April 11, 2019

***Monday April 15 morning update:  This morning 500 pounds of trout were stocked in Wallace Lake instead of the East Branch Rocky River due to muddy/elevated stream conditions.  As a bonus, some brook, brown, and golden rainbows were included (we are allowed to stock these additional species in our lakes, but not the river per our authorization from the Ohio Division of Wildlife).***

The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering good fishing conditions today and steelhead and smallmouth bass are biting, although rain forecasted tomorrow may change conditions.  Wise anglers will monitor the most recent river flows (and turbidity on the Rocky) at the following links before planning a trip: <Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  Rainbow trout are biting in the East Branch Rocky River and a variety of .species, including largemouth and smallmouth bass, yellow perch, and steelhead are being caught along the Lake Erie shoreline.

The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering good fishing conditions today and steelhead fishing has been a highlight.  There is rain in the forecast tomorrow, though, so anglers should check the flow gage trend before making a trip to the river.  There has been a mix of fresh (pre-spawn), spawning, and post spawn steelhead available.  The freshest fish are typically concentrated in the northern river reaches closer to Lake Erie.  Steelhead spawning activity has been occurring in the East Branch of the river, in particular.  Steelhead in spring will bite a variety of offerings, including dime to nickel size spawn bags, 1/32-1/64 oz marabou jigs under floats (black, pink, and white are top colors), beads that mimic salmon eggs, and flies (egg patterns and baitfish streamers are top producers).  The peak of the steelhead run is upon us and anglers can expect the run to taper off quickly later this month. 

Complementing the steelhead are very good numbers of lake-run smallmouth bass.  These fish are present in deeper, rocky holes throughout the main branch of the river.  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 several weeks.  The white sucker run is also going strong on local streams, with Morley Ford north of the Lorain Road bridge being a hot spot.  A lead head jig with twister tail, nymph flies or worm and small sinker fished near the river bottom will all take their share of suckers. Suckers are perfect for kids and less experienced anglers, although experienced anglers can find the fast action they afford to be lots of fun, as well.

The breakwall at E55th, pier and breakwall at Wendy park (old Coast Guard station) and rocks at Edgewater Park and E72nd offer a chance at steelhead, yellow perch, and variety of other species.  The boat launch ramps at Edgewater, Gordon Park, and Wildwood park are all usable at this time, and the courtesy docks were installed at Edgewater and Gordon park boat launches last week.  These harbor areas in spring are a good place to find pre-spawn northern pike and largemouth bass, as well as panfish.  A white spinnerbait with silver blades worked slowly is a good early season choice for both bass and pike. The post-spawn shoreline bite for walleye typically picks around Cleveland around mid April.  Beginning this boating season our public boat launch ramps at Rocky River, Edgewater, Gordon Park, and Wildwood will be charging a fee ($5 daily or season pass for $30 for Cuyahoga county residents and $35 for out of county residents) for trailered watercraft.  Please note that 100% of proceeds will go back into Lakefront improvements projects.

Opportunities for catching trout are good at our stocked inland lakes.  The Ohio Division of Wildlife stocked pan-sized rainbow trout at Hinckley and Shadow lakes this past Friday (March 29th).  In early March Wallace Lake recieved a boost of 1,100 pounds of trout, and throughout the winter a total of 7,100 lbs of rainbow trout were stocked between Wallace, Shadow, Ledge, Judge's and Ranger lakes.  Trout are also available at Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area down the hill from CanalWay Visitor Center off E49th Street.  These fish have seen plenty of fishing pressure at this point so the most successful anglers have been diverse in their offerings until they find what the fish want on a given day.
 
Rainbow trout were not stocked this week in the East Branch Rocky River, but there are plenty of trout around as we stocked 1,800 pounds since March 19.  The stocking zone is between Route 82 (Royalton Road) and the river crossing ford about a mile south of Wallace Lake.  We tentatively plan to stock again on Monday morning, depending on river conditions.  We will continue stocking trout in the river up until the end of April. 

Trout typically bite well on PowerBait, small jigs (marabou, hair, or rubber) tipped with a few maggots/waxworms, and smaller spinners (such as Rooster Tail).  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, 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 Elizabeth on catching her first three steelhead ever while fishing the Rocky River with her father yesterday (photos courtesy of Ken Stein).




Father and son Scott and Seth display their first trout ever caught at Bonnie Park on the east Branch Rocky River (photos courtesy of Carl Schweisthal).



John caught this bruiser smallmouth bass by the Rocky River marina on a crayfish pattern crankbait (photo courtesy of John Schultz).



David reported outstanding steelhead fishing on the Rocky River on Sunday morning, topped by this trophy hen caught on a pink jig (photo courtesy of David Wagner).



Matt caught a huge white bass on the Rocky River by the marina yesterday morning.  He was casting a small white spinner and released the trophy fish (photo courtesy of Matt Hendricks).






Danny and a buddy ended up with a dozen jumbo yellow perch shore fishing at E55th breakwall on Saturday morning.  Another guy got 20.  The biggest fish were Fish Ohio recognition program size with a few of those stretching over 14 inches!  It is hit or miss down there but should only get better further into spring.  Fishing a crappie rig on the bottom with live emerald shiners is the ticket (photos courtesy of Danny Miller).



Stephen caught a big white bass at E55th marina (marina side) this week (photo courtesy of Andy Young).



Speaking of E55th, Jarred hooked a couple largemouth bass in the marina on Monday afternoon (photo courtesy of Jarred Bugg).



Ed reports catching on "bronze bomber" (his words for smallmouth bass) and one steelhead in the Rocky River on Saturday (photo courtesy of Ed Schmitt).




Tinker's Creek is a Cuyahoga River tributary and anglers caught a few steelhead and white suckers there on sunday (photos courtesy of Owen Lockhart).



Joe caught this steelhead in the Chagrin River over the weekend (photo courtesy of Joe Greve).



Chuck landed this football size lake-run smallmouth bass from the Rocky River by the marina (photo courtesy of Chuck Earls).







E55th breakwall produces all kinds of catches in spring, such as the above fish caught this week.  The biggest surprise is the silvery coho salmon Stephen is holding in the third photo above.



Joe was fishing for perch from the short pier at Wendy Park by the old oast Guard station on Sunday and was surprised to hook into this fresh steelhead.  He caught three perch, as well, and saw a nice size channel catfish caught (photo courtesy of Joe).



Justin was fly fishing the Rocky River for steelhead and caught this little fish.  can you idenify the species?  Answer:  greenside darter (photo courtesy of Justin Chaffin).



John, who is a fly fishing manager at the Orvis shop in woodmere, caught this Rocky River "bronzeback" this week (photo courtesy of John Brochue).






Zach had a banner day with the fresh chromers on the northern Rocky this week (photos courtesy of zach rohaley).





Scott caught a bunch of lake-run smallmouth and a few fresh steelhead on the northern Rocky River on Monday.  A few of hios fish are displayed above (photos courtesy of Scott Deere).



Carmen caught a quillback carpsucker on the Rocky River on Tuesday.  Note the very long dorsal fin.  This fish is often misidentified by anglers (photo courtesy of Carmen Colagiovanni).



Congratulations to Bob on catching his first steelhead of the year (photo courtesy of Bob Hoboda).




Liz scored a few more bruiser steelhead this week.




Folks perch fishing along the lakefront are catching small walleye from the spring 2018 hatch.  Be sure to handle and release with care- these juvenile fish are the future of our walleye fishery, which happens to be very bright.



These two fellows are from Turkey. I met them on the Rocky River Tuesday afternoon while I was waiting for a Baldwin Wallace University class to join us for a field outing. They are in the US for a tech conference but the one guy says he takes his travel fishing rod everywhere he goes and always finds a place to fish. They were both very friendly. I was also surprised to learn there are salmon in Turkey.





Cleveland Fishing Co. is a new local apparel brand that wanted to introduce themselves:  "We are dedicated to the vibrant community of anglers that fish Cleveland and its surrounding waters.  Our mission is to increase awareness and support for local conservation efforts through the creation of unique, high quality products. For each item we sell a percentage of our profits will go towards supporting these efforts (1-5% of profits we make from every sale of our apparel will be donated to the Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Fund).  Our website will officially launch on Tuesday April 16th: www.clevelandfishingco.com" (photos courtesy of Brian Tighe, Cleveland Fishing Co.).