February 17, 2023

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***   The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering moderate flows with a greenish stain at the moment and should continue to offer good conditions for weekend steelhead anglers.  Anglers can monitor the most recent river water level and temperature at the following links: <Rocky River flow gauge data><Chagrin River flow gauge data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  The second and final round of winter trout stockings took place in early February (see details below).

Area streams are offering moderate flows witha light greenish stain and should continue to offer good prospects for weekend steelhead anglers. You can visit the links above to stay abreast of the latest trend in flow.  Anglers have been doing well on a variety of offerings, including dime to nickel size spawn bags (in varied colors), 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 emrald shiners- all drifted under a float.  The size of the larger fish continues to be outstanding this year, with quite a few steelhead exceeding 30 inches in length in the mix (as evidenced several of the images below).  A good number of steelhead have migrated well upstream in the Rocky and Chagrin rivers, as well as others streams, with fish being well distributed throughout the watersheds.  The Cuyahoga River, Euclid Creek and other unstocked streams are also offering fishable numbers of stray steelhead at this time.

In early February we stocked Wallace (1,400 lbs),and Shadow (750 lbs), Ledge (650 lbs), Ranger (100 lbs), and Judge's (100 lbs) lakes with the second (and final) round of winter trout.  These stocking locations and quantities are a duplication of the 3,000 lbs of trout stocked back in mid-December.  The majority of the fish are 1 lb rainbow trout, but a good  number of golden rainbow, brown, brook, and even some tiger trout and another sigle albino brook trout (stocked at Wallace Lake). 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.  Our lakes are offering open water fishing again and the trout often bite well on colorful dime size balls of Power Bait dough, a waxworm or two on a small marabou or tube jig, and jigging spoons.

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
 

Paige went fishing with dad and caught this gleaming steelhead (photo courtesy of Joe Miller).




Emily scored some fine steelhead this week (photos courtesy of Emily Pechaitis).






James and a friend caught steelhead over 30" in the Rocky River this week (photos courtesy of James Yang).



Roxanne shows of a bruiser buck steelhead (photo courtesy of Roxanne Schultheis).





Andrew caught some beautiful steelhead this week (photos courtesy of Andrew Smith).



This tiger trout was caught at Wallace Lake on Sunday (photo courtesy of Bob Wohlgemuth).



Dave shared on Friday "I fished a lot this year due to the mostly mild temps, but success evaded me, even when fishing through the ice at Wallace Lake in 14 degree weather.  60 degree weather in February was finally a ticket to treat my son to fresh rainbow trout.  Thanks Metroparks for your stocking program!" (photo courtesy of Dave Kushman).



Eric shared "Have a good steelhead photo for you, although a bit late. Caught this fish on Jan. 2nd on the Chagrin. My Grandpa, who was my fishing inspiration and mentor, had passed the day prior and I caught this fish with one of his old rods. I didn't get an exact measurement but it was about 26" (photo courtesy of Eric Lied).



Brandon caught this beautiful hen steelhead in the Rocky River (photo courtesy of John Burkhart).





Brian caught a pair of brook trout and a largemouth bass in Wallace Lake (photos courtesy of Brian Kich).





Phillip caught some Rocky River steelhead as well as a brook trout that came from Wallace lake (photos courtesy of Phillip Shevchenko).



Vinnie caught his first fish ever on his fly rod, a striped shiner from the Rocky River (photo courtesy of Brian DiGioia).