CLEVELAND, Ohio — The heavy rains the last couple of days have kicked up the water levels in the northern Ohio rivers and streams and muddied the waters, and that’s a good thing.

Spawning walleye are responding right now by running the Maumee and Sandusky rivers in northwest Ohio, and wading anglers reported good catches. As the water levels go down and the waters begin to clear a bit, Maumee Tackle recommends Carolina rigs with floating jigs and black heads tipped with purple or orange tails. Sandusky River fishermen are catching both walleye and channel catfish in good numbers, and weekend success should be very good.

The Northeast Ohio tributaries of Lake Erie are bristling with fresh-run, bright silver steelhead trout, as well as darker trout that have been in the Rocky, Chagrin, Vermilion and Ashtabula rivers and Conneaut Creek for a while. The Grand River will take some time to clear, and should be a top steelhead spot soon.

Fly fishermen are casting egg patterns, as well as bead-head nymphs and streamers. Spinning tackle is producing trout on spawn bags, jig-maggot rigs, egg mimicking beads and salted or live shiner minnows worked under a float. Casting spoons and in-line spinners can be productive.

Captains Conference in Huron

Eric Weimer, supervisor of the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s Lake Erie Sandusky Fisheries Research Station, had a glowing report on last year’s Lake Erie walleye catches, especially the sport harvest in eastern Lake Erie between Fairport Harbor and the Pennsylvania border.

“Anglers caught 2.88 million walleye in the Ohio waters of Lake Erie, and the catch rate was 0.93 fish per hour,” said Weimer. “That was the best catch rate we’ve ever seen.” He also noted that the catch rate was 1.3 walleye per hour in eastern Lake Erie.

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission will announce the total allowable catch for sport and commercial fishermen on Thursday, March 26, which will allow Ohio to set daily bag limits and commercial net harvesting of walleye and yellow perch.

“There are a lot of walleye out there,” said Weimer. “We estimate the lakewide walleye population is 77 million fish that are more than two years old.”

Yellow perch catches have declined again over the last two years, and fewer anglers are targeting the popular staple of Lenten fish fries at this time of year. The best sports catches have surprisingly been during the fall season when water temperatures are in the 70-degree range.

Ohio’s Lake Erie fishing guides

The Ohio Division of Wildlife and Ohio Sea Grant awarded veteran fishing guide Dan O’Connor the 2026 Ohio Charter Captain of the Year award at the Ohio Charter Captains Conference in Huron last Saturday. O’Connor, of Castalia, runs a 27-foot Sportcraft out of Anchors Aweigh Marina in Marblehead. The 71-year-old skipper has been guiding for 33 years.

“I just love to go fishing,” said O’Connor, who was casting floating jigs and twister tails for walleye while wading the Sandusky River in Fremont on Thursday. “My wife, Pam, has been so supportive, and now that I’m retired from the printing business it’s easier to focus on charter fishing.”

Open water boosts Cleveland fishing

The shoreline fishing around Cleveland Harbor has warmed up now that the ice has melted, and anglers are catching a mix of yellow perch, steelhead trout, largemouth bass, crappie and northern pike.

The public boat ramps at Edgewater, Gordon Park and Wildwood Park are all open, and have at least one courtesy dock. Annual passes for the Cleveland Metroparks boat launches can be purchased at clevelandmetroparks.org.

Trout stockings galore

Spring rainbow trout stockings are starting around Ohio, with foot-long rainbow trout being released in the East branch of the Rocky River by the Cleveland Metroparks starting next week, and running through the end of April.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife will release 85,000 pan-sized trout in 90 public lakes around the Buckeye State starting this week in southern and central Ohio and around the rest of Ohio through April 30. The first Cleveland area state stockings will be in Forest Hill Pond, Shadow Lake and Westlake Recreation Center Pond in the Cleveland area on Monday, March 30.