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Official State Fish

Official fish listed by adoption year. (List by state or year)
State Name Designated as YearList by adoption year
South Carolina Striped bass (rockfish) Official fish 1939
California California golden trout Official state fish 1947
Alabama Tarpon Official state salt water fish 1955
New Mexico New Mexico cutthroat trout Official fish 1955
Wisconsin Muskellunge State fish 1955
Kentucky Kentucky (spotted) bass State fish 1956
Oregon Chinook salmon Official fish 1961
Alaska King salmon Official fish 1962
Maryland Striped bass or rockfish State fish 1965
Minnesota Walleye Official fish 1965
Maine Landlocked salmon (Salmo salar Sebago) State fish 1969
North Dakota Northern pike State fish 1969
Washington Steelhead trout Official fish 1969
Georgia Largemouth bass Official Georgia state fish 1970
Pennsylvania Brook trout Official state fish 1970
North Carolina Channel bass (red drum) Official state saltwater fish 1971
West Virginia Brook trout State fish 1973
Massachusetts Cod Fish of fish emblem and the historic continuing symbol of the commonwealth. 1974
Mississippi Largemouth bass State fish 1974
Oklahoma White bass (sand bass) State fish 1974
Alabama Largemouth bass Official fresh water fish 1975
Florida Florida largemouth bass Official Florida state freshwater fish 1975
Florida Atlantic sailfish Official Florida state saltwater fish 1975
Montana Blackspotted cutthroat trout Offiical Montana state fish 1977
Vermont Brook trout State cold water fish 1978
Vermont Walleye pike State warm water fish 1978
Delaware Weakfish Official fish 1981
Nevada Lahontan cutthroat trout Official state fish 1981
South Dakota Walleye Official fish 1982
Arizona Apache trout Official state fish 1986
Wyoming Cutthroat trout State fish 1987
Michigan Brook trout Official fish 1988
Tennessee Channel catfish Official state commercial fish 1988
Texas Guadelupe bass State fish 1989
Idaho Cutthroat trout State fish 1990
Illinois Bluegill Official state fish 1991
New Jersey Brook trout State fish 1992
Louisiana White perch Official state freshwater fish 1993
Colorado Greenback cutthroat trout State fish 1994
New Hampshire Brook trout Official state freshwater fish 1994
New Hampshire Striped bass Official state saltwater game fish 1994
California Garibaldi Official state marine fish 1995
Missouri Channel Catfish Official fish 1997
Missouri Paddlefish or spoonbill Official aquatic animal 1997
Nebraska Channel catfish Official state fish 1997
Utah Bonneville cutthroat trout State fish 1997
Rhode Island Striped bass Official state fish 2000
Louisiana Spotted sea trout or speckled trout Official state saltwater fish 2001
Connecticut American shad State fish 2003
Maine Eastern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) State heritage fish 2005
North Carolina Southern Appalachian strain of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) Official freshwater trout 2005
Tennessee Large-mouth bass
Small-mouth bass		 Official state sport fish
Official state sport fish		 1988
2005
Georgia Southern Appalachian brook trout Official Georgia cold water game fish 2006
Georgia Red drum Official Georgia salt-water fish 2006
Hawaii Humuhumunukunukuapua`a (Rhinecanthus rectangulus) also known as the rectangular triggerfish Official fish of the state 1985
2006
New York Brook or Speckled trout Official fish of the state of New York
Official fresh-water fish of the state of New York		 1975
2006
New York Striped bass Official marine or salt water fish of the state of New York 2006
Maine Blueback charr (Salvelinus alpinus oquassa) State heritage fish 2007
Virginia Brook trout Fish
Fish (Freshwater)		 1993
2011
Virginia Striped bass Fish (Saltwater) 2011
Arkansas [ None ]    
Indiana [ None ]    
Iowa [ None ]    
Kansas [ None ]    
Ohio [ None ]    
Fishing: A Guide to Fresh and Salt-Water Fishing

Fishing: A Guide to Fresh and Salt-Water Fishing, by George S. Fichter, Phil Francis. 160 pages. Publisher: Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (April 14, 2001)

A basic guide for the novice and a handy reference for the experienced angler, it's packed with useful information and helpful tips on when, where, and how to fish most successfully.

This compact guide to both salt-and fresh-water fishing will help you to:

  • Identify the principal sport fishes of North America
  • Select baits and tackle
  • Hook and land a fish
The Greatest Fishing Stories Ever Told: Twenty-Eight Unforgettable Fishing Tales

The Greatest Fishing Stories Ever Told: Twenty-Eight Unforgettable Fishing Tales, Lamar Underwood (Editor). 277 pages. Publisher: Lyons Press; 1st edition (April 1, 2004)

Twenty-eight unforgettable fish tales as told by America's finest writers.

The Greatest Fishing Stories Ever Told will ignite recollections of your own angling experiences as well as send your imagination adrift. In this compilation of tales you will read about two kinds of places: the ones you have been to before and love to remember, and the places you have only dreamed of going, and would love to visit. This book takes you to all kinds of water, where you experience catching every kind of fish. Read on as some of the sport’s most talented writers recount their personal memories of catching bass, trout, bluefish, marlin, tuna, and more. Explore the Pacific with Zane Grey, as he fights a thousand-pound blue marlin, or listen as A. J. McClane explains just what it really means to be an angler.
Incredible Fishing Stories

Incredible Fishing Stories, by Shaun Morey, Jared Lee. 176 pages. Publisher: Workman Publishing Company; 1st edition (January 5, 1994)

From a grueling 37-hour fight with a Pacific salmon to the maimed fisherman whose severed thumb turned up in the belly of a Mackinaw trout. From extraordinary marlin quests to hair-raising tales of "fish catches man," here are fishing's 80 most unpredictable and spectacular tales.

Shaun Morey-a fanatical fisherman and inveterate story collector-traveled from Alaska to Australia, Mexico, and the Caribbean to interview anglers, boat captains, guides and witnesses; to dig up photographs, and to confirm each tale. You'll read about Captain Jimmy Lewis who, in a moment of sheer bravado (or insanity), speared by hand-and landed-a 1,600-pound hammerhead shark. Or Bob Smith, fulfilling his twenty-year quest to catch all forty species of North America's wild trout on the bitter cold morning after his eighty-first birthday. Or the 800-pound blue marlin that made a final lunge-ripping up the deck and dragging a chair, with Paul Clause strapped in it, to the bottom of the ocean. (Paul survived; so did the marlin.) Truth is stranger than fiction.