March 13, 2025

***NOTE: The Fishing Report Blog is updated weekly on Thursdays from September-May***  Local rivers are offering great fishing conditions and steelhead are being caught. Rain into the weekend could change that although it sill depend on how much we receive. 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>. (Note: The flow gage on the Rocky River is temporarily down due to an upcoming bridge project and Cleveland Metroparks and USGS are in ongoing communication seeking a workable interim solution).  Ice on our lakes and ponds is gone and the open water season is upon us! Anglers are pursuing stocked trout at the 5 locations stocked in winter among other species.

The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering excellent fishing conditions at this time and steelhead have been caught all week.  Drifting brightly colored dime to nickel size spawn sacks, smaller marabou/hair jigs (1/32-1/64 oz) tipped with a few maggots, egg mimicking beads, and live or salted emerald shiner minnows under floats are just a few offerings that will catch steelhead in spring. For fly fishers, egg patterns, streamers (those that mimic minnows but also wooley bugger style), and beadhead nymphs drifted through not only the holes but also faster water with some depth are good bets. And, of course, casting and retrieving spoons (ie Little Cleos and KO Wobblers), spinners (ie RoosterTail and Vibrax), and medium size crankbaits that mimic minnows or shad wil also score spring steelhead. By almost all accounts this has been a subpar season in terms of steelhead numbers, and I chalk that up to very low flows all fall followed by a harsh winter. But this is the time of year when we should be seeing noticeable increases in the numbers of fresh steelhead migrating into the streams with each high water event. The run of smallmouth bass and white suckers are also just beginning and will continue to get better into spring.

Anglers are enjoying open water fishing again for the remaining trout stocked throughout the winter, as well as panfish and largemouth bass. Trout typically go on a feeding binge after ice melt due to a freshening of the water in the formerly ice capped lakes (causing an influx of dissolved oxygen and water temperature increase). Throughout winter a total of 6,500 lbs of mixed trout were stocked between Wallace, Shadow, Ledge, Judge’s, and Ranger lakes. Small to medium size spoons and spinners, a dime size ball of PowerBait on a bare hook and fished about 18” from a sinker on the bottom, and small jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm below a float/bobber are just a few proven offerings for stocked trout. The East Branch Rocky River is scheduled for the first stocking of catchable size rainbow trout on Monday next week as long as the river is not flooded (apologies that the fishing report last week said they would be stocked this week, which wasn’t the case).

To clarify trout limit by location (all trout species combined), the daily limit is 3 trout at Wallace, Ranger, Ledge and Judge’s lakes.  The daily limit is 5 trout at Shadow Lake and Ohio & Erie Canal. For steelhead/rainbow trout in the rivers, harbors and Lake Erie this time of year the daily limit is 2 with minimum size of 12”.

In spring there are a variety of fishing opportunities along the Cleveland shoreline. Largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike, rock bass, steelhead, yellow perch, and sunfish can all be found in area harbors and breakwalls. This fishery will only get better as water temperature increases further in the coming weeks.

10^th Annual Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby is coming up on Saturday March 29!  The always popular Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby is back this year this Saturday, March 29. And we are celebrating 10 years! Cleveland Metroparks will be leading the event and Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders (a non-profit) 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 (this event has raised $62K since 2015).  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! You can save $5 versus the day of the event ($35 vs $40) by registering for the Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby online. More info and register online here:  <Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby>.

This event is rain or shine and if river fishing conditions are poor at the time of the event then the competition will also be opened up to trout at Wallace Lake. Registration includes a tasty hot lunch but if you choose not to participate in the event we still welcome you to the OCBS raffle (you do not need to be registered to take part in the raffle). If you are not registered but still want lunch, you can take part in that for a $10 onsite donation. The lunch features brats, hot dogs, special recipe baked beans, potato salad, grilled onion/pepper toppings, choice of chips, fresh baked cookies, and 10^th anniversary sheet cake (the latter while it lasts). Thank you to Westside Toyota for providing bottled water for the event. Raffle tickets will be sold onsite and will be cash only. The raffle will have an amazing array a few dozen packages (they are still coming in) totaling $9.5K in value and counting so don’t miss out!

A big thank you to our current event supporters, as follows. Westside Toyota is a Supporting Sponsor ($1,000) and Friend of the event level sponsors ($250) EnviroScience, Cleveland’s Raw Woods (flooring specialists) and Kevin Kilbane (Kevin donated $500).  Special thank you to Church of Perch Facebook page and Brian Kich for donating $100 each towards the effort. Jeff May of M3 Technologies is designing, making and donating 3 spectacular custom metal trophies again this year (I should have photos soon!).  Contributors to the Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders raffle (that I have in-hand currently and in no particular order) include River Roe Tackle, Furball Custom Baits, VooDoo Custom Tackle, Shine’s Bait & Tackle, Cuyahoga Falls Parks & Recreation Department, ASG Custom Rods, Conneaut Creek Fishing Lodge, Lake Erie Kayak Fishing with Chuck Earls, Cast Cray Outdoors, Olmsted Laser Wash, Lamiglas, Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa (Parma location), Heirloom Barber Shop, Limestone Bait Co., Lake Erie BoatTronics, Streamside Adventures, Bayside Provisions, Chagrin River Outfitters, Backpacker Shop, Jennifer Grieser, Randy Gerrick, Matthew Brady, Roger Berglund, and Fred Jersey. Please consider patronizing these businesses/groups that support local fishing!

Upcoming Rocky River Parkway Bridge Closure. The bridge over the Rocky River by the Rocky River Nature Center will be closed for rehabilitation starting on March 3 and will extend until August 2025. More info and detour outlined here:  <Rocky River Nature Center bridge closure>.

USGS Rocky River Flow Gage is Temporarily Unavailable.  Due to the upcoming aforementioned bridge project the USGS flow gage is temporarily out of commission. Cleveland Metroparks and USGS are in ongoing communication to seek a workable interim solution.  Stay tuned to this report for updates on that.

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

Jules displays a colorful buck rainbow trouty caught in Shadow Lake on a nightcrawler (photo courtesy of Jules Borders).

Carter displays a fine rainbow trout caught from Wallace Lake (photo courtesy of John).

John shows off a fresh chrome hen from the Chagrin River (photo courtesy of John Burkhart).

Donnie shared “I Caught this on a white jig this weekend in the Rocky River. Measured around 20”.  Is this tiger hybrid? Never caught one of these in all my years. Beautiful fish. I did release in hopes to see it again.” Indeed this is a tiger trout! It most likely exited the overflow at Wallace Lake where we stocked some of them this past winter (photo courtesy of Donnie Obrycki).

Sean caught this big colorful buck steelhead on Sunday morning.

Buddies Brian and Craig had a good outing on the Rocky River on Saturday. A few fish from their catch are shown above, highlighted by Brian’s 31” buck in the first photo (photos courtesy of Brian Zaptocky).

Mike had a good week on the Rocky, catching several steelhead and a bonus smallmouth bass (photos courtesy of Mike Sekerak).

Mark your calendars - the 10^th annual Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby fundraiser is coming up on Saturday, March 29! More info and online registration <here>. If you are interested in sponsoring the event please get in touch with me.

The parkway bridge by the Rocky River Nature Center is shut down for rehabilitation starting through August 2025. This is on the Main Branch of the river immediately north of the split into the east and west branch. Above is detour information for the area.

#25-001 Jeff Liskay, Great Lakes Flyfishing LLC, [email protected] (440) 781-7536

#25-002 Gareth Thomas, Alley Grabs Guide Service, [email protected] (216) 235-5056

#25-003 Jim Lingenfelter, Wild Ohio Outdoors Guide Service, [email protected], (440) 731-9160

#25-004 Monte Casey, Steelhead Guide, (440) 773-8064 www.steelheadguide.com

#25-005 Nicholas DelVecchio, Wildwood Outfitters, [email protected] (724) 433-2315

#25-006 Lucas Smith, What That Vise Do LLC, [email protected] (724) 841-1564