December 15, 2022

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***  Anglers on the Rocky, Chagrin and Cuyahoga rivers have been pursuing steelhead trout.  Steelhead fishing is good at this time although the low and clear conditions are calling for a finesse approach.  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>.  Trout were/are being stocked at various locations this week (see details below) and Lake Erie anglers are targeting walleye, yellow perch and steelhead in nearshore areas.

Local streams are exhibiting low and clear conditions with steelhead concentrated in the deeper holes, although the rain we are recieving may bring up the water levels (check the flow data before heading out).  Colder temperatures in the forecast could lead to slushy mornings on the rivers, as well.  Although fish are distributed throughout the main branch of the Rocky and Chagrin rivers, given the overall lower flows this fall into winter the larger numbers of fish tend to be in the few miles of stream closer to Lake Erie. Top offerings continue to be dime size spawn sacks (hot pink, chartreuse, white, peach, and pale yellow being a few effectice colors), live minnows, 1/64  or 1/32 oz jigs (marabou and plastic tubes) tipped with maggots, and salmon egg mimmicking beads (same colors as noted with spawn sacks) drifted under floats on 6-8 lb flourocarbon leaders in the deeper areas.  Fly fishing with egg patterns and streamers has also been yielding hook-ups, as have spoons, spinners and crankbaits.  Stray brown trout have been turning up locally with some regularity over the past few weeks (photos below)).

As lake conditions permit steelhead are available off the breakwall at E55th Marina and off the rocks at Edgewater Park, as well as Wildwood Park.  In the colder water, baits drifted under floats, such as marabou jig tipped with a minnow or a nightcrawlers, have the edge over casting hardware.  These same areas also produce walleye after dark, with Perfect 10 and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits working well.  Walleye trolling off Cleveland is also good through the harbor freezing up.  For late season boating anglers, yellow perch are another option off the east end of the Cleveland outer breakwall, as well.  Spotty catches of perch can be made from shore at E55th breakwall and the old Coast Guard Station at Wendy Park.  Emerald shiners fished near the bottom on a crappie rig or spreader can both be effective.

On Monday December 12th as well as scheduled for today our first round (of two) scheduled winter trout stockings is taking place.  This stockings will consist of a total of 3,000 lbs of trout distributed as follows: Wallace Lake (1,400 lbs), Shadow Lake (750 lbs), ledge Lake (650 lbs), Ranger Lake (100 lbs) and Judge's Lake (100 lbs).  The majority of the fish are 1 lb rainbow trout, but a good  number of brook, brown, golden rainbow and even some trophy tiger trout (more on this below) are in the mix.  A fair number of trout remain at Ohio & Erie Canal from stocking in October.  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.  The trout can bite well on colorful dime size balls of Power Bait dough, a waxworm ot two on a small marabou or tube jig and smaller spoons and spinners. 

For the second year in a row a few tiger trout were included in the stocking mix (see a photo of one of them below).  Tiger trout, named for their tiger-like stripes, are a rare hybrid between a female brown trout and male brook trout and this is the only place they are stocked in public waters in Ohio!  A handful of these neat fish will be included in the stockings this week at Wallace, Shadow and Ledge lakes to offer anglers an opportunity to catch a rare trophy (Ranger and Judge's lakes were also stocked with trout, but no tigers).  We appreciate the efforts of our supplier (Hooked on Trout Farm, LLC), a small family owned Ohio operation, to provide great fish to enhance angling opportunities in Cuyahoga county public waters.

Photo Release Waivers for Fishing Blog Photos (fast and easy to complete online).  Photo release waivers for photos sent in for the fishing report can easily be completed online through Smart Waiver (takes only about 30 seconds to complete) at the following link: <Smart Waiver link>. You only need to do this one time and any future additional photos submitted are already covered.

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] .

James caught this fine pair of steelhead in the Rocky River.  It is a nice comparison between a colorful buck and chrome hen steelhead (photo courtesy of James Yang).




Carl caught a 21" rainbow trout and his buddy Dick gort his 3 trout limit, including a golden rainbow trout, at Wallace Lake yesterday (photos courtesy of Carl Schweisthal).



Ryan shared "Caught and released this beautiful buck in the Chagrin on Dec. 10th. Just under 26" and weighed in a hair over 7 lbs. Prettiest fish I've ever caught!" (photo courtesy of Ryan B.).



Buddies John and Victor scored a pair of golden rainbow trout at Wallace Lake on Tuesday (photo courtesy of John Hall).



Max caught a surprise brown trout hwen fishing for steelhead in Euclid Creek at Wildwood Park (photo courtesy of Max Hill).



Ken also scored a bonus brown trout this week, this one from the Rocky (photo courtesy of Ken Metz).






Nick and his buddy caught a nice bunch of trout at Wallace Lake on Tuesday, highlighted by a 21.5" tiger trout! Nick also got a bonus black crappie (photos courtesy of Nick Zarzeczny).





John tangled with some big frsh chromers in the Rocky this week.  The biggest one was 28.5" and he estimated at 10 lbs (photos courtesy of John Burkhart).



Wes worked for them but rounded out a limit of 10 yellow perch off Cleveland on Monday (photo courtesy of Wes Janke).



Kumbo shows off abeautiful 30.5" Rocky river buck steelie (photo courtesy of Kumbo Leng).



For the first time ever we stocked a super rare albino brook trout at Wallace Lake on Monday.



Luther displays a fresh buck steelhead caught at the Rocky River boat ramps on Tuesday (photo courtesy of Luther Williams).



Owen shows off a big buck steelie before releasing him.