Download the mobile app!
Hooking Up Anglers Since 2011.
Rocky River was named one of the “150 Best Places to fish in America” in the June 2007 issue of Field and Stream magazine
Although the river is dropping quickly following the epic flood this week, it’s looking like plenty more rain in the forecast to make the river fishing outlook poor for the weekend. Wise anglers will keep abreast of the latest trend in river flow prior to making a trip, which can be done at the following link:
Prior to the flood, anglers were catching steelhead last week, with Thursday through Sunday morning all producing varying numbers of fish. Some of the fish were trophy size, as evidenced by some of the photos offered following the fishing report. When the river finally starts to drop to fishable conditions again, which could be over a week from now given the current conditions coupled with projected forecast, look for anglers to start hooking up first at fords and dams using large pink or chartreuse spawn sacks. It should be well worth the wait, though, as we should have the best fishing yet since fall 2010 at that time.
Anglers should avoid fishing for stocked trout on the ice at this time, but can still fish places like Wallace and Ledge lake from the safety of fishing platforms, stone peirs, and off bedrock drop-offs along the shoreline. The flood waters this week backed up into Wallace Lake, causing the lake to become muddy and elevated, too, but it has dropped and is starting to clear. Jigging spoons, bright colored Power Bait, jigs tipped with grubs (maggots or waxworms), shiners (live or salted), and salmon/trout egg sacks were all taking fish before the flood.
Shadow Lake is clearly posted as closed to fishing at this time. You can check the report for updates on this situation into spring. Spring tout stocking on the East Branch Rocky River is planted to begin approximately mid-March.
Flood of the Century on the Rocky River? Well, very close, but not quite! USGS began collecting flow data on the Rocky River back in 1924, and this flood was the second largest recorded during that 87 year span. The only flood to eclipse this one was back in 1959. See the USGS flow data graphed for this period below, as well as various photos documenting the situation below. I offer the following measuring sticks for those familiar with the watershed for perspective. The water was above the bottom of the Puritas Road Bridge, made the Baldwin Lake Dam on the East Branch look like a rapid (usually a 10’+ drop!), was over the retaining wall and up to the edge of the road along the retaining wall south of Hogsback Lane, and left behind a logjam 10’ high times the width of the river at the ford on the East Branch just upstream of Cedar Point Road. Additionally, the flood water left carp stranded in puddles way up in the woods as flood waters receded. Truly amazing the power of natural forces. Local anglers will be introduced to a different river as water levels being to drop, with many old holes undoubtedly changed by the epic power of the flood, requiring some scouting to ferret out some new honey holes.
A total of 8.4 miles of new steelhead water added to the Chagrin River fishery literally overnight! Speaking of power of water, the 104 year old Gates Mills Dam on the Chagrin River was destroyed during this flood, too. There are ecological pros and cons of this situation, but among the positive news is that in one night the Chagrin River steelhead fishery was expanded up to Cleveland Metroparks South Chagrin Reservation, opening up many miles of additional fishing opportunities up to Chagrin Falls (approximately 8.35 miles of river). There are several natural barriers in the river in this area, and time will tell which may or may not be navigable by steelhead. There is a small barrier on the Main Branch of the river just downstream of where the Aurora Branch enters the river, as well as other more significant falls on the Aurora Branch near the Squaw Rock and Quarry Rock picnic areas (on the map at the link provided). Aerial photographs available through free services such as Google Earth will uncover the locations of these barriers. The most promising future steelhead water in South Chagrin Reservation will be on the west bank of the river (which is park property) between Miles and South Woodland roads, which equals about 4 new miles of fishable water. This means fully half of the new water available is publicly accessible in Cleveland Metroparks! For those interested in scouting some new steelhead water, the following is a link to a map of our land holdings in the South Chagrin Reservation (remember, it’s the law that you require written permission before fishing on private land):
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 .
Good fishing,
Mike
Mickey landed this fish, held by his father for the photo. The fish was hooked on an orange jig tipped with minnow by Bob "Steelhead Bob" Beverly, who gave the rod to Mickey to fight the fish. You can check out Bob's blog at the following link: (photo courtesy of Bob Beverly).
The following graph details peak floods by year from 1924-present. Note the red dot indicative of the flood this week, which was only eclipsed by the flood of 1959 (graph courtesy of USGS).
Dan caught some very nice steelhead on a slushy morning on the lower Rocky prior to the floods (photos courtesy of Dan McCutcheon).
Last Thursday Karl had a banner day on the Rocky, landing 11 of 13 fish he hooked on eggs (photos courtesy of Karl Ternay).
Jeff had a great time on the lower Rock late last week and into the weekend, highlighted by the 13 pound, 13.5 pound, and extremely plump steelies in the photos above (photos courtesy of Jeff Abbott).
Dale caught this trophy rainbow trout of nearly 20" on Power Bait while fishing Ledge Lake recently (photo courtesy of Terry Thomas).
Joanne and Steve were having fun catching rainbow trout while ice fishing around the Wallace Lake swimming area last week (photos courtesy of Joanne Steinhauser).
Tim reports that the steelies were biting pretty well at Rockcliff Springs on the Rocky prior to the flood (photos courtesy of Tim Matty).
Gio and Randy were back catching those Rocky River steelhead before the flood, as well (photos courtesy of Giovanni Quintana).
Mark sent in some great photos documenting the extent of the flooding on the East Branch Rocky River and at Wallace Lake (photos courtesy of Mark Fascione).
Cleveland Metroparks crews are working to remove a riverwide 10 foot high logjam piled up at the ford on the East Branch Rocky River just upstream on the confluence at Cedar Point Road.
Ken says that he watched just about anything and everything you could imagine floating down the river while he observed the flood from the bridge near the marina this week (photo courtesy of Ken Stein).
And we'll close the report this week with a photo of a very determined Lee refusing to quit fishing at Wallace Lake despite flood conditions (photo courtesy of Mark Fascione).
_________________________________________________________________________________
Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Fund Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Fund helps provide a rewarding fishing experience to Northeast Ohio anglers through the stocking of rainbow trout, channel catfish, largemouth bass, and other sport fish. The Fund also supports children's fishing derbies and creation and restoration of essential habitat in the ponds, lakes, and rivers within Cleveland Metroparks. For more information or to make a gift to Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Fund, please contact: Karen J. Kannenberg, CFRE Manager of Gift and Donor Development Cleveland Metroparks 4101 Fulton Parkway Cleveland, Ohio 44144 216.635.3217 kjk@clevelandmetroparks.com
This Fishing Report was submitted on 3/3/2011 1:44:09 PM by Seamus and last updated on 3/19/2011 1:44:09 PM.
Including GPX (Universal GPS Format), KML (Google Earth), and XLS (Excel) files.
Gives You Access To:
Download GPS files of fishing spots. Create Custom Maps of fishing spots. Fishing predictions w/ future date & location. Featured Listings for your fishing business.
$7 month or $49 year