Ohio fishing rules
License, gear, and the statewide limits ODNR publishes for major species. Water-specific rules replace these numbers. Last checked October 2026.
License
- Who needs one
- A fishing license is required to fish in Ohio waters and to take frogs or turtles on public or private property. People fishing private ponds, lakes, or reservoirs opened to the public through an agreement with the Division of Wildlife also need a license. The license must be in possession and shown on request, including on a phone. It is not required under age 16, on a private pond, lake, or reservoir that fish cannot migrate to or from, while giving assistance to an angler who holds the free mobility-impaired or blind license if the two people use only one line, for members of the U.S. Armed Forces on active duty while on leave or furlough, or for owners and agricultural tenants and their parents fishing their own land, with the state-park and state-lake exceptions in the booklet. One-year licenses last 365 days from purchase.
- Residents
- An Ohio resident has resided in Ohio for the past six consecutive months. Everyone else is a nonresident. Nonresident students enrolled full-time at an Ohio college who live in Ohio when they buy the license qualify for the resident fee. Active-duty members stationed in Ohio, and not on leave or furlough, buy a resident license. A resident 1-year license for ages 16–64 is $25. A resident 1-day license is $14, and that fee can be credited toward an annual license. The resident senior 1-year license, for residents 65 and older born on or after January 1, 1938, is $10. Residents born on or before December 31, 1937 can get a free license. A 3-year resident license is $72.11 and a lifetime resident license is $599.04.
- Nonresidents
- Nonresidents 16 and older buy a nonresident license. A 1-day nonresident license is $27.04, a 3-day license is $52, and a 1-year license is $76.96. The 1-day fee can be credited toward the annual license. Free fishing days are for Ohio residents. Nonresidents still need a license on those days.
- Free fishing days
- On June 20 and 21, 2026, Ohio residents may fish public waters without buying a license. All size and daily limits still apply. The booklet also exempts active-duty members on leave or furlough, and the owner and tenant exemptions, on any day.
Seasons and closures
Regulation year
The 2026–27 fishing regulations are effective March 1, 2026, through February 28, 2027. Inland public waters are open under the statewide table unless a lake, river, Lake Erie, or Ohio River rule replaces them. From March 1 through April 30, 2026, the named Maumee, Sandusky, Portage, and Mahoning reaches are single-hook only, and parts of those rivers are sunrise to sunset only. The Maumee sunrise-to-sunset landmark for 2026 is the easternmost point of Missionary Island.
Frogs, turtles, and Lake La Su An
Bullfrogs and green frogs are open from 6 p.m. on June 12, 2026, through April 30, 2027. The daily limit is 15 in combination, with no minimum. Snapping and softshell turtles are open July 1 through December 31, 2026, with an 11-inch straight-line carapace minimum and no daily limit. Turtles taken from the wild cannot be sold, bartered, or traded, and their eggs may not be taken. Lake La Su An Wildlife Area in Williams County is open to fishing from May 1, 2026, until September 7, 2026, and only on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from sunrise to sunset.
Legal gear
Hooks and barbless rules
Anglers may use up to three hooks on each line, except where the Administrative Code sets a different hook rule. There is no statewide barbless rule. From March 1 through April 30, 2026, the Maumee, Sandusky, Portage, and Mahoning river reaches listed in the booklet allow only a single hook, no larger than 1/2 inch from shank to point, and double and treble hooks are prohibited. Hooks used for snagging forage fish may not be larger than 5/8 inch from shank to point. Banklines and floatlines may use only a single hook, not a treble.
Rods per angler
The maximum is three fishing lines statewide, whether on a pole, a rod and reel, or held in the hand. That cap includes the Ohio River counties. On the ice, an angler may use no more than six tip-ups and three rods. Ice holes may not be larger than 12 inches in diameter, or 12 inches in width on Lake Erie. Tip-ups and shelters must show the user’s name and address or customer identification number. Pymatuning Lake anglers may use up to three lines and up to three hooks on each line. Trotlines are a separate device: no more than three in one inland body of water, no more than 50 hooks each, and they are legal only in the streams and lakes the booklet names. A special trotline license is required in the Lake Erie Fishing District.
Nets
Cast nets may be used for forage fish and minnows. Other fish must be released immediately. A cast net may not have square mesh smaller than 1/4 inch or larger than 1 inch on a side, or a diameter greater than 10 feet, and it may not be used within 1,000 feet downstream of a dam posted against cast nets. Inland minnow seines are limited to 4 feet by 8 feet and may be used in streams only, from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. Lake Erie minnow seines have no size limit in the district table. An inland minnow dip net may be 4 feet on each side, and a Lake Erie dip net 6 feet on each side. Minnow traps may not be larger than 24 inches long or 12 inches wide, and the opening may not exceed 2 inches in diameter or height. Gill nets and other harvest nets are not recreational game-fish gear. Forage fish may not be taken with nets other than cast nets, except that gizzard shad and rainbow smelt may also be taken with a minnow seine, minnow dip net, or hand landing net.
Snagging
Snagging, hooking a fish anywhere but inside the mouth, is illegal for every fish except forage fish. It is also illegal to snag freshwater drum in Lake Erie. Snagging any species is illegal from September 1 through April 30 in the Ashtabula, Chagrin, Grand, Rocky, Vermilion, Arcola, Conneaut, Cowles, Euclid, Indian, Turkey, and Wheeler creeks and rivers. It is illegal all year in the Ohio waters of the Ohio River, within 1,000 feet downstream of any dam on the Muskingum River, and within 1,000 feet downstream of a dam where signs prohibit it.
Spearing and bow
Archery equipment of any draw weight may be used, with a fishing license, to take bullfrogs, green frogs, and forage fish. Forage fish may be taken by any method except explosives, poisons, firearms, electricity, chemicals, and the net, seine, and trap limits, and except snagging inside the posted dam zones. All fish may be taken by hand except bullheads, catfish, trout, and salmon statewide, and except walleye and sauger in the Maumee and Sandusky rivers. At Pymatuning Lake, carp and suckers may be taken with a longbow and arrow or with spears; other fish may be taken only by angling. Reptiles and amphibians may not be taken by shooting, except green frogs and bullfrogs with archery equipment.
Bait and live transport
Except for licensed bait dealers, no person may possess more than 100 crayfish, or 500 crayfish, minnows, and other baitfish in combination. Buying or selling minnows, crayfish, and hellgrammites requires a bait dealer’s permit. It is unlawful to release any fish or aquatic invertebrate, including crayfish, snails, and insects, into waters other than the water it came from, or to release exotic species into the wild. Forage fish, rough fish, and game fish that have no possession or length limit on that water may be cut for bait if the skin or head stays on so the species can be identified. No fish may be used as bait on Lake La Su An Wildlife Area. Fillets must stay whole enough to identify and count until the angler reaches a permanent residence or the fish are prepared for immediate consumption, with the charter and cleaning-house receipt exceptions. It is unlawful to possess a fish in any form other than whole while on a boat, while wading, or while fishing where a license is required.
Bag and size limits
These are the statewide or default limits. A named lake, river, or marine area can replace every figure below.
Black bass and sunfish
Statewide, where no site rule applies, largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass are 5 a day, singly or in combination, with a 12-inch minimum. Many lakes replace that rule with 15-inch minimums, split bags, or slot limits printed in the site chapter. Sunfish are not given a statewide daily limit in the main table. Lake La Su An, open May 1 through September 7, 2026, on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, has a sunfish limit of 15 with no more than 7 at 8 inches or longer, largemouth bass at 18 inches and 5 a day, and channel catfish at 2 a day.
Walleye and perch
Statewide, walleye, sauger, and saugeye are 6 a day in combination with no minimum length, except on the site-specific lakes that set a 15-inch minimum and on the Ohio River units. Yellow perch are 30 a day with no minimum. Muskellunge are 1 a day with no statewide minimum. Striped, hybrid-striped, and white bass are 30 in combination, with no more than 4 over 15 inches. Trout are 5 in combination with no statewide minimum. Channel catfish under 28 inches have no daily limit, and only 1 channel catfish 28 inches or larger may be kept statewide. Blue and flathead catfish under 35 inches have no limit, and only 1 of each at 35 inches or larger may be kept.
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is freshwater. The sport-fishing district is the lake and the tributaries upstream to the bridges and dams named in the booklet, including the Maumee River to the first dam at Grand Rapids and the Sandusky River to the Waterworks Dam in Tiffin. Black bass are 5 at 14 inches from March 1 through April 30, 2026, then 1 fish at 18 inches from May 1 through June 26, 2026, then 5 at 14 inches from June 27, 2026, through February 28, 2027. From March 1 through April 30, 2026, walleye, saugeye, and sauger are 6 at 15 inches. The printed booklet left May 1, 2026, through February 28, 2027, as “to be announced late April.” An ODNR news release on March 27, 2026, said daily harvest limits were unchanged through April 30, 2027, including walleye at 6 fish and 15 inches, and yellow perch at 30 in the west zone, 10 in the central zone, and 20 in the east zone. Trout and salmon in Lake Erie and the entire length of its tributaries are 2 from March 1 through May 15, 2026, 5 from May 16 through August 31, 2026, and 2 from September 1, 2026, through February 28, 2027, all at 12 inches. Brook trout may not be taken from the Ashtabula, Chagrin, Conneaut, and Grand rivers and their tributaries.
Ohio River and protected fish
On the Ohio–Kentucky western unit, boat anglers follow the state that licensed them, and Ohio-bank anglers follow Ohio. Unified rules within a quarter mile of the river include black and white crappie at 30, muskellunge at 2 and 30 inches, striped and white bass at 30 with no more than 4 over 15 inches, and walleye, sauger, and saugeye at 6 and 14 inches. Ohio’s own western-unit bass limit is 6 at 12 inches. Snagging is illegal in Ohio waters of the river all year. The eastern unit with West Virginia honors the other state’s license for residents of those two states on the main stem. Paddlefish may not be taken or possessed in or within 2,000 feet of Caesar Creek, Deer Creek, East Fork, and Paint Creek reservoirs and dams. The listed state-endangered fish, including lake sturgeon and alligator gar, must be released immediately.