January 11, 2024

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May*** Anglers on the Rocky River and other area streams are targeting steelhead trout. To monitor the most recent river water level and temperature you can check the following link: <Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>. Lake Erie anglers are still catching walleye and at inland locations they are pursuing trout stocked recently (details below).

The Rocky River and other area streams are elevated and muddy from rain with more precipitation in the forecast.  Anglers can keep an eye on flow trends at the links above. Prior to this the steelhead fishing had been very good and when river drop in level and begin to clear again steelhead fishing prospects will be excellent. As the river first begins to clear a top offering will be nickel to quarter size spawn sacks (trout or salmon eggs) in brighter colors such as hot pink and chartreuse. As the water continues to clear, smaller dime size spawn sacks, 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. Keep in mind that smaller creeks will drop in level and clear up more rapidly than larger rivers. Also, keep in mind that mornings on the water can be slushy following very cold overnight temperatures such as those in the extended forecast.

As a surprise late season bonus the Cleveland shoreline areas are still producing good catches of walleye after dark. Perfect 10, Husky Jerk 14 and other shallow running larger stick-style crankbaits are working well. Normally this Cleveland area bite dies off in December as the big schools of walleye head west for winter, but the unseasonably mild weather so far seems to have delayed this situation- although it could wrap up at any time now. The last courtesy dock on the Rocky River was removed for the season on January 2^nd, although E72nd boat launch has a permanent dock that can be used year around.

Recently 3,000 pounds of mixed trout we stocked between Wallace (1,400 lbs), Shadow (750 lbs), Ledge (600 lbs), Judge’s (150 lbs) and Ranger (100 lbs) lakes. Most 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 (see photos below for some examples). A few of the fish were truly of trophy proportions. 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. When the lakes are covered with a thin layer of ice anglers can still pursue these trout by breaking the along shore and fishing from the safety of docks and areas where the shore slopes rapidly into deeper water, such as is common at Wallace Lake which was a former sandstone quarry. I plan to do the second (and final) round of winter trout stocking later this month. Keep posted to this report for details on that.

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

Robert caught this fine steelhead in Porter Creek at Huntington Beach Reservation. That smile says it all! (photo courtesy of Robert Szweda).

Paul shows off a male brook trout with a colorful “paint job” at Wallace Lake.

Andrew is taking full advantage of our seasonal fishing opportunities- steelhead by day and walleye by night (photos courtesy of Andrew Smith).

Graham Montague will be leaving for Vermont soon to pursue his PhD in fisheries studying landlocked Atlantic salmon in Lake Champlain. We got out on Monday afternoon to chase steelhead prior to his departure. Graham just left a fulltime job as a fish biologist at the Fairport Harbor Fisheries Research Station at the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Before that he got an MS in fisheries in Oklahoma and previous to that was a volunteer with my program here at Cleveland Metroparks. But that’s not all we have in common. We both wrestled on the Baldwin Wallace University wrestling team and are both on the All Time Wrestling Victory Leaders list for the team (despite our tenures there being over 20 years apart). He has a few more wins than me but I’ll never let him forget that my 0.709 winning percentage is superior to his 0.580 (I enjoy ribbing him). He also has a YouTube channel where he fishes but also educates about aquatic biology (there is even a video from a day we fished for steelhead on the Grand River among them). Check that out here:  <Graham Montague Youtube>. Good luck, kid, I’m proud of you!

My trout supplier sent me these images of the young tiger trout he’s raising for us for next year. What gorgeous little creatures! Tiger trout are a sterile hybrid between a brook trout and brown trout and we are the only agency in Ohio that has ever offered them in public fisheries (photos courtesy of Dave Bauman).

Elizabeth and I got out over the weekend chasing steelhead and had fun while getting some exercise covering a few miles. Here are a couple of them.

I recently assisted my USGS colleagues to install a GLATOS network acoustic receiver station at Merwin’s Wharf for tracking tagged fish in the Cuyahoga River. This will be able to record any fish tagged by any agency that pass by the property on the lower river. It will be interesting to see what turns up in addition to the tagged fish from the Gorge Dam removal project upstream that move through. And we already had our first “customer”, a white sucker tagged upstream in the national park that passed through last week! More on GLATOS here: https://glatos.glos.us/