April 20, 2017

In late spring, highlight species targeted by anglers in Cleveland Metroparks include steelhead trout, stocked trout, panfish, and largemouth and smallmouth bass.  The rivers have been fishing well this week at a moderate level with good clarity, but weekend conditions will depend on how much rain we recieve over the next day.  To monitor the most recent river water level, temperature, and clarity (turbidity) you can check the following links: <Rocky River USGS flow gage data> <Chagrin River USGS flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  Trout were stocked in the East Branch Rocky River on Monday.

The Rocky and Chagrin rivers have been running clear this week with moderate flow.  The tide is turning with the steelhead run, and athough lots of fish are around the majority are spawning and post-spawn (dropback) fish.  The Main and East branches of the Rocky River and Chagrin River up to South Chagrin Reservation are all producing fish.  A good flush of water following the next hard rain will send quite a few of the  dropback steelies back to Lake Erie.  Spawning steelhead (and suckers) can be found in shallower riffle and tailout areas, while pre and post spawn fish can be found in holes and runs, especially just downstream of spawning fish.  Fly fishers, bait anglers, and hardware chuckers have all been taking a share of the fish. 

Complementing the steelhead are great numbers of lake-run smallmouth bass.  These fish are present in deeper, rocky holes throughout the Rocky and Chagrin rivers.  Anglers fishing a jig, wooly bugger, live shiner, or other lures/flies that mimic a baitfish have a shot at hooking the "silver and bronze" (a smallmouth or steelhead) in the same day for the next few weeks.

On Monday we stocked 600 pounds of rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River.  Recently ODNR stocked trout at Hinckley Lake (2,500 fish) and Shadow Lake (500 fish), as well.  These fish will range from 11-14" in length.  Plenty of trout also remain at Wallace Lake, although some anglers reported a slow bite there this week.  Trout hit well on PowerBait fished near the bottom, jigs tipped with a few maggots/waxworms suspended below a bobber, minnows, and smaller spoons and spinners. 

Spring stocking of trout in the East Branch Rocky River began in mid March and will continue through the end of April.  These fish are stocked at about a half dozen locations in Millstream Run Reservation between Royalton Road (Route 82) and the river ford (low bridge crossing) just south of Wallace Lake.  We hope to stock again early next week- likely on Monday morning.  Stay posted to this report for the latest fish stocking details.

Please note the current seasonal trout regulations:  Lake Erie and all streams 2/day minimum size 12" (this includes steelhead), 3/day no size limit at Wallace, Ledge, Judge's and Ranger lakes, and 5/day no size limit at Shadow Lake and Ohio & Erie Canal. 

If you have a photo that you would like to contribute to the fishing report, or if you have any further questions regarding fishing in the Cleveland Metroparks, you may contact Aquatic Biologist Mike Durkalec at (440) 331-8017 or  [email protected].
Tight Lines,

Mike

Congratulations to Joe, who caught his first bass while fishing Wallace Lake with his grandfather (photo courtesy of Pete Surace).





Mike reports "Attached are a few pictures from my son Michael’s first trip to the Rocky on Saturday. We live in the Akron area so it’s a little bit of an excursion to get up there, but well worth it. He had such a great time that he can’t wait to get back. In addition to the bass in the pictures, he also caught a huge smallie that slipped off before I could snap a picture. The sucker pictured jumped out of the water and landed on his feet!"  (photos cortesy of Mike Wojciak).



Congratulations to Sierra on catching her first steelhead ever in the Rocky River on Monday and noted regarding the experience "I finally understand why everyone goes crazy about steelhead. These guys are awesome!" (photo courtesy of Sierra Wick).



Adam also caught his first steelhead ever this week while fly fishing the Rocky on Tuesday (photo courtesy of Adam Eckhoff).




Aren't we all suckers for a cute kid fish photo?  Pun intended! (photo courtesy of Jane Thorkelson).




Congratulations top Brad on the catch and release of his personal best largemouth bass in Hinckley Lake this week.  The 22" hawg took a blue and white Strile King Shim-E-Stick (photos courtesy of Brad Gardner).



Nick caught a gorgeous steelie in the Rock (photo courtesy of Nick Zarzeczny).







Mat reported on Friday "Today was a good day! Got 5 smallies in between the bridge at the dog park and the first current down river. All on a small silver Rooster Tail spinner!" (photos courtesy of Mat Hendricks).




The perch bite from shore at E55th is spotty, but the ones they are getting are jumbos!




Fabio scored the coveted "silver and bronze" award while swing the Chagrin River this week (photos courtesy of Fabio Malaspina).




Davis shares "Caught these silver bullets on the Chagrin River at the polo grounds. Fishing a stone fly with bead trailer. Great fights" (photos courtesy of Davis Shumaker).



You never know what you're going to hook into while bottom fishing by the marina.  The sheepshead were biting there this week.



Jarred caught this steelhead in Big Creek, a tributary of the Cuyahoga River, in Brookside Reservation (photo courtesy of Jarred Bugg).



Steelhead that are done spawning regain their silvery coloration as they return to the lake.  This chrome dropback (post spawn fish) hit a white beadhead bugger (photo courtesy of Owen Lockhart).



We stocked a few nice bass in Shadow Lake this week.




We had a fish collection outing with a CWRU Ichthyology (fish biology) class on Wednesday afternoon by the nature center and turned up a bunch of nice lake-tun smallmouth bass in our diverse catch of fish.  I also observed that of a few dozen steelhead we turned up every one was a post spawn fish.