What Is Lake Erie Steelhead Fishing?

Lake Erie Steelhead Fishing
from The Fishing Wire

Here are some tips on catching steelhead along the south shore of Lake Erie, where the winter runs have been excellent in recent years thanks to stocking programs.

The Division of Wildlife annually stocks five Lake Erie tributary streams with 6-8″ yearling Little Manistee River (Michigan) strain of steelhead. These fish (called “smolts”) migrate out into Lake Erie and spend the summer in the cooler part of the lake before returning to streams during the fall through the spring. Steelhead trout caught by anglers in the streams typically average 25″ long and weigh 5-6 pounds. These fish have usually spent 2-3 summers out in the lake (see growth chart below). However, there are a good number of fish that are over 30 inches and weigh more than 10 pounds and have spent up to six summers in the lake.

Ohio’s primary steelhead streams are Vermilion, Rocky, Chagrin and Grand rivers and Conneaut Creek. The Rocky, Chagrin and Grand rivers are scheduled to each receive 90,000 yearling steelhead annually. Conneaut Creek is scheduled to receive 75,000 fish from Ohio and 75,000 fish from the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission each spring. The Vermilion River is scheduled to receive 55,000 steelhead annually. Total targeted annual stocking numbers projected from Ohio’s Castalia State Fish Hatchery is at 400,000 steelhead.

Several other rivers including the Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Huron and Black rivers, and Arcola, Cowles, Wheeler, French, Euclid, Turkey, Beaver and Cold creeks get runs of stray steelhead. While Ohio Division of Wildlife fisheries biologists have noted a small amount of natural reproduction, it varies greatly from year-to-year. It is too low and erratic to support the quality fishery that has been developed and that anglers have come to expect. Good quantities of cold, spring water and adequate juvenile trout habitat are also rare in NE Ohio’s Lake Erie tributaries. The fantastic fishing has been maintained by annual stocking and by the practice of most anglers to catch and release.

Recent Stocking Numbers (Yearlings)

Stream 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Chagrin 60,537 90,009 108,353 90,063 90,085
Conneaut 44,719 75,086 75,184 75,040 84,866
Grand 60,871 91,288 90,149 108,316 90,009
Rocky 61,058 106,875 106,996 100,074 91,779
Vermilion 38,284 55,077 67,917 55,117 65,149

Steelhead Growth

Years in Lake Average Length (inches) Average Weight (pounds)

1 17 2-3

2 23 4-5

3 26 6-7

4 28 8-10

Where to Catch Steelhead

River conditions have been low and are relatively clear. Water temperatures are in the 40s. Recent rains and snow in the snowbelt will add more water to the watersheds, but big changes in flow rates are not expected. Fish have been concentrated in the lower sections of main rivers, in harbors, and in nearshore areas along the lakeshore. Anglers have been using spoons, spinners, small crankbaits, jigs tipped with maggots or minnows, spawn bags, or single salmon eggs.

There are many public access areas on Ohio streams. If you are on private property, you must have landowner permission. Don’t trespass! Private landowners have the right to restrict access on their property. In Ohio, you can gain access to the stream from public access points, but the private land ownership includes their land under the stream. The streams listed above are navigable streams, meaning you can float a boat through them to fish; however, you cannot get out of your boat and stand on private property to fish unless you have the landowner’s permission.

How to Catch Steelhead

Typical set-ups are long (7-10′), limber, spinning or fly rods with light line (4-8 lb. test). Common lures in the fall, early winter, and again in the spring include small (1/16 to 1/80 oz.) marabou or synthetic hair jigs tipped with maggots rigged with split shot under a light pencil-thin bobber.

Spoons (Little Cleo, KO Wobblers) and spinners (Rooster Tails, Vibrax, etc.) are commonly used on piers, beaches and lower stream reaches.

Flyfishers (using 6-9 wt. rods and weight-forward lines) prefer larger, weighted fly patterns, such as nymphs and streamers like woolly buggers, princes, egg-sucking leeches, stonefly and shiner patterns and clouser minnows.

Egg fly patterns (single or cluster, sucker spawn, etc.) work well as a single fly or in tandem with a nymph or streamer once the fish move upstream. Salmon or trout eggs are fished as either individual eggs or grouped together in mesh “spawn bags” about the size of a dime or nickel. Eggs can be bounced along the bottom with the current or fished at or near the bottom suspended under a bobber.

The fish will be oriented to cover or moderate to deep water pools in the fall, and move into cuts or gravel runs as they make their way upstream for spawning. As stream temperatures warm during the spring, expect fish to be more likely to chase flies, lures or bait and to be found in riffles and runs. Then in mid April – mid May, they move back downstream and into Lake Erie for the summer.