How Many Walleye Call Oneida Lake Home, A Whole Mess of ‘Em

After seeing the number of Walleye decline in Oneida Lake through most of the '90s, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation put a plan together for improvement. Now 20 years later, the population hits a milestone.

The DEC's plan included putting stricter regulations on size and catch rates, plus managing the number of cormorants accused of depleting the population through their dietary habits. The plan held Oneida Lake's Walleye population steady at around 400-thousand through the 2000s.

Large re-stocking classes of walleye in 2010 and 2014 are now reaching maturity and a recent Cornell University showed the milestone of one-million fish had been achieved. The news should get even better as another large restocking class in 2016 hits adult-hood. The DEC continues to hatch and stock 150 million walleye in the lake every year.

Catch rates last year were 0.5 per hour in 2019, which means you should be able to snag one or two. The season runs from the first Saturday in May through March 15. The size limits are 15" with a maximum of 3 fish per day. Read more on walleye regulations on the DEC's website.