December 20, 2018

The Rocky River and other area streams are currently exhibiting good flow and stain and anglers have been catching steelhead this week, but rain is in the forecast.  Anglers can monitor the most recent river water level and temperature at the following link prior to making a trip: <Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  Nearshore Lake Erie anglers are targeting walleye, steelhead, and yellow perch.  A total of 3,000 lbs of rainbow trout were stocked in Metroparks lakes late last week (details below).

The Rocky River and other area streams are offering good flow and stain for steelhead fishing, and anglers reported good fishing this week.  But there is rain in the forecast today so wise anglers will check the trend from the flow gage data before making a trip to the river.  Fish are spread throughout the system at this time, with anglers reporting some better size fish (25-29") in the mix this week.  Steelhead have been caught on marabou jigs under floats, brightly colored dime to nickel size spawn sacks, beads that mimic salmon eggs, flies (egg patterns and baitfish streamers), and lures such as Little Cleo spoons and Vibrax spinners.  Overall, the general feeling is that this steelhead season has been somewhat below average overall, although the past two weeks have offered some of the best fishing of the year so far.

Anglers fishing along the Cleveland lakefront have a shot at late season walleye from the E55th/E72nd breakwall areas.  A lakefront steelhead have been caught on small jigs tipped with minnow suspended between 4-6 feet under a bobber, as well as for anglers casting spoons (ie Little Cleo or KO Wobbler) or spinner (ie Vibrax or RoosterTail).  Some jumbo yellow perch are being caught on the west side of the E55th north facing breakwall on emerald shiners near the lake bottom. as well as by boaters off the east end of the city breakwall.

On Thursday and Friday last week we stocked 3,000 lbs of rainbow trout, as follows:  Wallace (1,400 lbs), Shadow (750 lbs), Ledge (600 lbs), Judge's (150 lbs) and Ranger (100 lbs) lakes.  The size of the trout averages about a pound and a half each, although fish range from 3/4 lb to 2.5 lbs  Along with the predominantly standard rainbow trout are fair number of colorful golden rainbow trout (see photo below).  Please 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 ned to be minimum length of 12" and you can harvest 2/day).  The second and final round of winter trout will go into the same lakes around mid to late January.  These trout bite well on jigging spoons, brightly colored PowerBait, and small jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm.  Our lakes should be ice free for the weekend based on the current forecast.

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
 

A proud Andrew shared "My son AJ and I sure appreciate reading the information and seeing the great pictures from the weekly fishing report.  He’s truly gotten hooked on fishing this past year and is always looking forward to Thursday when the new report comes out.  I wanted to share this picture with his first trout he recently caught at the Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation.  Thank you for the consideration and Happy Holidays." (photo courtesy of Andrew Edgar).
 


12 year old Ellie caught some nice rainbow trout at Wallace Lake this week (photo courtesy of Elmer Garcia).




Connor reports on his fishing outing with mom "Let me just say that I am so grateful for what you do for the weekly fishing report every week! I am a college student at the University of Toledo and I look forward to reading the report every Thursday after class. I recently got home for winter break so of course I had to take my mom out for a steelheading trip. We turned out to have one of our most productive days of the season today before the flows got too high! I attached some photos if you would like to include our Christmas spirit in the report :) Most fish we caught were on nickel size spawn bags in slower, deep holes. Happy Holidays!" (photos courtesy of Connor Trost).





Adam and dad caught some chunky Wallace Lake rainbow trout this week (photos courtesy of Mike Flachbart).




RJ shared "My name is RJ I am a huge fan of your reports on the Metroparks website and appreciate all the tips and seeing all the fresh catches during the weeks! It has taken me awhile to get the hang of steelhead fishing and it really can turn out to be a science and a great craft. I’ve attached one of the bigger steelhead I caught last week on the Rocky River, it was a great fight. Thanks for everything and Merry Christmas" (photos courtesy of RJ Dean).




Blake caught a few fine steelhead on spinners at the East-West branch split on the Rocky River (photos courtesy of Samantha Boss).



Jake was home on winter break from Baldwin Wallace University, where he plays football, and caught this buck steelhead yesterday.  He was drifting a marabou jig tied by his father Bill at the Rocky River boat ramps (photo courtesy of Bill Mantle).



Nick caught a nice late season walleye last night from a small watercraft along the Lake Erie shoreline (photo courtesy of Nick Kosiba).



Marcus and friends have been making some great catches of late season jumbo perch off E72nd this week (photo courtesy of Marcus Norman).



Brian caught a limit of Wallace Lake rainbow trout on small spoons (photo courtesy of Brian Baran).



This Rocky River steelhead hit a jig tied by ay Atkinson (photo courtesy Ray Atkinson).



Ted caught some quality rainbow trout in a Cleveland Metroparks lake (photo courtesy of Ted).








Walt and friends have been making great catches of Shadow Lake rainbow trout, including a few golden rainbows (photos courtesy of Walt).



Anglers fishing minnows on the bottom along the north facing breakwall at E55th have been catching some jumbo yellow percch.  The bite varies from day to day but this was one of several good ones caught on Monday.





Ken and friends, such as Bill Wahl (pictured), have been seeing an increase in size of the better steelhead in the Rocky lately.  The fish in the bottom image caused some debate, but was determined to be a small female pink salmon caught in the Rocky River this week.  Pinks normally run much earlier (typically late August-September around here) and are rare regardless.  The alternmative was a small female coho salmon.  The fish was released by Ken, but caught by a friend and kept a few days later (photos courtesy of Ken Harper).



Lance, who works at Fin Feather Fur in Middleburg Heights, has been catching those Rocky River steelies lately.  Maybe his brown trout pattern hat is acting as fish camo? (photo courtesy of Lance Grifo).



Andrew caught a colorful golden rainbow trout at Wallace Lake this week (photo courtesy of Andrew Sowinski).





Dana and Mike still have their boat ready to go for those late season Cleveland walleyes (photos courtesy of Dana Daugherty-Klonowski).



Aaron caught a bruiser steelhead in the Rocky River this week (photo courtesy of Aaron Honaker).



James shared this photo of his buddy Jason and their combined catch (on the ground) just shy of their two person limit at wallace Lake.  They were using spoons (photo courtesy of James Semple).



Mike caught this 18" rainbow trout at Ledge Lake (photo courtesy of Mike Ambroziak).







We were lucky to have photographer Bill Britt stop by when we were stocking Wallace Lake with trout last Friday (photos courtesy of bdtimaging.com ).