Lake Metroparks Fishing Report: Rain, snow?! Steelhead Spring

Unfortunately this week's rain took both the Chagrin and Grand Rivers back up to high and muddy. Last weekend several anglers reported good fishing in the Chagrin River, and fish were reported caught in Big Creek, Paine Creek and even one report out of Mill Creek at Hogback Ridge. Early in the week the Grand River started to look very promising, and then the rains hit and the level headed back up. Keep an eye on the levels through the weekend as the Chagrin is headed back down and could become fishable dependent on the amount of precipitation. Reports have come in that the creeks are fishable, however we aren't seeing a large amount of activity yet.

Many have commented on the smaller size of the Steelhead lately, so when I saw this interesting information on the Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Report, I got permission to copy it and pass it on.

From the desk of Phil Hillman, Ohio Division of Wildlife Fisheries Supervisor, District 3: "Anglers should be expecting plenty of steelhead in two length groups this Spring: 16-18" fish as well as 24-26" fish. The reasoning for this is that the last two years of steelhead trout stocking from Castalia State Fish Hatchery went exceptionally well, with expected numbers (400,000+ between all five stocked streams) of yearling steelhead (smolts) stocked and better than normal lengths (7"+) produced. These previously stocked fish are now 16-26" in length. Castalia raised the fish from eggs up to yearlings, so we should expect to see the higher average lengths and great production continue. Additionally, in 2011, we only stocked slightly more than half of what we normally do because of a problem with Michigan fish numbers that we were able to receive. Thus, we currently are 'light' on steelhead from 28'+ in the streams. Another consideration is that over the past couple of years sea lamprey numbers have dropped substantially (although the adult numbers in Lake Erie are estimated at 16,000+, which is still 5 times higher that what we would expect). More 28" fish are expected from Fall 2015 onward as the fish from the post 2011 stockings continue to grow."

Happy Fishing!