The weather outside has been frightful, if you’re clinging to summer. If you’re a steelheader, the weekend was simply delightful.

Steelhead trout fishermen have been enjoying an early rush of silvery fish up local streams and rivers. The only ingredient needed for a full-blown run of steelhead trout has been a chilly rain, preferably a steady sprinkle to boost water levels in the Lake Erie streams enough to entice the big trout to leave Lake Erie.

That is what trout fishermen have been seeking, and Mother Nature obliged the past couple of days.

Veteran anglers aren’t complaining that the rivers are high and muddy this morning, the water too dingy for trout to see a spinner, spoon or spawn bag. They know when the water levels drop in a few days, the steelhead trout season will be in full swing from the Vermilion River to Conneaut Creek.

Cruising the streams last week, it was easy to see that steelheading has become a favorite form of fishing in northern Ohio. Anglers were wading the most productive downstream pools of the Rocky, Chagrin and Grand rivers, getting an early start on the steelheading season.

With the Grand River breakwall closed for construction, the west breakwall at the mouth of the Grand River bristled with fishermen casting spoons and spinners. Swirling schools of emerald shiner minnows roamed the rocky breakwall, and many fishermen making the long walk from the Mentor Headlands State Park parking lot the past few days were rewarded with a trout or two, especially early and late in the day.

The steelhead limit has been trimmed to two fish until April 30, although many steelheaders are more interested in catching the big fish than in keeping them.

"The numbers of steelhead trout already in the Rocky River has been a bit of a surprise," said Pete Peterson yesterday at L&D Tackle and Taxidermy in Lakewood. "The rains may have shut off the fishing for now, but I expect to see lots of fish and crowds of fishermen the moment the Rocky begins to clear."

The steelhead bonanza on Northeastern Ohio streams has been expected. Fisheries biologist Kevin Kayle at the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s Fairport Fisheries Research Station predicted a banner cold-weather season after a hot summer of trout fishing on Lake Erie. When steelhead are biting with a vengeance on Lake Erie in July and August, it is a sure sign there are lots of fish waiting to run the rivers and streams when the water begins to cool in October.

In past years, the slow early season action could be blamed on a lack of rain to lure the fish into the rivers. Even before the rains arrived this week, the trout have been showing up in unanticipated fashion.

Giving the trout population a big boost has been an increase in stockings, with 400,000 young trout released in the Rocky, Chagrin and Grand rivers and Conneaut Creek last spring. The trout raised at the premier Castalia (Ohio) Fish Hatchery are from Michigan, a Little Manistee River strain of trout that have thrived in Ohio to thrill Buckeye stream fishermen.

The breakwall fishermen have been casting spinners and spoons to catch trout. Stream fishermen usually do the same, but this year spawn bags are scoring. The small mesh sacks of trout and salmon eggs have been a mainstay in the past, along with jig-and-maggot rigs, but not until later in the season.

The big swarm of fishermen will arrive in the coming weeks, and so will the complaints. Steelhead trout are shy, especially when they’ve made the move from Lake Erie’s broad waters to the narrow confines of a creek. Wading fishermen who splash through a pool or noisily crowd a small area of a stream can chill a hot bite and scatter a throng of trout.

In the next few days, steelheaders will be eager to find out which streams are clearing. Conneaut Creek and Elk Creek, just across the Ohio line in Pennsylvania, usually lead the way, but don’t expect to be alone on the prime pools. Fishermen reported that the midweek crowd of anglers on Elk Creek, before the rains arrived, seemed as large as they’d expect to find on a hectic November weekend.

E-mail: degan@plaind.com

Phone: (216) 999-6136