April 24, 2025

***NOTE: The Fishing Report Blog is updated weekly on Thursdays from September-May***  Local rivers are in good shape and will continue to offer excellent fish opportunities into the weekend id we don’t receive too much rain on Saturday. Anglers can expect excellent numbers of lake-run smallmouth bass and a modest number of steelhead. To monitor the most recent river water level and temperature you can check the following link: <Rocky River Main Branch flow gage data> <Rocky River East Branch flow gage data> <Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>. (Note: The flow gage on the Rocky River Main Branch is unavailable due to an upcoming bridge project but the East Branch flow data above will still give anglers a good idea of the trend in river flow).  Anglers are pursuing a variety of species along the lakefront, including walleye and smallmouth bass, as well as rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River and Wallace and Shadow lakes.

The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering very good fishing conditions this week and it appears that can be expected to continue into the weekend as long as we don’t receive too much rain on Saturday. The highlight fishery continues to be the excellent lake-run smallmouth bass fishing. Smallmouth bite medium size minnow or shad crankbaits, spinners, tube jigs (3” olive colored is great), and Ned rigs, as well as streamer flies that mimic a minnow or goby. There are still a decent number of steelhead around, including a few fresh fish, although that is tapering off. This is a great time of year to score the “silver and bronze”, which is catching a steelhead and a big smallmouth bass on the same outing (and often from the same spots). 

On Tuesday, we stocked 900 lbs of rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River (for the second week in a row). Fish were released at the parking area off the parkway just north of Rt 82/Royalton road, as well as off the bridges to the Strongsville Wildlife Area and The Chalet, at the covered bridge, and at the low ford that crosses the river just south of Wallace Lake. This concludes spring trout stocking in the river. Additionally, plenty of trout are still available at Wallace Lake and on March 18^, the Ohio Division of Wildlife stocked just over 1,000 rainbow trout in Shadow Lake but note that these trout average a half pound each (versus the Metroparks stocked fish that are at least twice that size). The smaller trout are great for children and for fish fries. 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.

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. Post-spawn walleye fishing after dark is beginning to heat up. Casting larger Perfect 10 or Husky Jerk shallow diving stickbaits are a good option. Largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike, rock bass, steelhead, yellow perch, and sunfish can all be found in area harbors and breakwalls. The courtesy docks have been installed at both E72nd/Gordon Park and Edgewater public launch ramps for the convenience of early season boaters. The docks at Emerald necklace ramps on the Rocky River should be installed next week. The E72nd fish cleaning station is also scheduled to be re-opened for the season next week.

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

Scott reported “Dylan had a hard time holding up his trophy 20 inch rainbow he caught in the East Branch Rocky River. He was jumping for joy when we landed it!!” (photo courtesy of Scott Ferian).

Nick shared on Friday “I have a photo of a rainbow trout I caught at Wallace Lake on a red wiggler today. My name is Nick and I am a long time reader of the fishing report and am excited to contribute today!” (photo courtesy of Nick Schwartz).

Carl shared some photos of family fun catching sunfish at Wallace Lake (photos courtesy of Carl Schweisthal).

Ben shared on Monday “Caught this smallmouth bass at Edgewater, not sure about the weight or size, but definitely the biggest bass I’ve ever caught!” (photo courtesy of Ben Smenda).

Fred scored a fresh steelhead and a trophy smallmouth bass in the Rocky River (photos courtesy of Fred Hilow).

Captain Sam of Angry Floater Charters shared that Roberta Yost (visiting from Maine) loved the amenities at E72nd boat launch and caught some beautiful walleyes too (photo courtesy of Sam Horn).

Vinny reports that there are still plenty of suckers in the Rocky River (photo courtesy of Brian DiGioia).

Brian caught a few tank smallies in the Rocky River this week, and reports that he saw lots of steelhead busting baitfish on the surface by the marina too (photos courtesy of Brian Kich).

Chris almost hung up his steelhead rod for the season, but got it out again this week and was rewarded with this colorful Rocky River buck (photo courtesy of Chris Ligan).

Christian caught several nice smallmouth bass on the Rocky this week, but thought this one was exceptionally nicely marked (photo courtesy of Christian Pfiefer).

Roger caught this gorgeous lakefront smallmouth on a mini Alabama rig (photo courtesy of Roger Berglund).

This nice mixed catch was made out of Edgewater Park in 30 feet of water (photo courtesy of Ted Choukalas).

Although not in the same day, Kylie scored the “Gold, Silver and Bronze” in the same week at Edgewater and E55th. She notes that even though the walleye bite has been slow, the smallmouth bite was on fire for her and her partner, with fish hitting crankbaits, jerkbaits, jigs, you name it! (photos courtesy of Kylie Kwon).

Ted and his buddy Vidali have been catching some nice rainbow trout in Wallace Lake and the east Branch Rocky River, and Vidali even got a big bonus brown trout (photos courtesy of Ted Choukalas).

Last Friday we electrofished Wallace Lake with a Case Western Reserve University ichthyology (fish biology) class and turned up a pair of big brown trout among the catch (which were released).

#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

#25-007 Nate Miller, Steelhead Alley Outfitters, www.steelheadalleyoutfitters.com (440) 796-6105