***NOTE: The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May*** The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering good fishing conditions, but rain in the weekend forecast could affect that. Anglers would be wise to monitor the trend in river level at the following links:
<Rocky River flow gauge data><Chagrin River flow gauge data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>. The East Branch Rocky River in Millstream Run Reservation was stocked with 900 pounds of rainbow trout each of the past two Fridays.
The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering good conditions for smallmouth bass and lingering steelhead. There is rain in the weekend forecast, though, so anglers should check the trend in flow at the links above before heading out on a trip to the river. Lake-run smallmouth bass are going strong this week in the Rocky and Chagrin rivers on their spawning run. Smallmouth bass will strike artificial lures similar to steelhead- such as medium size crankbaits, spinners, tube jigs (dark brown and olive are good) as well as marabou jigs under floats and streamer flies that imitate gobies, ,minnows and crayfish. Lake-run "smallies" are typically available in the streams until early June.
Most steelhead remaining in the streams are post-spawn fish. For steelhead the typical offerings will work, including smaller dime size spawn sacks, 1/32 and 1/64 oz marabou/hair/tube jigs tipped with a few waxworms or maggots, soft or hard salmon egg size beads, and live and salted emerald shiners- all drifted under a float. A few fish will typically linger around until early to mid May. This time of year offers a great opportunity to score the "silver and bronze", which is catching a steelhead and lake-run smallmouth bass in the same day, often from the same pool on the same offering!
The East Branch Rocky River between Royalton Road and the ford (river crossing) about a mile south of Wallace Lake was stocked with 900 lbs of rainbow trout this past Friday (for the second week in a row). Several easy access locations were stocked along the river and include the parking area on the north side of Royalton Road (Rt 82) along the river, off the low bridges to the Strongsville Wildlife Area and the Chalet, at the Whitney Road covered bridge, and off the ford south of Wallace Lake. The trout average a little over a pound each and they bite well on a variety of offerings, including dime size balls of colorful PowerBait dough, small jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm, single salmon eggs or small spawn sacks, a few kernals of canned corn on hook, and small spinners. Bait should be drifted close to the bottom or held down in place with a small sinker. This concludes our spring river stocking for the year.
A fair number of trout remain from earlier stockings at Wallace, Shadow, Ledge, Ranger, and Judge's lakes (see a few photos from a school outing at Wallace Lake this week below). The majority of the fish are 1 lb rainbow trout, with some golden rainbow, brown, brook, and tiger trout were mixed in.
Note: the daily limit in the river is 2 trout/angler of minimum size 12”. At Wallace, Ledge, Ranger and Judge's lakes daily limit is 3 trout/angler and the limit at Shadow Lake and the Ohio & Erie Canal is 5 trout/angler.
The Cleveland shoreline of Lake Erie is heating up for walleye anglers casting shallow running stickbaits from shore after dark, as well as boating anglers. Harbors, such as Edgewater, Wildwood and E72nd boat ramp areas are offering mixed catch opportunities for largemouth bass, rock bass northern pike, yellow perch and sunfish species. As spring continues to warm up the breakwall area at E55th traditionally offers opportunities to catch yellow perch or white perch using minnows or bits of worms on crappie spreaders on the bottom.
Thank You to Cleveland Fishing Co. Cleveland Fishing Co. has a company model in which they commit to giving back a portion of proceeds annually to support our public fishing initiatives. Thank you to Brian Tighe for making a donation of $1,200 to the Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Fund for 2022!
Orvis Give Back Days Partnership . For the second year in a row we are excited to partner with Orvis for their Giveback Days program to raise awareness and donations for our Fishing Fund. If you make a donation of $10 or more during the month of May to our Fishing Fund you will receive a onetime use savings card that you can use at either Orvis Cleveland in Woodmere or Orvis Westlake in Crocker Park. Please consider supporting those who support local public fishing!
Children’s Spring Fishing Derbies are coming May 20 & 21. Our Cleveland Metroparks Spring Chidren’s Fishing Derbies are a multi-generation old tradition and will be held at Wallace Lake on Saturday May 20 and Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation on Sunday May 21. More info on the events
<here>.
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] .
Tight Lines,
Mike