The ODNR Division of Wildlife (ODW) has partnered with InnovateOhio and the Ohio Department of Administrative Services’ Office of Information Technology to provide public access to fish stocking records from 1970 to the present. This includes fish released in public waters from our State Fish Hatcheries during that time period and will be updated regularly. The data visualization product developed allows you to set parameters and query the database to retrieve your results. You can also browse an interactive map of lake and pond locations stocked throughout Ohio.

Click below to go to the DataOhio Portal and fish stocking database: 
Fish Stocking Database

This will open in a separate window. Click on the tab “Visualize” to go to the database and begin your exploration!

How to Use the Fish Stocking Database

Some basic directions on using the data platform to retrieve queries, show data, and display maps:

1. Set the Year Range you are interested in viewing using the left and right slider buttons. The application opens with the most recent five-year span as a standard to allow for faster loading. The entire time period available is 1970 to the present. New data from recent stockings are uploaded weekly.
    
2. Choose your Location, Species, and Lifestage (age/size that fish were stocked) from the dropdown arrows in the corresponding boxes. Choosing the “All” option in a category will result in the complete dataset for that specific category. Click the “Apply” button in each category to see the results in the table and on the map. Please be patient as the data downloads.
    
3. You can also click on locations on the map to get information about the body of water and recent stockings. Hovering over a map dot will show the name of the lake and species and life stages stocked. River and stream stocking locations and some small municipal public ponds are not identified on the map.
    
4. You can download your data result as a PDF report by clicking on the “Options” button and choosing “Download Visualization PDF”. Choose to Include “Specific Sheets from this Dashboard” then click on the two icons that start with “Fish Stocking…” then click “Download”. After your PDF is generated, click “Download” again, and click on the PDF file to view, save, and/or print your results!
    
5. You can click the “Reset” button to clear the Location, Species, and Lifestage, and then complete another data retrieval and visualization. Adjustments to the year span ranges are made separately after hitting the Reset button.
    
6. By hovering your pointer over the map, you can scroll in and out, and you can grab and adjust (drag) the map location.
    
7. By hovering over the data table, you can scroll through the results shown, or you can drag the slider bar on the right-hand side of the table up or down to move through your data.
    
8. Clicking on a lake location in the table will highlight the location as a dot on the map. Since river and stream stocking locations can vary, and rivers can be quite long, there are currently no stocking “dots” for them on the map.
    
9. Clicking the “Reset” button and then clicking on the map’s “Home” icon will reset and center the map.
    
10. If you click on the “Export Data” icon on the top right of the landing page, the website will try to download the entire dataset to your computer. This is a large file and will take quite a while. It will be saved in a .csv file which can be opened in Excel.

Learn more about the ODNR Division of Wildlife’s State Fish Hatcheries.