February 23, 2023

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***   The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering moderate flows with a greenish stain at the moment and should continue to offer good conditions for weekend steelhead anglers.  Anglers can monitor the most recent river water level and temperature at the following links: <Rocky River flow gauge data><Chagrin River flow gauge data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>. The second and final round of winter trout stockings took place in early February (see details below).

Area streams were offering good steelhead opportunities before the rain this week.  Once the streams levels begin to recede and clear excellent steelhead fishing can be expected. Anglers can visit the links above to stay abreast of the latest trend in flow.  In stain water conditions a nickel to quarter size brightly colored spawn sack (hot pink and chartreuse are favorites) drifted near the river bottom is hard to beat.  As waters further clear top offerings include a variety of offerings, including smaller dime size spawn bags (in varied colors), 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.   A good number of steelhead have migrated well upstream in the Rocky and Chagrin rivers, as well as others streams, with fish being well distributed throughout the watersheds.  The Cuyahoga River, Euclid Creek and other unstocked streams are also offering fishable numbers of stray steelhead at this time.

In early February we stocked Wallace (1,400 lbs),and Shadow (750 lbs), Ledge (650 lbs), Ranger (100 lbs), and Judge's (100 lbs) lakes with the second (and final) round of winter trout. These stocking locations and quantities are a duplication of the 3,000 lbs of trout stocked back in mid-December. The majority of the fish are 1 lb rainbow trout, but a good number of golden rainbow, brown, brook, and even some tiger trout and another sigle albino brook trout (stocked at Wallace Lake). Note: the daily limit at Wallace, Ledge, Ranger and Judge's lakes is 3 trout/angler and the limit at Shadow Lake and the Ohio & Erie Canal is 5 trout/angler.  Our lakes are offering open water fishing again and the trout often bite well on colorful dime size balls of Power Bait dough, a waxworm or two on a small marabou or tube jig, and jigging spoons.

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 a trophy 21” golden rainbow trout at Wallace Lake on Sunday among her catch (photos courtesy of Nick Zarzeczny).

Masami and Ty Smith had a great outing on the Rocky River with Cleveland Metroparks registered fishing guide Jeff Liskay on Monday.  Masami and Ty are Executive Director and Project Director of the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio (photos courtesy of Ty Smith).

JP caught a great shot of a steelhead attempting to jump a falls on the Rocky River (photo courtesy of JP Webb).