January 4, 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 catching walleye and at inland locations they are pursuing trout stocked recently (details below).

The Rocky River and other area streams are in very good shape for steelhead fishing at the moment. Anglers should be aware, though, that cold overnight temperatures forecasted can lead to slushy river conditions, especially in the mornings. These same cold temperatures tend to thin out the crowds, as well. Anglers can keep an eye on flow trends at the links above. Steelhead fishing had been very good this week and fish are well distributed throughout the watersheds. Dime to nickel size spawn sacks, live minnows, 1/64 or 1/32 oz jigs tipped with maggots, and salmon egg mimmicking beads drifted under floats are all catching plenty of fish.  

Cleveland shoreline areas are still producing some good catches of walleye after dark, although the bite can be hit or miss from day to day. 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 seems to have delayed this situation - although it could be wrapping 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.

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

Vinny scored his first trout of the New Year on Monday. He caught it at Ledge Lake on PowerBait (photo courtesy of Brian DiGioia).

Fred shared “Hey, Mike! Fred Sandoval here, E55th break wall bite was nice Tuesday evening. I put 5 in the box and landed a new PB. My good buddy Kevin also landed his first walleye ever!” (photos courtesy of Fred Sandoval).

Steve caught this colorful golden rainbow trout at Wallace Lake (photo courtesy of Ted Choukalas).

Richard caught this perfect “eater size” walleye from E55th breakwall (photo courtesy of Richard Meadows).

Zach and a buddy caught their limits of yellow perch near the Cleveland shoreline this week (photo courtesy of Zach Kaczmarski).

Avery shared “Hey I thought that I should share two fish I caught last Wednesday, they’re two different goldens that I caught in the same day, they were actually the only fish that I had caught that day cool-y enough, caught on one of those pink trout worms 5ft below a bobber“ (photos courtesy of Avery Miller).

Matt caught this steelhead near the Rocky River boat ramps (photo courtesy of Matt Hanlon).

Buddies Marc and Mike caught several rainbow trout and a bonus white crappie while fishing jigs with plastic minnows at Wallace Lake (photos courtesy of Marc Bottone).

Nick is enjoying steelhead on the Chagrin river by day and walleye along the Cleveland lakefront after dark (photos courtesy of Nick Kosiba).

Bob shows off a pair of golden rainbow trout from Wallace Lake this week (photo courtesy of Bob Hoboda).

Cleveland Metroparks registered fishing guide Jeff Liskay has had clients on the Rocky River getting into good numbers of steelhead on the swung fly this week (photo courtesy of Jeff Liskay).