Ohio · White, striped and hybrid striped bass
Can you keep a white, striped and hybrid striped bass in Ohio?
Yes, with limits
Inland lakes, rivers and ponds (statewide rule)
Open year-roundSize
No size limit stated
total length
Daily bag
30
per person per day, the three combined, of which no more than four may be longer than 15 inches
Thirty a day inland, but the four-fish cap on anything over 15 inches is the part that catches people out - it is a composition rule, not a minimum size.
Ohio waters of Lake Erie and its bays
Open year-roundSize
No size limit stated
total length
Daily bag
—
ODNR states no daily limit and no size limit for these three species in Lake Erie
On Lake Erie both the size limit and the daily limit fall away - the regulations table reads 'None' in each column, and the season is open year-round. That makes white bass the least restricted target on the lake.
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 in Ohio
Where to try today
- Lake Erie 8/10 · On fire