Ohio's fishing/turkey hunting may be latest coronavirus victims

Though a direct apples to apples comparison might be challenging, subtle hints could be suggesting the coronavirus might be causing fewer anglers to fish in Ohio.

And the wink might even be stronger for turkey hunting.

Figures supplied by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife shows that a to-date total of 65,819 fishing licenses of all kinds – the agency notes 17 types – were issued as of March 23rd. That to-date figure compares to the 100,213 fishing licenses of all kinds issued for the same period in 2019. This is a drop of 34,394 documents, or nearly 35 percent.

Perhaps more telling is the decline of non-resident annual fishing licenses; those permits sold to out-of-staters. These non-resident anglers are often seen as taking in Lake Erie’s acclaimed early spring walleye fisheries, but who often are required to make long distance runs to get to Ohio.

Here, the current to-date non-resident fishing license sales totals 2,797 documents verses the corresponding 2019 to-date figure of 3,705 documents. This is a decline of about 25 percent.

And the drops to appear be accelerating, too.

The to-date sale of all types of fishing licenses issued as of March 16th – one week earlier and just before Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued his Stay At Home order – was 48,020 documents. The corresponding 2019 to-date figure was 64,941 documents; or a drop of 16,921 documents, or nearly 26 percent.

Interestingly, too, the drop in annual non-resident fishing licenses took a significant course change over the past week. The issuance of annual non-resident fishing licenses for the period ending March 16th was 2,115 documents while the corresponding 2019 figure was 1,958 documents.

Thus, this change was an actual increase of 157 tags but which was wiped out following DeWine’s March 22^nd Stay At Home order.

“The year-to-date fishing license comparisons will be difficult this year because of two recent changes,” says John Windau, the Wildlife Division’s Licensing Communications Coordinator.

First, says Windau, for a true representation of active license holders, the sales of multiyear and lifetime fishing licenses from previous years “should be taken into consideration, since anglers who previously purchased these licenses won’t be purchasing a fishing license this year.”

“In addition, the transition from seasonal fishing licenses that expired the last day in February to licenses that expire one-year from the date of purchase will change when anglers renew their licenses,” Windau says.

Previously, anglers could renew their licenses beginning March 1, regardless of when it was purchased, Windau says.

“Now, anglers may renew up to 30 days before expiration which is based on the date of purchase. This will distort any comparisons of fishing license sales based on a fixed date this year,” Windau says.

Even so, another angling metric that might be stalking fishing activity in Ohio as it relates to the coronavirus crisis is the Fish Ohio program. This popular Wildlife Division program recognizes an angler who catches a qualifying representative from one of 25 eligible species.

Here, the to-date number of Fish Ohio applications is 670. The corresponding 2019 to-date figure was 579 applications, a drop of about 15 percent.

All in spite of one of the mildest winters and early spring, which – before the coronavirus outbreak saw large numbers of angler finding open water to fish from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.

Likewise, the sale of spring wild turkey permits is lagging this year and is also accelerating, another potential indicator of reduced outdoors activity in Ohio.

In looking at all five types of spring turkey-hunting permits, 5,057 have been issued to-date as of March 23rd. The corresponding figure for 2019 was 6,094. This represents a drop of 1,037 documents, or about 18 percent.

For last week – again, just prior to DeWine’s Stay At Home order – the to-date issuance of spring wild turkey-hunting documents was 3,526 while the corresponding figure for 2019 was 4,195 documents. This represented a drop of 669 permits, or 16 percent.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com