March 18, 2021

The Rocky River and other area streams have been low and clear all week, but rain today will likely bring the levels up and entice in plenty of fresh steelhead.  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>.  The East Branch Rocky River in Strongsville was stocked with 1,200 lbs of rainbow trout on Monday (details below).
 
The Rocky, Chagrin and other area streams have all been producing very good catches of steelhead this week despite the low and clear water.  But rain today will bring up the water level and surely entice some fresh run fish into the streams.  Prospects for the weekend look excellent.  Streams are offering a mix of chrome bright fresh run steelhead and more colored, darker fish that have been in the streams for awhile already.  Quite a few fish are spawning in the shallow, gravelly riffles and a fair number of post-spawn, or "spent", fish are around.  Steelhead are well distributed throughout our area watersheds, although greater concentrations of fresher fish are available closer to the lake.  Steelhead in stained water bite best on dime to nickel size spawn sacks in bright colors (hot pink and chartreuse are favorites), and as the water clears small marabou jigs (1/32 and 1/64 ounce are most popular) tipped with maggots, live or salted minnows, 3" rubber worms (pink and white have been good) and salmon egg mimmicking beads drifted near the river bottom under a float will take a greater share of the fish. Fly anglers also do very well in spring with a variety of egg, nymph and baitfish patterns.  Another highlight has been some very big fish in the mix, including a fair numbers pusjing and even exceeding the magic 30 inch mark.  the spring run of white suckers is also beginning to intermix with the steelhead.

Many of out lakes and ponds are offering stocked trout..  This winter a total of 6,000 lbs of trout were stocked between Wallace, Shadow, Ledge, Judge's and Ranger lakes (Wallace recieved almost half of the total fish) and plenty of these trout remain.  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.  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.  Trout often bite well on small to medium size spinners/spoons/crankbaits, a small marabou or tube jig tipped with a waxworm or a few maggots, canned corn kernals fished on the lake bottom or a dime size ball of colorful PowerBait. 

The first spring stocking of the East Branch Rocky River kicked off on Monday with 1,200 lbs of mostly 14-16" rainbow trout.  The stocking zone is largely in Strongsville and extend from Royalton Road (Rt. 82) heading north to across the parkway from Wallace Lake.  Note: traditional stocking spot at Bonnie Park WILL NOT be stocked this year.  Vegetation and ground at the site is still stabilizing from a large restoration project to remove a dam and interconnect a wetland complex to the floodplain.  The area will be stocked again in approximately 2 weeks.  Stocked trout in the river bite the same types of offerings mentioned in the paragraph above.

Ice is gone in Lake Erie harbors at Edgewater and E72nd boat ramps, E55th Marina and Wildwood Marina and the boat launches are usable.  In spring, sunfish, largemouth bass and northern pike can be found in these areas.  On the lake side, anglers at Lakefront parks can look for steelhead and pre-spawn yellow perch. 

Presentation about Cleveland Metroparks Fisheries Program to CMNH Trout Club.  A recorded presentation covering the inner workings of our fisheries program to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History Trout Club is available on YouTube at this <link>.  The CMNH Trout Club does a great job of bridging the gap between fishing and conservation.  In fact, they are supporting a restoration project on a high quality stream in North Chagrin Reservation to the tune of $10K.  Learn more about the club <here>.

Cleveland Metroparks Annual Boat Launch Passes are Now Available.    2021 season Cleveland Metroparks Boat Launch Pass can be puchased online at this time at the following link:  <2021 Boat Launch Pass>.  The base price (there are certain discounts) is $30.  Note: this applies only to motorized watercraft that are trailered.

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

 

Lincoln shows off a fine Wallace Lake rainbow trout caught on canned corn on a family fishing outing with dad and grandpa (photo courtesy of Corey Butram).





Kaylen caught some beautiful steelhead this week (photos courtesy of Dale).




Kevin proudly shared "My daughter, Kara, caught four steelhead on Saturday, her first time out.  It was a big day!" (photos courtesy of Kevin Opheim).




Adam took the kayak out for the first time of the season at Wallace Lake and was rewarded with an awesome 16" brown trout as well as a largemouth bass.  He wrote a nice blog post about his outing that can be read <here> (photos courtesy of Adam Eibling).




Jenna and Conor were visting tyown from Alaska and caught some fine rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River.  He shared "All on a fly rod.  we hooked about 6 each between worm and egg patterns and one on a black hares ear nymph" (photos courtesy of Conor Mewhinney).



Chuck caught his personal best steelhead at 32" this week (photo courtesy of Chuck Naujoks).



Tom also caught a beast steelhead- measuring in a 31.75".  There are some big fish in the streams right now!  Tom is president of the excellent <Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders> sportsman club (photo courtesy of Tom Blotzer).








Alex and Nick caught a bunch of rainbow trout (stocked Monday) in the East Branch Rocky River.  See the report above for stocking details.  Nick's buddy Sam caught his personal best steelhead at 28" in the Rocky River.  Also a hungry chub had a big meal before they caught it- can you tell what it ate? (photos courtesy of Nick Zarzeczny).





Julia caught a 29" steelhead at the Rocky River marina fishing with her uncle Bo (photos courtesy of David "Bo" Bowser).



Luther shows off a dime bright steelhead he caught at the Rocky River marina (photo courtesy of Luther Williams).



Congratulations to Mark on catching a 30" steelhead (photo courtesy of Mark Warren).




Adam caught some colorful monster steelhead fly fishing the Rocky River (photos courtesy of Mike Flachbart).





Pete, Charlie and Anthony all found success pursuing trout stocked in the East Branch Rocky River this week.  See the report text for stocking details (photos courtesy of Pete Surace).



Ted and friends also found success pursuing trout stocked in the East Branch Rocky River (photos courtesy of Ted Choukalas).



Yesterday we transferred 148 quality bass and sunfish from the lake at the Zoo to our public fishing areas.




Jack Heidrich visited from Columbus with his dad Scott (a longtime friend) on Sunday and caught his first two unassisted steelhead!  He also reeled in another that I hooked.  And on Monday Elizabeth tried her hand at fly fishing for steelhead for the first time and hooked a few on soft beads.  The fish being released in the image was a 30" hen, and the top image is a 29" buck.