As late winter transitions into early spring steelhead trout are the highlight in the Rocky and Chagrin rivers. All area streams are flooded and muddy today from rain. There is more rain in the forecast going into the weekend and rivers will need at least several dry days in a row to drop back into fishable shape. Anglers should keep an eye on the flow data (as well as updated weather forecasts) at the following link to determine conditions:
<Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>. A total of 600 lbs of trout were stocked in the East Branch Rocky River on Tuesday and conditions permitting we hope to stock again next week.
All area streams are muddy and swollen from rain today with more rain forecasted in the coming days. We will require a string of several dry days before the streams will begin dropping into fishable shape again. Small streams, such as Euclid Creek, Porter Creek and Tinkers Creek will be among the first to drop in level and begin to clear, so anglers can spend some time exlporing those types of waters. In the meantime anglers should keep an eye on the weather forecast and flow trend (a link to the latter offered above) to determine conditions on our main rivers. Streams are offering a good mix of chrome bright fresh run steelhead and more colored, darker fish that have been in the streams for awhile with an impressive number of trophy steelhead surpassing the 30 inches having been landed the past few weeks. Steelhead are well distributed throughout our area watersheds. Steelhead in stained water bite best on nickel size spawn sacks in bright colors (hot pink and chartreuse are favorites) and jigs and flies in contrasting colors such as a combination of black with flourescent orange or hot pink.
Lake-run white suckers are increasing in numbers in area streams, as well. Morley Ford just north of the Lorain Road bridge is a good sucker spot on the Rocky River. Suckers will gobble worms or grubs/maggots fished on the river botton, as well as small jigs and flies. Spring suckers are especially good targets for kids, less experienced anglers or folks just learning to fly fish.
On Tuesday we stocked 600 lbs of rainbow trout between Route 82 (Royalton Road) and Bonnie Park. Unfortunately, the river is muddy and elevated, although our lakes and ponds are offering good fishing conditions. Throughout winter we stocked a total of 6,000 lbs of trout between Wallace (2,800 lbs), Shadow (1,500 lbs), Ledge (1,200 lbs), Judge's (300 lbs) and Ranger (200 lbs) lakes. Although winter trout stocking has concluded, plenty of these fish remain. Stocked trout bite on brightly colored PowerBait shaped into dime size balls, small jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm and small to medium size spinners.
NOTE: the limits on these trout at 3/day at Wallace, Ledge, Judge's and Ranger lakes and 5/day at Shadow Lake and Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area (there is no size limit, unlike the river where trout need to be minimum length of 12" and you can harvest 2/day this time of year). The East Branch Rocky River may be stocked again next week, depending on conditions, and we hope to stock through the end of April. Of course, everything is in flux with the current pandemic but we'll do everything we can to try and maintain a normal spring stocking schedule.
Fishing as a form of Social Distancing. In these trying times given the COVID-19 pandemic we've all heard the term "social distancing". To put it in simple terms, in this context it means to avoid other people to minimize spreading a contagious virus. Fishing can be a good way to leave the house and find some stress relief from the situation that can meet that requirement. The World Health Organization recommends maintaining at least 3 feet from anyone coughing or sneezing (Cleveland Metroparks has mandated a minimum of 6 feet for all staff's interactions), and it's easy enough to maintain many times that minimum distance when fishing. Here is an article about social distancing by partaking outdoors pursuits with the family: <Social Distancing Outdoors>.
Wallace Lake Temporary Drawdown. Folks may have noticed that the Wallace Lake water level is down around 3 feet. The park manager needs to perform some repairs to swimming area infrastructure, and we will return the lake to normal level when that is complete. In the meantime, anglers can still fish the lake and if anything fish should be a bit more concentrated.
Fly Fishing Film Tour on Saturday March 21st. NOTE: this event has been postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19 health risks.
7th Annual Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby Fundraiser on March 28. NOTE: this event has been postponed TBD due to COVID-19 health risks.
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
Jackson and his dad had a fun outing on Wallace Lake this week (photo courtesy of Dan Harper).
Michael shared
"Brayden was taking advantage of no school on Wednesday March 20 fishing the Rocky and landed a silver bullet on a Gulp minnow. He successfully released it unharmed." (photo courtesy of Michael Rossi).
Amanda shared "
Brantley and his dad Brett caught their 1st Rainbow Trout at Wallace Lake this weekend! Please consider adding this picture to your fishing Report! Thanks!". And later this week Brett caught his first steelhead , too (photos courtesy of Amanda Sekerak).
Brandon caught a rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River by Rt 82 on Tuesday (photo courtesy of Brandon).
David caught, hugged and released this Chagrin River steelhead on Saturday (photo courtesy of John Russel).
Sierra caught this colorful steelhead while fly fishing the Rocky River yesterday (photo courtesy of Sierra Wick).
Scott from Cinncinnatti shared on Tuesday "
Just a quick note of thanks. Had to go move my son out of Case yesterday and managed to kill 2 birds with one stone. Rocky River was on fire. Tons of fresh fish moving into the river. Caught many fish with Voodoo jigs & maggots. The Cleveland Metroparks are an amazing resource. Keep up the great work." (photo courtesy of Scott Witte).
Kurt shared "
Had a great day fishing on the Rocky River today 3/16/2020. Hope you like these pics. Thanks for your great fishing reports. You do an amazing job!" (photo courtesy of Kurt Johnson).
Adam and his father caught some rainbow trout and a white sucker in the Rocky River (photos courtesy of Mike Flacbart).
Sean caught a chrome bruiser steelhead in the 30" class on the Slick Willy jig pictured (photo courtesy of Sean Perron).
Ken caught a huge 32.5" hen steelhead (top photo) in the Rocky River yesterday, his largest of the year, and Kevin caught the chrome beast below that on Monday (photos courtesy of Ken Harper).
And Ed caught yet another trophy steelhead from the Rocky to add to the pile this week. The 31" hen was Ed's largest of the season (photo courtesy of Ed Schmitt).
Jared and friends made a nice catch of rainbow trout at on the north end of Wallace Lake this week, along with bonus channel catfish and carp, using corn on the bottom (photos courtesy of Jared Kassouf).
Mike caught a quality rainbow trout at Bonnie Park on the East Branch Rocky River (photo courtesy of Carl Schweisthal).
Ross and Kelsey fished a smaller creek in Cleveland Metroparks when the main rivers were muddy this week and caught not one, but two surprise coho salmon (top two photos) along with some steelhead. Salmon occasionally stray into our tributaries from (most likely) Lake Huron stockings- but catching two in one day is unheard of around here (photos courtesy of Kelsey armstrong).
John and his buddy Vic caught their limits of trout in the East Branch Rocky River on Tuesday on an orange trout worm under a bobber and PowerBait (photos courtesy of John Hall).
Justin was fishing for steelhead and caught a bonus smallmouth bass. We will see increasing numbers of these bronze bruisers coming up from Lake Erie to spawn later this spring (photo courtesy of Justin Marconi).
Ken shared "
A couple of photos for the fishing report. We really did pretty well yesterday, mid-morning. I think Zack and I were surprised to mostly see, bright chrome and strong fighting fish - and so far upstream - beyond Lorain Road. Although that hen I am shown with was 26.5” it took her awhile to tire out. He was using green-headed jigs with white body, I was using orange-headed black jigs with white Phantom worms." (photos courtesy of Ken Stein).
Chris and a friend had a fine day on the Rocky River this week. Chris got one steelhead swinging flies, and his buddy caught 3 dead drifting orange Crystal Meth flies- a variation of Sucker Spawn pictured in bottom image (photos courtesy of Chris Thompson).
Ben and Mike had fun catching white suckers on the Cuyahoga River on Sunday (photos courtesy of Mike Sekerak).
William caught this gleaming Rocky River steelhead along with several other by the marina on St Patrick's Day (photo courtesy of William Mascol).
Ted caught this colorful and heavily spotted rainbow trout on the East Branch Rocky River by The Chalet yesterday right before the rain hit. He noted that it torpedoed out from a log jam it was hiding in to grab his Mister Twister jig (photo courtesy of Ted).
Brad is catching all kinds of steelhead in the Rocky this week- ranging from colorful bucks (top) to chrome bright hens (bottom) (photos courtesy of Brad Gandener).
When fish are stale from seeing too many spawn sacks and jigs drifted by, or just for a fun change-up in technique, casting a wobbling plug can often entice a steelhead or two to bite (photo courtesy of Nick Zarzeczny).
On St Patrick's Day (3/17) we stocked 600 lbs of rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River between Rt 82 (Royalton Road) and Bonnie Park. Unfortunately the rain last night fouled up fishing conditions in the river, but when it drops and clears the trout will be waiting and hungry. Can you guess the best bait for a trout like the one in the bottom image? Answer: an Irish jig!
Courtesy docks were installed at the launch ramps at Edgewater and Gordon parks this week. The Rocky River ramp docks will be installed in the coming weeks.