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Chagrin River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

East-side steelhead: the Chagrin runs 51 miles to Lake Erie at Eastlake, stocked every spring and lined with public parks.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
57 cfs
Air / High
62 / 64 F
Wind
NE 13 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 04209000, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Chagrin River feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. The river is running 57 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NE around 13 mph, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 64. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:60 AM-11:60 AM and 10:29 PM-12:29 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

SteelheadGood

Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Tomorrow: Similar at 64 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Ohio requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $25.00 for residents. What a Ohio licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing steelhead here? Check the size and bag limits with ODNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Ohio, read off the agency, are on the Ohio seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Chagrin River at Willoughby.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 04209000.

11023034957 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 90 years of October 23

At 57 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 04209000 (Chagrin River at Willoughby) is at the 27th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 90 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 100 cfs; the highest was 2,000 cfs and the lowest 23 cfs.

p10 38median 100p90 561

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 04209000; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp62 F
High / Low64 / 42 F
WindNE 13-17 mph
Pressure1026.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain27% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:47 / 18:32
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Chagrin River this week

The best day on Chagrin River this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:60 AM-11:60 AM and 10:29 PM-12:29 AM
Minor period
4:22 AM-5:22 AM
Sun
07:47 to 18:32
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 13 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Chagrin River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Steelhead illustration

Steelhead

Great Lakes tributaries from fall through spring; West Coast rivers have both summer and winter runs

Steelhead are rainbow trout that migrate to the Pacific or the Great Lakes to grow, then return up rivers to spawn; unlike most Pacific salmon they can survive spawning and spawn again. Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

When to come: the Chagrin River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Steelhead
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Chagrin River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 64 F, wind to 7 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 61 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 65 F, wind to 13 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Ohio requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Ohio fishing license. 2026–27 Lake Erie trout and salmon rules for the whole river: 2 per day (5 from May 16 to August 31), 12-inch minimum; no snagging September 1 – April 30; no brook trout.

Access

Eastlake Port Authority boat ramp; Chagrin River Park (Lake Metroparks); Gilson Park, Todd Field Park and Daniels Park (Willoughby); North and South Chagrin reservations (Cleveland Metroparks); village parks in Chagrin Falls.

About this water

A 51-mile Lake Erie tributary draining 267 square miles of Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake and Portage counties, Ohio, with its mouth at Eastlake.

Fishing Chagrin River: the full guide

A stocked steelhead river

The Chagrin River runs 51 miles from Chardon to Lake Erie at Eastlake, cutting a ravine through sandstone and shale. ODNR’s coastal access guide notes that 71 miles of the river and its branches are a designated State Scenic River and calls the Chagrin particularly favorable for steelhead. The Division of Wildlife stocks it every spring: 80,003 yearlings in April 2025, a mix of Wisconsin and Shasta strains, after 80,000 to 94,000 a year since 2021.

Rules for steelhead water

Ohio’s Lake Erie trout and salmon limits apply to the entire Chagrin and its tributaries: for 2026–27, 2 fish a day except from May 16 through August 31, when the limit is 5, with a 12-inch minimum. Snagging any fish is illegal from September 1 to April 30, and brook trout may not be taken or possessed anywhere in the Chagrin system.

Public access from the mouth upstream

ODNR’s guide lists 15 public access sites. Near the lake are the Eastlake Port Authority boat ramp, Lake Metroparks’ 237-acre Chagrin River Park (entrances on Erie Road and Reeves Road in Willoughby and Rural Drive in Eastlake), and Willoughby’s Gilson Park, Todd Field Park and Daniels Park. Upstream are Cleveland Metroparks’ North Chagrin and South Chagrin reservations and village parks in Chagrin Falls.

Common questions

Is the Chagrin stocked with steelhead?

Yes. ODNR stocked 80,003 yearling steelhead in the Chagrin in April 2025 and between about 80,000 and 94,000 each year since 2021.

What are the steelhead limits?

Under the 2026–27 Ohio regulations, 2 trout or salmon a day with a 12-inch minimum, rising to 5 from May 16 through August 31.

Where can I get on the river?

ODNR lists 15 public access sites, from the Eastlake Port Authority ramp and Chagrin River Park near the mouth to the Cleveland Metroparks reservations upstream.

Is fishing good at Chagrin River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Grand River11 miRocky River24 miLake Erie34 miMosquito Lake44 miPymatuning Reservoir50 miConneaut Creek50 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 04209000 — Chagrin River at Willoughby
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:30 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 41.6775, -81.4376 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.