March 30, 2023

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***   The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering good conditions and are producing steelhead, but there is significant rain in the forecast into the weekend. Anglers should 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 first spring stocking of the East Branch Rocky River took place on Tuesday this week.

The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering good steelhead fishing conditions at the moment but precipitation is in the forecast will determine conditions into the weekend.  Anglers should check the trend in flow at the links above before heading out on a trip to the river.  A variety of offerings have been hooking fish, including dime to nickel size spawn bags in various colors (hot pink is always a favorite), 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.  Fly fishers are also catching steelhead as are anglers who prefer to cast spoons, spinners, crankbaits.  Steelhead are currently very well distributed throughout the watersheds.  The Cuyahoga River (in Brecksville, Bedford and Ohio & Erie Canal reservations), Euclid Creek (at Wildwood Park), Porter Creek (at Huntington Reservation) and other unstocked streams are also offering targetable numbers of stray steelhead at this time.

Spring stocking of the East Branch Rocky commenced on March 21 with 900 pounds of rainbow trout going into the river between Royalton Road and the ford (river crossing) about a mile south of Wallace Lake.  Several easy access locations were stocked and included 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.  Elevated flows since the stocking will have distributed fish all throughout this zone with deeper holes typically producing well.  The trout average a little over a pound each. Stocked trout 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. 
 
Throughout winter we stocked trout at Wallace, Shadow, Ledge, Ranger, and Judge's lakes and a fair number of these fish remain.  The majority of the fish were 1 lb rainbow trout, but a good  number of golden rainbow, brown, brook, and even some 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.  
 
Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby is this Saturday April 1^st and ONLINE REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!  The always popular Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby is back this year and scheduled for Saturday April 1st.  Cleveland Metroparks will be leading the event and Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders (a non-profit group) 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 and register online here: <Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby info page>.  You can save $5 versus the day of the event ($30 vs $35) by registering for the Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby online.
 
Also, if you choose not to compete in the event you can still come out anytime during the event to take part in the raffles. Ideally between 2-4:00pm when we will be having a cookout. If not registered in the event you can still enjoy a great lunch for a $10 donation (lunch is included for registrants).
 
Rain/conditions contingency plan: if it looks like the river will be too elevated and muddy to fish on the day of the event then trout will be stocked in Wallace Lake the day before the event and the contest will include trout from that location, as well (event HQ will remain at South Mastic Picnic area).
 
Thank you to our current event sponsors which include supporting sponsors EnviroScience Inc. and Slyman’s Restaurant and Friends of the Event sponsors Dog Pound Charters, Point Blank Hunts, Lake Erie BoatTronics Erie Outfitters, and Steelhead 419 Facebook group.  OCBS raffle donors to date include VooDoo Custom Tackle, River Roe Tackle Co., Lake Erie Kayak Fishing, Shine’s Bait and Tackle, Cleveland Fishing Co., Death Roe Tackle, D’Arcy Egan, Slick Willys Jigs, City of Cuyahoga Falls Parks & Recreation, and Freaky Frank’s Tackle.  Please consider supporting those businesses that support local fishing!
 
Fly Fishing Film Tour is coming this Sunday April 2nd.   On Sunday April 2^nd the popular national Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) with be stopping in Cleveland at the Museum of Natural History.  Get your tickets soon as this fun event usually sells out!  More here: <F3T CLE>.

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
 

Scott shared “Thanks Mike and the crew for creating a lifetime of memories and also fine dining!  Although we released the tiger. Dylan fought it like a boss!” (photos courtesy of Scott Ferian).



Vinny caught these rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River on a spinner and a crappie jig under a bobber (photo courtesy of Brian DiGioia).




Father and son Anthony and Anthony display evidence that there are still some trout remaining at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th St from the stocking back in mid October 2022 (photos courtesy of Anthony Avancini).



Brian caught this trout at Wallace Lake and thought that it just looked different- spots too big and not right for a rainbow, but no yellows like typically found on a brown trout.  That’s because it is a rare cutthroat trout mixed in with the winter stockings (photo courtesy of Brian Kich).



Steve shows off a fresh Rocky River steelhead (photo courtesy of Steve Cunningham).



John caught this beautiful 10.5 lb steelhead on the Chagrin River (photo courtesy of John Burkhart).



Ted caught this pretty rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River (photo courtesy of Ted Choukalas).



Kevin went to smaller Euclid Creek when the bigger streams were muddy this week and it paid off (photo courtesy of Kevin Kertis).





On Friday afternoon we went to Gordon Park embayment at the E72nd street public boat ramp to collect some live fish for exhibit at World Water Day on Saturday.  We observed lots of decent largemouth bass and steelhead.  The one photo compares two quality size bass- smallmouth on the left and largemouth on the right.  But most amazingly we collected the juvenile Great Lakes strain native muskie in the bottom photo- a rare find around here.  Not pictured were lots of decent size bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish, too.  These harbors have a diverse fish community in spring.




Our World Water Day event held at the West Creek watershed Stewardship Center on Saturday had a great turnout of 582 folks despite stormy weather.  The touch pool pictured is always a big hit with kids (and adults!).






For 7 years running we have assisted the Cleveland Museum of Natural History by conducting a spring fish population survey at Mentor Marsh (the marsh is a nature preserve and no fishing, but you can fish by small watercraft in the connected mentor Lagoons which offers the same species).  Highlights were lots of spawning and pre-spawn northern pike (several females were dripping eggs), bowfin, largemouth bass and steelhead.  Also tons of common carp, big goldfish (mostly in the natural bronze coloration), and gizzard shad.  This effort is also a collaboration with the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Project (GLCWMP), to assess the ecological condition of the Marsh through biota surveys.  Electrofishing results will also help with the ongoing GLCWMP work to establish and fine-tune protocols that will allow standardized evaluation of wetlands across the Great Lakes and beyond. CMP’s electrofishing results will be compared with the GLCWMP’s fyke net results.