‘We are the walleye capital of the world:’ Bipartisan bill wants walleye to be Ohio’s state fish
Ohio lawmakers are trying to reel in a catch by making walleye the official state fish.
Ohio Reps. Sean Brennan, D-Parma, and D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, once again introduced a bipartisan bill that would make the walleye Ohio’s official state fish.
“I’m optimistic that we’re going to be able to reel this one in and finally make the walleye our state fish,” Brennan said. “We are the walleye capital of the world, and Ohio is open for anglers from all over the place to come here and experience what Ohio is all about.”
The lawmakers introduced House Bill 312 at the end of May and it had sponsor testimony last month in the House Arts, Athletics and Tourism Committee. Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa are the only states without a designated state fish. The walleye is the state fish in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Vermont.
“By having an official state fish, it allows the state of Ohio to market that to folks in other states,” Brennan said. “I’ve talked to environmentalists who said that having a state fish can help them on their grant applications with different levels of government and with other nonprofits that make donations.”
There are 72.1 million walleye in Lake Erie at least two years or older, meaning they are ready to be caught and kept, Brennan said in his testimony. For comparison, there are about 600,000 white-tailed deer in Ohio, he said.
The Walleye are the nickname of Toledo’s professional minor league hockey team and Port Clinton celebrates the annual Walleye Festival as well as the Walleye Drop on New Year’s Eve.
Brennan — who grew up fishing on Catawba Island — and Swearingen introduced the same bill during the previous General Assembly and it easily passed the House with only four dissenting votes, but it ran out of time in the Senate and died.
“It’s not really controversial,” Brennan said. “I mean, we passed almost unanimously last year.”
Having the walleye become the official state fish would help show off Lake Erie, Swearingen said.
“There’s a lot of people that come into the district just to fish for that fish on Lake Erie,” he said. “The economic impact is pretty large.”
Jason Fischer runs three competitive walleye tournament series in Ohio — the Lake Erie Walleye Trail, the Walleye Fall Brawl, and the Ohio Walleye Federation.
“Ohio is the walleye capital of the world,” he said. “No questions asked, it is just astronomical.”
People from more than 20 states and Canada come annually to compete in the Walleye Fall Brawl.
“You come to Ohio to fish for walleye because it’s the best place in the world to do it,” Fischer said.
Ohio fishing has an economic impact of $5.5 billion per year, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
“Just because somebody comes here to fish doesn’t mean that the restaurants don’t benefit, the fuel stations don’t benefit, the hotels don’t benefit,” Fischer said.
For Ohio Marine Trades Association President Michelle Burke, naming the walleye the official state fish is no brainer.
“This shouldn’t even have to be brought up again,” she said. “It should just be a full vote. We love eating perch. Perch tastes great, but I think what the walleye does for Ohio far exceeds any other fish.”
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