’s a bonus for those who tend to get seasick.
The biggest factor in the rise of channel catfishing is that the species is thriving in Lake Erie.
“While we don’t have the same amount of targeted survey information that we have for other species, there are clear signs that the number of channel catfish in Lake Erie and connected tributaries are increasing,” says Travis Hartman
, Lake Erie Fisheries Program Administrator for the
Ohio Department of Natural Resources,
Division of Wildlife. “Sandusky Bay is a very warm and productive system with abundant prey resources and access to both the Sandusky River and Lake Erie. It provides a great place for channel catfish to either permanently reside or utilize seasonally as they choose to.”
Last year, ODNR estimated sport anglers caught about 151,000 catfish, nearly twice as many as the 80,000 they caught in 2017, says Hartman, citing data from ODNR’s creel survey.
Although the bay environment has traditionally been favorable for channel catfish, some of the increase likely comes from improved water quality thanks to a reduction in the number of contaminants getting into the bay, he says. Better water quality improves the lifespan of the fish, which tend to live 25 years or more and generally stay at the bottom of the water. They also appear to be growing larger, Hartman and Heston believe.
“They are likely experiencing better success reproducing, and also living longer, which allows them to reach larger sizes,” Hartman says. “For any channel catfish residing frequently in Sandusky Bay, I believe environmental conditions are better than they have been for decades.”
The state record channel catfish was 37.65 pounds and caught in 1992 from LaDue Reservoir in Geauga County, according to
Outdoor Writers of Ohio, which administers the
state record fish program. Heston has had people catch near that size and believes the next state record could come from the Sandusky Bay.
“One of the things that I really enjoy is being able to take people out on a regular basis and have them catch their personal best,” Heston says. “Quite often, everybody on the boat catches their personal best. That’s something I’m kind of proud of.”
His charter uses spinning and action rods that are light and allow anglers to reel feel the fish battling as they reel it in. He also uses spinning tackle because it is easier for newer anglers -although he gets patrons of all experience levels - and shrimp as bait.
“We make memories that the family won’t soon forget,” Heston says. "I had a 3-year-old girl a few years back catch a 20-pounder. I held the rod while she used both hands to reel it in. She got it. She was thrilled. The fish was as big as she was.”