Ohio · Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass
Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass size limit in Ohio
You can keep one today — within these limits
Inland lakes, rivers and ponds (statewide rule)
Open year-round| Size limit | 12 inches and up | total length |
|---|---|---|
| Daily bag | 5 | per person per day, the three bass species combined |
Twelve inches and five a day is the statewide default. Ohio overrides it on roughly sixty named inland lakes - some run an 18-inch minimum, some a 15-inch one, several use split limits such as two fish under 15 inches plus two at 15 inches or longer. A split limit is not a minimum size: check the water-specific list in the regulations booklet before you keep a fish.
Ohio waters of Lake Erie and its bays (June 27 to April 30)
Open today| Size limit | 14 inches and up | total length |
|---|---|---|
| Daily bag | 5 | per person per day, the three bass species combined |
Closes each year From May 1 to June 26 the tighter spawning rule below takes over - one fish at 18 inches, not five at 14
Lake Erie runs two inches above the inland minimum. This is the rule for most of the year; between May 1 and June 26 the spawning rule replaces it.
Ohio waters of Lake Erie and its bays (May 1 to June 26, spawning rule)
Closed today| Size limit | 18 inches and up | total length |
|---|---|---|
| Daily bag | 1 | per person per day, the three bass species combined |
Outside May 1 to June 26 the general Lake Erie rule applies - five fish at 14 inches Reopens after April 30. The numbers above are what applies when it is open.
For eight weeks around the spawn, Lake Erie drops to a single bass a day and lifts the minimum to 18 inches. Fishing itself stays open - this governs what may be kept.
What we left out on purpose
- The Ohio River is deliberately left out of this page. Ohio shares it with Kentucky and West Virginia under two separate interstate agreements, and the rules differ between the western and eastern units - walleye carry a 14-inch minimum in the western unit and none in the eastern one, on facing pages of the same booklet. Those limits are real but the question of which agency's rules apply to which angler is not something we were able to verify cleanly, so we publish nothing rather than half of it.
- Crappie, bluegill and northern pike appear nowhere in Ohio's statewide table. That is not the same as saying they are unlimited - ODNR simply lists no statewide size or bag limit for them, while setting limits on individual named waters. Check the water-specific list for the lake you are fishing.
- The muskellunge entry says no statewide minimum length because that is what the regulations booklet states, in both its English and Spanish editions, and Ohio's Administrative Code carries no statewide muskellunge length rule either. Many other sources quote 30 inches statewide; that figure belongs to the Ohio River and Pymatuning Lake.
- Walleye and yellow perch limits for Lake Erie come from a separate ODNR sheet rather than the main booklet, which defers them with the words 'to be announced late April'. ODNR resets these numbers every spring, so they are the first thing to re-check each April.
Other species limits in Ohio
Where to try today
- Lake Erie 6/10 · Biting