January 5, 2023

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***  River levels are dropping and based on the weather forecast anglers can expect good steelhead fishing prospects in local streams into the weekend.  To monitor the most recent river water level and temperature you can check the following link: <Rocky River flow gauge data><Chagrin River flow gauge data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  Trout were stocked at five locations in mid December and ice is gone from our local lakes and ponds.

Water levels are dropping in area streams and based on the weather forecast anglers can look forward to good steelhead fishing opportunities into the weekend.  A fresh push of steelhead from the lake is expected as water levels recede further.  Steelhead have already been distributed throughout the main branch of the Rocky and Chagrin rivers.  As water first begins to clear a brightly colored dime to nickel size spawn sack (hot pink and chartreuse are good in stained water) works very weel, and as water clears further other effective offerings include live minnows, 1/64  or 1/32 oz jigs (marabou and plastic tubes) tipped with maggots, and salmon egg mimmicking beads (same colors as noted with spawn sacks) drifted under floats.

As lake conditions permit some steelhead may still be founds off the breakwall at E55th Marina and off the rocks at Edgewater Park, as well as Wildwood Park.  In the colder water, baits drifted under floats, such as marabou jig tipped with a minnow or a nightcrawlers, have the edge over casting hardware.  These same areas may also produce a walleye after dark, although the majority of the walleye move west on their seasonal migration in winter.  Perfect 10, Husky Jerk and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits work well for shore casting anglers.

In mid December our first round scheduled winter trout stockings took place.  This stockings consisted of a total of 3,000 lbs of trout distributed as follows: Wallace Lake (1,400 lbs), Shadow Lake (750 lbs), ledge Lake (650 lbs), Ranger Lake (100 lbs) and Judge's Lake (100 lbs).  The majority of the fish are 1 lb rainbow trout, but a good  number of brook, brown, golden rainbow and even some trophy tiger trout (more on this below) are in the mix.  A fair number of trout remain at Ohio & Erie Canal from stocking in October.  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.  The trout can bite well on colorful dime size balls of Power Bait dough, a waxworm ot two on a small marabou or tube jig and jigging spoons. Our lakes are again offerings open water fishing opportunities after being ice covered only a week ago.  The second (and final) round of winter trout stocking is scheduled to take place towards the end of January or beginning of February.

Update on the Cedar Point Road Bridge.  The Cuyahoga County Department of Public Works would like provide the public with an update on the Cedar Point Road bridge project.  The bridge will remain closed with a revised completion of fall 2023, subject to material availability and supply chain issues that many industries are facing at this time.  Recently there has been a pause in construction activity to evaluate the best path moving forward concerning the necessary replacement of the interior beams of the structure.  During the systematic repair of all the concrete bridge beams, it became clear that the interior beams displayed a larger and deeper extent of deterioration than originally anticipated.  The project team, including the designer, contractor, the County and ODOT, are currently developing a plan to complete the construction of the bridge in a cost-effective manner that will provide a maximum service life for the future structure.

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 md@clevelandmetroparks.com .

Matt reported "Had a little success once the water levels dropped some Monday" (photos courtesy of Matt Ohly).



Bobby caught bhis limit of rainbow trout at Wallace Lake yesterday (photo courtesy of Bob Hoboda).




John was pitching a squarebill crankbait in a local stream for steelhead and got a real surprise- a very late king salmon!  A few salmon stray into our stream in fall but are typically gone through November.  He also caught a nice steelie (photos courtesy of John Gutlowski).




What a difference a week makes.  Brad and family visited the area from California over the holidays and got in a bit of ice fishing (photos courtesy of Brad McMichael).



Kumbo has been hooking up sonce the ice exited the Rocky River despite the elevated water conditions (photo courtesy of Kumbo Leng).






Mike and a buddy got into some Rocky River chromers this week (photos courtesy of Mike Sekerak).



Brad displays a gorgeous hen steelhead caught this week (photo courtesy of Brad Gardener).





Gizzard shad die-offs are one of the only routine and natural fish kills in our area every winter.  They do not tolerate rapid temperature swings.  The one in the image was from the lower Cuyahoga River this week, but they can also be observed in area harbors along Lake Erie.  More on the occurence <here>.