February 19, 2021

In late winter ice fishing for stocked trout at Cleveland Metroparks inland lakes and steelhead in Lake Erie harbors are highlight opportunities. Most area rivers are slushy with lots of ice currently, with the Cuyahoga River being the exception that offers quite a bit of open water.  To monitor the most recent river water level and temperature you can check the following link: <Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  Note: river flow readings can show inconsistencies due to ice and slush interference.  Wallace, Shadow, Ledge, Ranger and Judge's lakes have been stocked with a combined 3,000 lbs of trout in recent weeks (see details below) and anglers are pursuing them on the ice.

Ice fishing opportunities have been in full swing over the past week.  On January 27 we stocked 1,500 lbs of trout at Shadow (750 lbs), Ledge (600 lbs) and Judge's (150 lbs) lakes.  These complement the 1,400 lbs stocked on January 21 in Wallace Lake and 100 lbs in Ranger Lake.  These add to the total of 6,000 lbs of trout stocked in these 5 lakes since mid December and concludes our winter trout stocking.  The majority of the fish were 1-1.5 lb rainbow trout, but a good  number of brook, brown, golden rainbow and trophy rainbow trout were in the mix.  A few trout remain at Ohio & Erie Canal from stocking in October, as well.  Note: the daily limit at Wallace, Ledge, Ranger and Judge's lakes is 3 trout/angler and the limit at Shadow Lake and the Ohio & Erie Canal is 5 trout/angler.  Winter trout often bite well on small to medium size jigging spoons, a small marabou or tube jig tipped with a waxworm or a few maggots, salmon eggs and live minnows.. 

Anglers have been ice fishing for tout on all the recently stocked lakes mentioned above.  Most state conservation agencies recommend at least 4" of solid clear (not cloudy) ice before anglers should venture out to ice fish, and in Cleveland Metroparks it is the angler's responsibility to check that.  One method is to use a spud bar near shore and check the ice thickness, and if it is > 4 inches then walk out a little further and check again.  Ice is often thinnest right at the water's edge and around inlets and outlets of the waterbody.  A pair of emergency ice picks held at the ready on a cord around the neck are are a safety must, as is bringing a length of rope.  A floating "survival suit" is something you may consider, as well.  Other safety tips are to always fish with a friend, let someone know where you'll be, and focus on areas near where other anglers are already fishing.

Lake Erie harbors at Edgewater and E72nd boat ramps, E55th Marina and Wildwood Marina all offer ice fishing opportunities for steelhead and the occasional northern pike, yellow perch and sunfish.  Complicating matter in these areas are an abundance of gizzard shad baitfish- what is good for the fish is not always good for the angler!  The same baits used for steelhead in the rivers and stocked trout in the lakes work here.  Just expect an amazing fight from these supersized trout on a short, medium action ic erod with 6-8 lb monofilament line!  Anglers are also ice fishing for steelhead on the Rocky River at the boat ramps and marina area, although extra caution should always be excercised on river ice.

The Rocky River and other area streams are filling up with ice and slush and open water is getting more limited by the day.  Still, open water can be found- especially on the Cuyahoga River.  Fish are concentrated in the slow, deep holes and are biting smaller spawn sacks, salmon egg mimicking beads and soft rubber eggs (8-12 mm), small (1/32-1/64 oz) jigs tipped with maggots or live minnows under a float catch the most fish, as do nymph and streamer flies.  Repeated drifts through the same pool are often the norm to entice lethargic cold water steelhead into biting.  As a winter tip, a little Chapstick applied to the rod guides can help with ice build-up.

Photo Release Waivers for Fishing Blog Photos (fast and easy to complete online).  Photo release waivers can easily be completed online through Smart Waiver (takes only about 30 seconds to complete) at the following link: <Smart Waiver link>. 

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
 

Ken shared on February 14th: "I would like to add this photo to your fishing report. Rainbow was caught on Wallace Lake yesterday around 10:30am.

JP caught this gorgeous hen steelhead through the ice at the Rocky River marina yesterday (photo courtesy of JP Webb).




DeAngelo landed this fine steelhead ice fishing by the E72nd boat ramps on Lake Erie yesterday (photo courtesy of DeAngelo Williams).



Barnabas caught this large steelhead on the Cuyahoga River on Wednesday (photo courtesy of Barnabas Bakai).




Owen reported from North Chagrin Reservation last Friday "Strawberry Pond gave up a half dozen of these beautiful little buggers this afternoon.  5" of decent ice in main pond...upper portion with the inflows pretty sketchy." (photos courtesy of Owen Lockhart).



Ross caught this gorgeous stud buck steelhead from a local stream this week.  The Cuyahoga River has quite a bit of open water versus other local streams that are quite icy (photo courtesy of Ross Bailey).



Glenn caught this steelhead through the ice yesterday while filming a segment on the Lake Erie Shoreline Anglers Facebook page (photo courtesy of Jason Blackeney).




Ken shared "I had a story to share with you about these two fish.  I wasn’t planning on fishing on Friday.   Besides the open fords, there were few spots where you could find water with uncovered banks.  Clara encouraged me to go and I said, I’ll probably just go for a walk and look at the river.  After fishing for 45 minutes, I switched lures and counted off turns (anti-reverse) to get my lure into the zone where I typically hit them, almost 30 yards away.  I received a Facetime call from Anna Maria.  She asked me about her course in geomtryy, etc., what was I doing?  I said, “just taking up space in the river."  WHAM, I immediately got a hit by this gorgeous 28.5” -  9# hen while I’m talking to her.  Hung up and she fought for 15 minutes.  The open water zone was as wide as 18 feet but tapered to about 8-9 feet at the tailout.  I didn’t realize how tough it would be to steer her away from the ice shelves and keep her in the center of stream.  I had no bank to go to.  Anyway, it was a brutal fight and I am still in awe that I kept her on.  I’m still on the learning journey and was surprised that these fish are in the same spots when it is so iced up.  I suppose I have heard over the years, that they just hang out in deep holes and aren’t very active.   The other one came from under a shelf, not so far back." (photos courtesy of Ken Stein).



Christian took his brother ice fishing this week and he caught this steelhead (photo courtesy of Christian Furlong).






Brad and friends caught some nice steelhead through the ice on the Rocky River by the marina this week (photos courtesy of Brad Gardner).













Shaun caught an amazing diversity of fish through the ice at Wallace Lake this week, including white and black crappie, brown and rainbow trout, largemouth bass, warmouth sunfish and even a channel catfish! (photos courtesy of Shaun Cassidy).











Brian has been catching lots of trout and some redear sunfish through the ice at Wallace Lake.  He relayed "Here are some trout I caught from Wallace this year.  I have caught 22 Brooks, 2 Golden, and I finally got a Brown through the ice.  I also caught a ton of Rainbows.  I released them all.  Here are some of the best looking trout so far. I have been catching them all on pretty much the traditional baits.  Jigging spoons have been getting a majority of the Brooks. The reason alot of people are struggling is the trout are biting extremely light.  I think they (the trout) are stuffed with corn.  People are dumping whole cans of corn after they are done using it.  Alot of times when I am jigging the spoon you will feel them run into it but not eat it.  You will see them on the vexilar check out the bait 5 or 10 times before they barely grab it.  Some of the Brooks are so fat you can barely get your hand around them.  I should have took pictures of the ice after people leave and it is just full of corn.  Some of the trout have corn coming out of their mouths after you land them.  I have caught some decent crappie also and a few bass also." Note from Mike: DO NOT chum with corn- the trout cannot digest it properly and not only does it spoil the bite, it is not good for the fish! (photos courtesy of Brian Kich).