SOLON, Ohio — On a cold morning at 8 a.m., Brian, a northeast Ohio resident, was patiently waiting on a 13-foot deep frozen body of water.

What You Need To Know

  • Cleveland Metroparks stocked Shadow Lake with trout Wednesday

  • Ice fishermen and women have been on the lake for hours at a time since the fish were put in the lake

  • The limit is five trout per day 

“They don’t seem to be biting today. As you can see, that fish is just sitting there looking at my lure, and it’s not biting,” Brian said.

At Shadow Lake in Solon, the water has been stocked with 1,000 pounds of trout courtesy of the Cleveland Metroparks.

The trout were put in Shadow Lake Wednesday. The limit is five per day until the fish run out.

“It’s nice when the Metroparks add trout to it because they’re fun to catch . . . Gets me out of the house, something to do. It’s fun,” Brian said.

Father and son duo Christian and Walter Gedeon have been ice fishing since Christian was 6 years old.

“Started him early with the bluegill, crappie and bass, and then he graduated and now he’s showing me how to fish,” Walter Gedeon said

Trying to take advantage of the cold weather this year, they have been out every morning since the fish went in — for hours at a time.

“Usually we’ve been limiting by 3 o’clock. We catch our limit, so we go home. Cause you’re only allowed five per person,” Christian Gedeon said.

Christian is currently unemployed because of the pandemic.

“Even if I’m out here and I don’t catch something, you know I might not be happy. But what else was I going to do . . . Time with my dad, not a terrible way to spend the day,” Christian Gedeon.

He and his dad went to the lake to try to catch dinner and have some fun.

“You just kind of jig up and down, and typically on the way down when it’s fluttering they’ll grab it and you'll feel something. Hoist it on up, hopefully, he stays attached and that’s dinner,” Christian Gedeon said

“I just smoked 12 of them Saturday,” Walter Gedeon added.

“I usually just throw them back or if those guys want them I’ll give ‘em to them, but I don’t, I’m just out here having fun,” Brian said.

Ice fishing is too cold for some people, but not for these men.

“Soon as you catch one you warm up a little,” said Walter Gedeon.

Going home with three trout for the day, was worth it in the end, they said.