Gizzard shad/alewife, Dorosoma cepedianum/Alosa pseudoharengus, emerald shiners, Notropis atherinoides, white bass/white perch, Morone chrysops/Morone americana, and yellow perch, Perca flavescens, constituted over 97% of the larval fish collected in Ohio and Michigan waters of the western basin of Lake Erie during 1977. Significantly greater numbers of gizzard shad/alewife and spottail shiner, Notropis hudsonius, larvae were captured immediately adjacent to the shore than at a depth of 5 m offshore while greater numbers of smelt, Osmerus mordax, larvae were captured at points further offshore at a depth of 5 m than at points immediately adjacent to the shore. The purpose of this study was to determine the distribution and abundance of larval fish along approximately 60 miles of shoreline including a sparsely developed portion of the Ohio shore between Locust Point and Little Cedar Point, within Maumee Bay, and along an extensively developed portion of the Michigan shore between Woodtick Peninsula and Stoney Point.