April 2, 2026

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***  The Rocky River and other area streams are currently elevated and muddy with more rain in the forecast. Anglers can keep an eye on river trends at the following links: <Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity><Rocky River Main Branch live feed camera>.  Rainbow trout were stocked in Wallace Lake on Tuesday (details below).

The Rocky and other area streams are elevated and muddy with more rain is in the forecast into the weekend. Anglers can keep an eye on the flow trends at the resources listed above. Prior to the flooding there were a mix of fresh run fish (bright silver), actively spawning, and post-spawn “spent” (also called dropback) steelhead throughout the river. As waters begin to clear a brightly colored nickel size spawn sack (containing either trout or salmon eggs) riftred under a well balanced float is hard to beat. Other effective offerings include small (1/64-1/16 oz) marabou/hair/tube jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm, egg mimicking beads, small tube jigs (white and pearl work well), and live or salted emerald shiners drifted under a float. This time of year steelhead can be found in shallow fast water as well as the deeper holes and tailouts. Anglers fly fishing (egg patterns, nymphs, streamers) and casting hardware (medium size spoons, spinners and crankbaits) also catch plenty of spring steelhead. There are also lots of lake-run smallmouth bass and lake-run white suckers available in the rivers. A jig tipped with maggots or small tube jig drifted under a float or casting minnow/shad mimicking lures can yield an angler both “silver and bronze” (steelhead and lake-run smallmouth bass) from the same spots this time of year.

Given lots of rain in the forecast and the imminent flooding of the river this week we pivoted and stocked 900 pounds of rainbow trout in Wallace Lake on Tuesday morning. Additionally, the Ohio Division of Wildlife stocked approximately 1,000 rainbow trout at Shadow Lake on Monday (the fish the state stocks are smaller and perfect for kids). 900 pounds of rainbow trout were stocked in the East Branch Rocky River on March 17 and we hope the river conditions next week allow us to stock this area again. Additionally, a fair number of trout stocked this past winter are still available at Shadow, Ledge, Ranger and Judge’s lakes. Small jigs tipped with maggots or a waxworm, salmon eggs, PowerBait, minnows, worms and canned corn all have their days. Casting smaller spinners, spoons and crankbaits can also account for plenty of trout, especially the bigger fish.

As a reminder trout limits vary by location. In the river this time of year the limit is 2 trout (of any kind) per day of minimum 12” size. The limit is 3 trout per day with no size limit at Wallace, Ledge, Ranger, and Judge’s lakes. At Shadow Lake and Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area the limit is 5 trout per day with no size limit.

Along the Cleveland shoreline Gordon and Edgewater Parks, as well as marinas at E55th and Wildwood, are all good options for mixed catches of yellow perch, sunfish, steelhead, largemouth bass, and northern pike along with others species. The docks at Edgewater and E72nd/Gordon Park public boat ramps were installed on Tuesday (the Rocky River docks are not in yet due to all the high water). Annual passes for Cleveland Metroparks boat launches can be purchased online <here>.

Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby Recap.  What a day on Saturday and thank you to all who joined us! We were handed an extra big challenge from Mother Nature (cold with nearly unfishable river conditions) for our 11th anniversary Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby but that didn't stop us! The allowable fishing area was expanded to include Cleveland Metroparks lakes stocked with trout as well as the Cleveland Metroparks lakefront. We had 184 registered participants and netted a whopping $15,050 to benefit local public fishing and folks had a great time!  This brings the cumulative event fundraising total since 2015 up to $93.9K. And a big thanks to Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders (Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders) for running the raffle and for those great volunteers who assisted to make the event run smoothly (Bill, Paul, Jake, Mark, Laura, Owen, and John (x3))!  And, of course, thank you again to the event and OCBS raffle sponsors.

2026 bragging rights go to (photo of winners attached below):

1^st Place Trout - Connor Floyd 17.25"

2^nd Place Trout- Josh Hall 14.75"

3^rd Place Trout - Drew Rogers 14.25"

Biggest Sucker - Darren McNeil 19.0"

If you did not make it back to event headquarters after competing I would greatly appreciate if you could send your wood chip back to me (we re-use them).  Please send to:

Attn: Mike Durkalec

4550 Valley Parkway

Fairview Park, OH  44126

Additionally, Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders presented Cleveland Metropark a check for $3,725 on Saturday to support our spring 2026 fishing derbies (between the event and the grant check we garnered $18,775 for the Fishing Fund). If you have any feedback (especially anything you'd like to see done differently), I'd love to hear back from you. Hope to see everybody again next year.

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 will 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

Jack visited from Columbus with his father this week and caught two nice rainbow trout at Wallace Lake on spinners (photo courtesy of Scott Heidrich).

Jon shared “Personal best buck steelhead on a Kumbo mini tube. Also a nice sucker” (photos courtesy of Jon Sarkissian).

Chuck caught a pair of “football” lake-run smallmouth bass on jig tipped with maggots under a float by the Rocky River marina (photos courtesy of Chuck Naujoks).

Anglers at Wallace Lake are catching rainbow trout that were stocked on Tuesday. Small spinners were one of many effective offerings (photos courtesy of John Hall and Ted Choukalas).

Nick caught these steelhead in the Chagrin River (photos courtesy of Nick Kosiba).

Mike has had some great mornings on the Rocky River this week (photos courtesy of Mike Sekerak).

The Barbie Rod Steelhead Derby this past Saturday was a big success despite Mother Nature dealing us a tough hand. See a full event recap in the report above.

Note: The fishing report is updated monthly in June, July, and August and weekly every other month

***Note: All photo submissions must first complete the Cleveland Metroparks photo waiver.***

2026 Cleveland Metroparks Registered Fishing Guides (name, company, contact)

#26-001 Jeff Liskay, Great Lakes Flyfishing LLC, [email protected] (440) 781-7536

#26-002 Monte Casey, Steelhead Guide, (440) 773-8064 www.steelheadguide.com

#26-003 Gareth Thomas, Alley Grabs Guide Service, [email protected] (216) 235-5056

#26-004 Jim Lingenfelter, Wild Ohio Outdoors Guide Service, (440) 731-9160  www.wildohiooutdoorguide.com

#26-005 Lucas Smith, What That Vise Do LLC, [email protected] (724) 841-1564

#26-006 Sean Sudimak, Steelhead Alley Outfitters, www.steelheadalleyoutfitters.com  (888) 453-5899

#26-007 Nicholas DelVecchio, Wildwood Outfitters, [email protected] (724) 433-2315

#26-008 Cole Jaskiewicz, Chagrin River Outfitters, [email protected] (330) 357-7998

#26-009 Michael Kainec, Chagrin River Outfitters, [email protected] (440) 668-3398

More information on Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Guide Permit requirements, including the permit application, you may check the following link: <Fishing Guide Permit Program>