Statehouse lawmakers again cast a line to hook walleye as Ohio's fish

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohio lawmakers are making another fin-tastic push to hook the walleye as the state's official fish, hoping this time it won't flop.

House Bill 312 was introduced at the Statehouse in May to designate the state fish as sander vitreus, commonly known as the walleye. While Ohio has already memorialized other symbols, like tomato juice as the official beverage and white trillium as the formal wildflower, the state is one of three -- along with Indiana and Iowa -- that remains symbolically fishless.

"Ohio is the heart of it all, particularly when it comes to Walleye," said Rep. Sean Brennan (D-Parma), who is sponsoring the bill alongside Rep. D.J. Swearingen (R-Huron) and nearly 50 bipartisan cosponsors. "We are already known unofficially as the walleye capital of the world."

The total economic output of the sport fishery in the Ohio portion of Lake Erie is estimated at $1.19 billion, with 71% of the total sport fishing effort by private and charter boats on Lake Erie targeting walleye, Brennan told the Ohio House Arts, Athletics and Tourism Committee in a June hearing.

About 72.1 million of the white-bellied, olive-and-gold fish inhabit the cool waters of Lake Erie, according to the Ohio Division of Wildlife. By comparison, there are roughly 600,000 white-tailed deer, Ohio's official mammal, across the state. This means Lake Erie holds close to 150 times more walleye than the entire state's deer population, Brennan said.

The effort has garnered support from Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, who also declared Ohio "the walleye capital of the world" earlier this summer during the annual Governor's Lake Erie Fish Ohio Day.

At the June hearing, Swearingen argued that designating a state fish would highlight its ecological importance, which could be used to justify funding for conservation programs, habitat restoration and scientific research.

"There is no other fish more sought after in Ohio than the walleye, with about half of Ohio's one million anglers fishing for them," Swearingen said. "Grants for fisheries, wildlife preservation, or environmental education often favor projects with community or cultural significance. An official state fish can strengthen grant proposals by demonstrating the species' value to the state's identity and ecosystem."

Previous attempts to honor the walleye have floundered at the Statehouse but were supercharged when NBC4, using responses from its viewers and readers, proposed a handful of species competing for the title of Ohio's state fish in October 2021.

Once the walleye emerged as the victor, NBC4 contacted every state lawmaker whose district borders Lake Erie to inquire whether a bill naming it as Ohio's official fish could swim its way through the Statehouse. Former state Sen. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) volunteered and agreed to introduce a bill bestowing the designation.

Fedor's Senate Bill 271 and its counterpart House Bill 484 -- which lawmakers considered over a spread of smoked walleye cheese dip and crackers -- died in the water, failing to receive a vote in either chamber of the General Assembly by the end of 2022.

It was not the first time a fish bill has flopped at the Statehouse. The decades-long debate spans back to the 1980s, when walleye anglers in northern Ohio battled bass anglers down south over which of the two species should grace the list of state symbols, according to a 2003 article by The Morning Journal of Lorain.

Brennan and Swearingen revived the effort when a resident in his district reached out and advocated for the walleye as Ohio's top fish. The pair noted the walleye's history in Ohio culture, from the Toledo walleye hockey team to the city of Port Clinton's time-honored tradition of dropping a 20-foot, 600-pound fiberglass walleye adorned in LED lights to mark the New Year.

The duo's earlier attempt, House Bill 599, passed the Ohio House in June 2024, but stalled in the Ohio Senate. The walleye designation was then folded into Senate Bill 62, legislation to make a variety of designations like naming Oct. 4 "Rutherford B. Hayes Day," but it too failed to swim across the legislative finish line. 

This time, Brennan is optimistic about H.B. 312's chances, especially given its early introduction in the current General Assembly, which runs through December 2026.

"We got started a lot earlier than we did last time, so I'm pretty sure we can reel this one in," Brennan said. "We'll have a pretty good shot of getting quite a bit of it done here in the fall, and then we get back after the holidays, hopefully getting across the finish line."