March 17, 2022

***The Fishing Report Blog is updated every Thursday***   The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are great shape and weekend steelhead fishing prospects will be good as long as we don't recieve too much rain.  Anglers can check the flow and temperature data at the following links: <Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  Trout were stocked in the East Branch Rocky River on Monday (details below).

The Rocky River and other area streams are offering very good fishing conditions and steelhead fishing opportunities into the weekend will be good if the area doesn't recieve too much rain.  Anglers should keep an eye on the flow trend at the links above before heading out.  Anglers on all streams reported good success this week.  Best bets include dime size spawn bags, salmon egg mimicking beads and soft rubber eggs (8-12 mm), small (1/32-1/64 oz), jigs tipped with maggots and live minnows under a float for anglers fish noodle rods or centerpin rigs.  Fly fishers are doing well with eggs flies (ie glow bugs and sucker spawn), streamers (ie Clouser minnows and wooly buggers) and beadhead nymphs.  Anglers can also keep it simple and cast a medium size Little Cleo spoon, Roostertail spinner or similar on a standard medium action spinning rod spooled with 8 pound line.  Lake-run white suckers beginning to migrate into the rivers and their numbers will only continue to increase into April.

Lake Erie harbors, such as Edgewater, Wildwood and E72nd boat ramp area are all open water as of this week. Fishing opportunities for steelhead, northern pike and pre-spawn largemouth bass are available in nearshore waters.  Boat launches are open with each having a year round permanent loading dock, although thye additional wooden dock are not in yet.  Boat Launch Annual tags for the 2022 season can be purchased online <here>.

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 even some tiger 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 900 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 since the restoration project to remove a dam and interconnect a wetland complex to the floodplain.  The river will be stocked again in approximately 2 weeks.  Stocked trout in the river bite the same types of offerings mentioned in the paragraph above.

Thank You to Slyman's Retaurant and Deli for your Support!   Many folks who have visited the iconic Cleveland deli Slyman's on Saint Clair Avenue know that Moe (one of the owners) is a big-time angler.  Photos of catches made by family and friends are pinned to the wall as you walk in.  We extend a big THANK YOU to Slyman's for being our Presenting Sponsor of the upcoming Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby fundraiser.  Next time you stop in to pick up the biggest and best corned beef sandwich in town please be sure to thank Moe and his crew for supporting public fishing programs.

The Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby Online Registration is now Open!  You can save $5 versus the day of the event ($30 vs $35) by registering for the Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby online.  You may do so at the following link: <Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby online registration>.

Regarding the event, the popular and fun Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby is back this year and scheduled for Saturday April 2nd.  The sixth annual event was held in 2019 so we will pick up where we left off and call this our seventh annual event.  Cleveland Metroparks will be leading the event this year and Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders (a non-profit) will be hosting the raffle.  Trophies for three largest steelhead, raffles, and a cookout are all part of the day's festivities for this fun event where anglers must fish for steelhead with a kiddie fishing pole!  100% of proceeds from the fundraiser event go to support the Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Fund.  The event headquarters will be at South Mastic Woods Picnic Area (immediately south of the Putritas Road bridge), a central location on the Rocky River that offers lots of space.  Mark your calendars for this fun event for a great cause!  More on the event here: <Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby info page>.

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 covered too.

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

David caught this 30" buck steelhead drifting a jig in the Rocky River on Sunday (photo courtesy of David Ailoae).




Brent had a great week, catching a quality rainbow trout stripping a streamer on a 3 weight fly rod on Friday, then followed up with a beautiful Rocky River steelhead on the fly rod on Tuesday (photos courtesy of Brent Oneill).



David from Berea broke a slump with this 27", 8 pound buck steelhead (photo courtesy of David).



Mike caught this bonus brown trout in the Rocky River this week while targeting steelhead (photo courtesy of Mike Vaccaro).




On Tuesday Alan and his wife caught some rainbow trout in Judges lake, including this beauty that bit one a 1/16 oz chartreuse jig with three maggots about 3 feet under a light weight bobber.  The trout were special guests at their dinner table that evening (photos courtesy of Alan Tomko).



Scott from Cincinatti shared yesterday "Had a great few days up on the Rocky River. Big, quality fish were digging white jigs. Thanks for having an amazing fishery.​" (photo courtesy of Scott Witte).





Pat shared from the Rocky this past weekend "Check out the top catch at slight over 30” and approximately 12lbs. I also want to share with you the 'tank' my friend Bob caught this morning near the blackwall. We are Having a blast catching steelheads. Thanks again for all that you do and have a great week." (photos courtesy of Pat Cramer).



John had a stellar day of steelhead fishing on the Rocky River on Tuesday morning calling the day "epic" and reporting takes almost every drift.  Mostly quality bucks, with this one being big fish of the day (photos courtesy of John Burkhart).




Brian caight 9 steelhead in the Rocky on Friday, topped with the 31" bruiser in the pics above, then took his son on Sunday and they caught 16 more between them (photos courtesy of Brian Zaptocky).



Jacob caught a chunky rainbow trout in Wallace Lake (photo courtesy of Carl Schweisthal).




Capt. Mike is dialed in on the big pre-spawn walleyes out on the big lake (photos courtesy of Mike Mochan).



A nice catch of Shadow Lake rainbow trout punctuated by a big tiger trout (photo courtesy of Pat Thauvette).






Victor had a great day drifting spawn sacks for steelhead on the Chagrin River (photos courtesy of Victor).




Thank you to Slyman's Restarant and Deli for signing on as our Presenting Sponsor of the upcoming Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby!