October 19, 2017

In fall highlight species targeted by anglers in Cleveland Metroparks include steelhead, walleye, yellow perch, and landlocked coho salmon (the latter recently stocked in Wallace Lake).  The Rocky River and other area streams are running low and clear today and conditions are expected to remain similar through the weekend. Anglers have been making decent catches of fresh steelhead in the northernmost miles of the Rocky River and other area streams.  The steelhead bite has remained good along the Cleveland lakefront, as has the night walleye bite.    To monitor the most recent river water level and temperature you can check the following link: <Rocky River flow gage data> <Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.

The Rocky River and other area streams are running low and clear today and based on the dry weather forecast conditions are expected to remain sim,ilar through the weekend. Fair catches of steelhead were reported in the northern reaches of the Rocky River and other area tributaries.  The big trout, averaging 5-7 lbs as of late, are biting on brightly colored dime to nickel size spawn sacks, beads that mimic salmon eggs, small marabou jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm drifted under a float, flies (egg patterns and baitfish streamers), and lures such as Little Cleo spoons and Vibrax spinners.  This is just the beginning as more steelhead can be expected to migrate into our streams following every cool rain that bumps stream flow.

The steelhead bite has remained very good along the Cleveland lakefront- especially at Edgewater Park and E55th east facing breakwall.  Steelhead are also showing up off the breakwall at E72nd, the pier at Wendy Park at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, off the breakwall at Wildwood Park, and off the jetties at Huntington Beach.  Casting a spoon (ie Little Cleo or KO Wobbler) or spinner (ie Vibrax or RoosterTail) at these locations are as good a bet as any for connecting with a lakefront steelhead trout, as is suspending a small jig tipped with minnow or maggots under a bobber.  Make sure to bring a long handed landing net when fishing the lakefront for steelhead!

In addition to steelhead- largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, panfish (rock bass and sunfish), freshwater drum and northern pike can be found along the Cleveland shoreline in early fall and can be caught on offerings such as tube jigs, crankbaits, dropshot rigs and live bait.  Nice catches of walleye (15-20 inches) have been found in water from only 16-24 feet deep by Cleveland area.  Shore based walleye anglers are doing best at dusk and after dark.  White bass and yellow perch fishing has been slow lately.  The ODNR Division of Wildlife weekly Lake Erie fishing report can be viewed <here>.   Anglers/boaters can view current lake conditions off Cleveland at the following link: <City Of Cleveland Water Intake Crib Cam>.

The Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area off E49th Street (down the walking trail from Canalway Center) was stocked with 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 600 lbs of farm raised channel catfish last Friday.  The daily limit here is 5 trout per angler.  Trout bite well on PowerBait, small jigs tipped with maggots, and small spinners.  Catfish bite great on chicken liver.  Trout and catfish can both be targeted effectively fishing a half nightcrawler worm or chunk of cocktail shrimp right on the canal bottom.

Anglers at Metroparks inland lakes and ponds are catching catfish, largemouth bass, and panfish.  Wallace Lake, Ledge Lake, Shadow Lake, and Beyer's Pond are a few spots worth poking around in late summer and early fall.  Wallace Lake was just stocked with catchable size coho salmon and a few rainbow trout this week (see highlight below for details).

Coho Salmon Pilot Project.   Due to the Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Fund doing well we purchased coho salmon (1-2 pounds each) which were released into Wallace Lake for a put-and-take fishery.  The landlocked fish (meaning they can't migrate to Lake Erie), which are raised by a private local fish farm (Homestead Farms in Frederickstwon, Ohio), look similar to a rainbow trout but have subtle differences in spotting (larger and more irregular shaped spots on most fish), as well as a different look to the head and tail.   On October 4 & 11 we stocked 300 fish-  mostly coho salmon but a few rainbow trout were also mixed in.  Reports are that the salmon are biting more fickle than the trout, which is OK by me so that the fish can pose a challenge to anglers and last in the lake a bit longer.  All the salmon I've heard about hooked so far have been on small flashy lures, namely small spoons and spinners.  There is a clearly posted limit of one salmon/trout per angler daily at the lake.  I request that anglers report their catches (ideally with photos) to me so that I can track the success of this project-  thank you!  

Fall Dockage Specials at E55th Marina.    As an FYI to late season Lake Erie fishing boaters, we are offering some fall specials on dockage at E55th Marina.  Dockage from November 1-30 is available for $150, or for $5/day (the latter of which includes remaining October dates).  There will be electric, but no water, during this time.  If interested call Lisa Buie at (216) 881-8141.

If you have a photo that you would like to contribute to the fishing report, or if you have any further questions regarding fishing in the Cleveland Metroparks, you may contact Aquatic Biologist Mike Durkalec at (440) 331-8017 or  [email protected] .

Tight Lines,

Mike

Daniel shared "Daniel out fished everyone on the boat and was happy to share his catch with friends and  family at the evening fish fry. He caught 4 perch all between 12” and 13.5” we caught one that was 14.5”.  Total perch was only 7 but we caught several rock bass too.  We were fishing in 30 ft. of water off Rocky River beach." (photos courtesy of Daniel Zukie).




Mike notes "steelhead during the day and walleye at night" fishing with his son this week (photos courtesy of Mike Petruska).



Maddy scored several sunfish fishing with her dad Rich on Saturday (photo courtesy of Rich Good).



Ava caught her first steelhead this week (photo courtesy of Rodney Rogers).







Father and son Mike and Ben caught some Wallace Lake coho salmon anmd a bonus rainbow trout on spoons and spinners.  Mike noted the coho tasted even better than the trout (photos courtesy of Mike Sekerak).



Diana landed a fresh steelhead this week (photo courtesy of Diana Reiland).



Aliya caught her first steelhead casting a spoon at Edgewater Park (photo courtesy of Aliya Porter).



Tom was casting a 3/4 oz blue and silver Little Cleo spoon for steelhead at E72nd area of the Lake erie shoreline and caught quite a surprise-  a 24" muskie!  The special fish was released (photo courtesy of Tom Riley).





Shaun shares from Wallace Lake "On Friday the 13th I caught other blue catfish which measured 36" long and weighed 20lbs (top photo). Last Saturday I tried catch salmon and no luck but did catch one nice big rainbow trout. Tuesday night the 17th I caught other bigger catfish which measured 42" long and weighed 35lbs." (photos courtesy of Shaun Cassidy).



Igor caught a 23", 5 pound walleye casting off the rocks along the Lake Erie shoreline after dark (photo courtesy of Igor Gromilic).



From Dan "10/16/2017 Dan Luri caught a 27” 7.5lb steelhead on The Rocky River on a perch colored square bill crankbait." (photo courtesy of Dan Luri).




Tony scored some nice smallmouth bass in the Cuyahoga River at Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation on Saturday (photos courtesy of Tony Cilluffo).



Alex caught a fresh steelhead from his kayak at the Rocky River Marina area this week (photo courtesy of Alex Forsthoefel).



Thomas displays a bruiser freshwater drum, aka sheepshead (photo courtesy of Thomas Carroll).



Josh caught a fine Rocky River steelhead this past weekend (photo courtesy of Josh Guyeska).



An angler displays a big white bass caught while targeting steelhead at Edgewater Park (photo courtesy of Jarred Bugg).



Brad shows off a nice buck steelie with a Cleveland city backdrop (photo courtesy of Brad Gardner).



Andy caught this steelhead on a spoon where Rocky River meets Lake Erie (photo courtesy of Greg Young).




Brad and Mark were casting glow in the dark spoons at Edgewater for walleye and steelhead, but caught a very chunky largemouth bass and rock bass instead-  illustrating that you never know what you're going to hook into on the big lake (photos courtesy of Brad McMichael).




PJ stopped by Wallace Lake and scored a coho salmon.  He smoked the fish and reported that it was very good (photos courtesy of PJ Fillipowicz).




David shares "Although the weather on Saturday, October 14th was exceptional - the walleye fishing was slow. We launched out directly north of the Chagrin River and headed out to 55-60 foot water, trolled with both worm harnesses and spoons. Had good marks on the fish finder (both schools of bait fish and probably walleye), but only managed to catch one in a 4 hour period. Other anglers from the marina who went out the same day had slow numbers too." (photos courtesy of David Warner).



Faruq and Daisey show off one of the 600 lbs of farm raised channel catfish that were stocked on Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area on Friday October 13.  1,000 lbs of farm raised rainbow trout were also stocked the same day.


The following are photos from Fall Family Fishing Fest on Saturday October 14:




















We were lucky to have perfect weather for our ~500 attendees, the lucky ones of which caught catfish, trout, and sunfish.