February 8, 2024

***NOTE: The Fishing Report Blog is updated weekly on Thursdays from September-May*** Steelhead fishing prospects are very good as local streams are offering excellent fishing conditions. Some rain may be in the forecast this week and anglers can monitor the most recent river conditions at the following links: <Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>. Cleveland Metroparks stocked 500 pounds of mixed trout at Wallace Lake last week (details in report below).

The Rocky River and other area streams are offering excellent fishing conditions which should continue through the weekend. Several anglers expressed disappointment to me this week that there are not more fresh run steelhead in the rivers following the thaw, but keep in mind that water temperatures are still cold. Still, good numbers of steelhead are available in all our streams, and we’ve also had a fair number of stray brown trout turn up in our streams this week. Given the weather forecast, there is some rain forecasted this weekend. As long as it is not too much, steelhead fishing prospects are looking excellent through the weekend. Dime to nickel size spawn sacks (trout or salmon eggs in hot pink, chartreuse, orange or white mesh), live minnows, 1/64 or 1/32 oz jigs tipped with maggots, and salmon egg mimicking beads drifted under floats will all catch plenty of fish.

Last week 500 pounds of mixed trout we stocked at Wallace Lake. This is the final winter trout stocking, with a combined 6,000 lbs having already gone into Wallace (1,800 lbs), Shadow (1,500 lbs), Ledge (1,300 lbs), Judge’s (200 lbs) and Ranger (200 lbs) lakes. The majority were rainbow trout averaging a pound each although there were plenty of bonus brook, brown, golden rainbow, and even rare tiger (brook x brown hybrid) trout to keep things interesting. Small marabou or hair jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm, a dime sized ball of Power Bait, and smallish to medium size jigging spoons are all great offerings to try for trout this time of year. Spring stocking of rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River will commence around mid March. Keep posted to this report for details on that.

Cleveland Museum of Natural History trout Club offerings. Saturday, Feb. 17, 4-6 PM, at Merwin's Wharf Restaurant. The CMNH Trout Club welcomes Capt. Dave Hurley who will do a presentation on "Fly Fishing Freshwater Flats - Lake St. Clair, Michigan". No cost and open to everyone. Cash bar and food menu available. Please register with [email protected] # of persons coming. Tuesday, Feb 27, 7-10 PM at Gormley's Pub, "There's a Fly in my Beer!", Open Vise Fly Tying. Come and share a pattern, come and learn, or just come and watch!  No charge to attend.  

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

Alex caught his first ever brown trout and brook trout at Ledge Lake recently (photos courtesy of Alex Wilson).

David shared “Super happy about this catch! First ever brook trout...on a spinnerbait.  Safely released.  Changed Mepps from white to perch color and hit on the first cast.” (photo courtesy of David Kushman).

Capt Denny Sharrone and Mike Ruffo put a beatdown on the Cleveland area walleyes this week.  How about that boating in February!? (photos courtesy of Mike Ruffo).

Brent shared regarding his surprise catch while targeting steelhead “Found a brown trout on a local stream willing to devour my swung fly!” (photo courtesy of Brent O’Neill).

James caught a limit of Wallace Lake trout punctuated by a trophy golden rainbow specimen that he plans to get mounted (photos courtesy of David Householder).

Jimmy caught a steelhead size golden rainbow trout at Wallace Lake and his buddy Ron caught a nice steelhead by Lagoon Dam on the Rocky River this week (photos courtesy of Jimmy Miranda).

Ken shared “I caught these yesterday in the bottom third of a long run and discovered something I hadn’t thought about before. On long, slow drifts, I could feel the fish peck at the plug. The temptation is to set the hook because you can feel it. But I have lost fish doing that. I assume this is because of the cold water temp (<40); they hadn’t committed and were only probing. So when I felt a bump or bumps, I would let it drift backward with one turn of the crank, followed by one quick, complete turn forward – a snap and they would crush it.” (photos courtesy of Ken Stein).

John caught a bruiser hen this week! (photo courtesy of John Zuppan).

Matt and his buddy caught a mix of rainbow, golden rainbow and brook trout at Wallace Lake (photos courtesy of Matt Jacquet).

Victor shows off a Rocky River steelhead (photo courtesy of Victor).

David caught this 28” hen steelhead by the Rocky River marina (photo courtesy of David Bowser).