Lance Kekel of Ravenna shows off the articulated streamer he had tied during the Fly Master Competition held recently by the CMNH Trout Club at Gormely’s Pub in Rocky River on Saturday, Jan. 28, to win the club event. (Photo courtesy of the CMNH Trout Club)

CLEVELAND, Ohio — With anglers complaining about a lack of fishing at this time of year due to an absence of winter ice fishing and the windy and frigid open waters — Lake Erie was only 3% ice-covered last week and inland waters were much the same — there was a need for anglers to carefully pick their spots and take advantage of Northern Ohio’s world class steelhead trout fishery.

If the chilly weather turns you off, prop your tootsies in front of the fire and cruise some great ideas in places such as YouTube, which have many wonderful free videos on fishing. They’ll have you eager for spring, when the bass, walleye, trout and panfish are biting.

Some of the top fly fishing authors are local experts who can have you tying flies for steelhead and rainbow trout. If you have yet to tie a fly, check out the beginner guides and pick up a fly tying vise and the basic tools. Beginner’s guides to fly fishing and fly tying are plentiful.

“Essential Flies for the Great Lakes Region” (Stackpole Books, $39.95, 254 pp.) by Jerry Darkes of Strongsville offers dazzling photos and expert fly tying tips and tricks. Darkes is presently working on a book covering the 50 top flies for fishing the Upper Midwest, with each fly a chapter in the book.

This is also the time of year some local fly shops take time out for a day of fly fishing and fly tying seminars. Chagrin River Outfitters, Stepnorth Retail Cluster Mall, 100 N. Main St., Chagrin Falls has its annual Shop Day on Saturday from 9 a.m.-2 p.m., including a bonus cookout from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

“We’ll have clinics on steelhead trout fishing basics, swinging flies and switch and spey rod casting,” said owner Dan Prbanic. “The Northeast Ohio rivers and streams are a little muddy after recent rains. But that has lured fresh steelhead trout up the waterways and I expect the river waters should clear and the steelhead perk up starting on Sunday.”

Dave Whitlock dies at 88: Lefty Kreh, who died at 93 in 2018, may have been the funniest fly fishing experts I ever enjoyed at the fly fishing shows around the country. One of the friendliest, and always worthy of an outdoors page column, was Dave Whitlock. An old friend, Whitlock lived in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma. He died in November.

Veteran fly anglers probably have a Dave’s Hopper in their fly box, one of many outstanding flies Whitlock created. Luring a legion of casters into the fly fishing fraternity were Whitlock’s instructional guides — “The L.L. Bean Fly Fishing Handbook,” “Dave Whitlock’s Guide to Aquatic Trout Foods,” and “Trout, Char and Salmon, and the Classic Flies that Catch Them.” Dave had a long professional association with L.L. Bean, running fly fishing schools operated by the company in the 1980′s.

Wallace Lake in Berea a trout haven: Kids who like to fish don’t realize how fortunate they are these days. Without the luxury of having a father who enjoyed catching a yellow perch, bluegill or catfish, and certainly not a long ride at the crack of dawn, I was lucky to have the Cleveland Transit System.

The bus drivers might have wondered about the youngster waiting at the corner of Broadview and Pearl in what is now Old Brooklyn with rod and reel, bait bucket and lunch bag. Or making the long bus ride and walk to Edgewater Park on Lake Erie.

Lake Erie was the best bet back then, and often still is these days. But the Cleveland Metroparks fishing stockings in fall and winter are now outstanding, especially at this time of year. Top-rated for shoreline anglers is Wallace Lake, a short walk from downtown Berea. The quarry lake received more than 4,400 foot-long rainbow trout, including 1,400 during the last stocking of the cold water season recently.

Other Metroparks lakes receiving a visit from the trout truck were the Ohio & Erie Canal Ponds, and Wallace, Shadow, Ranger and Judge’s lakes in the Cleveland area. It was the second and final winter trout stockings of the cold weather season.

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