I'm not sure about the drop off in fish, I didn't really follow it closely, I just heard they were starting to thrive, and happen to see a couple, because my job took me to that area daily. The ones I did see, were near estuaries, and wet lands. Lake Erie has an abundance of THE BEST walleye, and lake perch EVER! It's also loaded with carp, sheep head (freshwater drum), some muskie, and certain areas have great small mouth, and large mouth bass fishing.