The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering good fishing conditions today and steelhead and smallmouth bass are biting, although rain forecasted in the coming days 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 coming days, 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. On Monday we stocked 500 pounds of trout in Wallace Lake, which included some brook and brown trout as well as golden rainbow trout to add spice to the standard rainbow trout. The Ohio Division of Wildlife stocked pan-sized rainbow trout at Hinckley and Shadow lakes this past Friday (March 29th). A few trout are still present at Shadow, Ledge, Judge's and Ranger lakes, as well as at the 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 hope to stock again next week, but that has not been solidified yet (any updates will be posted at the top of this fishing report). 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.
Courtesy Docks at Rocky River Boat Launch. Rocky River Reservation manager Rick Ditch reports that the river by the marina is being dregded right now and the courtesy docks at the boat ramps will be installed as soon as they finish. He expects this should happen by the end of this month.
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
Steve shared "This is my son Jake McIntosh first steelhead ever. He is 8 years old. What a catch on the Rocky River April 12th" (photo courtesy of Steve McIntosh).
Ken shared "Well, the entire family has been out steelheading during the past week. Everyone has hooked and landed a couple and my job is finished! As you probably know the fish have been stacked up in all of the fast water. We caught all of these on Rapalas. Anna Maria’s biggest was a 25”, Clara’s a 26”, and mine a 27”. What a great time! I also included a picture of Brad, a fly fisher who was gracious enough to let us fish downstream from him" (photos courtesy of Ken Stein).
Don caught this fine steelhead in the Rocky River on Saturday (photo courtesy of Don Shepka).
David caught a surprise smallmouth bass in wallace Lake, which is better known for largemouth bass (photo courtesy of David).
Dale sent in a photo of his mom Theresa's first steelhead, as well as his son Jason and mom with a white sucker double (photos courtesy of Dale Edmonds).
Chuck made quite the diverse catch from the northern Rocky River from his kayak, including a smallmouth bass, freshwater drum, channel catfish, and quillback carpsucker (photos courtesy of Chuck Earls).
Chuck caught a beautiful Rocky River smallmouth bass (photo courtesy of Chuck Naujoks).
Pat shared today "Hey Mike got the silver and bronze this morning, got the smallies at the marina and steelies just upstream a little. Take care and thanks for all you do!" (photos courtesy of Pat Jurco).
Mike shared "I caught 5 Largemouth at Beyers Pond. All on nightcrawlers. Also, I went to Wallace on Saturday and FINALLY caught my first trout. A beautiful, long rainbow, caught on panfish tackle. Night crawler and an ice jig again. I caught her on the southeast end of the lake. I saw a bunch of people fishing the usual spots on the southwest side, not catching anything. Meanwhile there was nobody on my side, and I saw at least 10 trout. All were very active and hungry, although after my first catch, they were a little more wary of my bait. Thanks for making this possible for me" (photos courtesy of Mike Brady).
Danny caught a jumbo perch at E55th breakwall on tuesday (photo courtesy of Danny Miller).
Duncan caught a gorgeous Rocky River smallmouth bass while swinging flies (photo courtesy of Duncan simpson).
Max shared "Did pretty good this week at the Rocky and Chagrin on both centerpinning and fly fishing with egg beads and streamers" (photos courtesy of Max Madden).
JP caught a bronze smallmouth in the Rocky River while casting a small blue and silver spoon (photo courtesy of JP Webb).
John caught a fine trio of Wallace Lake trout on Monday-two rainbows and a brookie (photo courtesy of John Hall).
Bill caught his limit of rainbow trout at Bonnie Park on the East Branch Rocky River (photo courtesy of Carl Schweisthal).
Scott was fishing the Rocky River by the marina and made a surprise catch. Do you know what it is? Answer: bigmouth buffalo sucker (photo courtesy of Scott Deere).
Education is a big component of the Cleveland Metroparks mission, and in spring outings to collect fish and discuss their role in stream ecology are popular. Over the past week we've host classes from Baldwin Wallace University on the Rocky River and Case western Reserve University at Wallace Lake.
The East Branch Rocky River was up and muddy on Monday so we were adaptable stocked 500 pounds of trout in Wallace Lake. We can only stock rainbow trout in the river, but stocking the lake allowed us to add some diversity to the mix.
This morning we surveyed Gordon Park embayment (by E72nd) as part of an ongoing effort to document muskie spawning activity, and although we didn't see any muskie we saw lots of nice bass, some good sized northern pike, a few steelhead, lots of panfish, and a bowfin and big goldfish.