November 12, 2020

In autumn the steelhead trout are the highlight species targeted by anglers along the Rocky River and other area streams. The Rocky River and other area streams are low and clear right now offering challenging fishing, with rain in the forecast later into the weekend.  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>.  Lake Erie anglers are primarily targeting steelhead and walleye along the shoreline and Wallace Lake was recently stocked with trout.

The Rocky River and other area streams are offering low and clear conditions making for more challenging steelhead fishing.  Thing will not change until we recieve more rain, which looks to be coming later into the weekend. There have been lots of emerald shiners and small gizzard shad in the marina area and some steelhead are being caught there despite the abundance of natural forage.  There have been reports of steelhead in deeper holes all throughout the Main Branch of the river and beyond.  With the clear water, downsizing to smaller dime size spawn bags, salmon egg mimicking beads, small (1/32-1/64 oz) jigs tipped with maggots or live minnows under a float will gain the edge. With other streams so low, now is a great time to go exploring the Cuyahoga River for stray steelhead since it is a large watershed and the river maintains good flow longer than smaller area streams.

Cleveland Lakefront steelhead can be found off the rocks at Edgewater and breakwall/rocks at E55th/E72nd areas, the pier at Wildwood Park and Wendy Park at the old Coast Guard station.  An abundance of baitfish has been hampering the bite in these areas at times.  Casting a spoon (ie 2/5 oz Little Cleo or KO Wobbler) or spinner (ie 1/8 oz Vibrax or RoosterTail), or drifting a 1/32 or 1/64 oz marabou jig tipped with a waxworm or a few maggots under a float at these locations are a good bet for connecting with a steelhead trout.  These lakefront areas are producing good catches of walleye after dark, as well, with Perfect 10 and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits working well.  For the convenience of anglers a commercial grade fish cleaning station was recenytly installed at lakefront and opened to the public.  More on that <here>.

A pleasant fall surprise continues to be targetable numbers of jumbo yellow perch (many between 12-14 inches) being caught along the Cleveland shoreline.  Boating anglers are targeting around the east end of the city breakwall and Cuyahoga River lighthouse in about 36 foot of water, as well as off Lakewood in 28-32 feet of water, using emerald shiners on crappie rigs or spreaders on the bottom.  Anglers are even making some good catches, at times, from shore at the E55th north facing breakwall.  It's been a few years since we've seen good numbers of this culinary favorite of local anglers off Cleveland- so get out and enjoy the good fortune while it lasts! 

At the end of October we released 500 lbs out mixed trout at Wallace Lake (these fish were delayed from stockings in May due to COVID).  Most of the fish were rainbow trout averaging a pound, but quite a few trophy rainbows, brook, brown and golden rainbow trout were in the bunch (see photos below).  In addition, in early October we stocked 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 600 lbs of channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street.  Note: the daily limit at Wallace Lake is 3 trout/angler and the limit at the canal is 5 trout/angler.  The trout bite well on a hook filled with kernals canned corn, colorful dime size balls of power Bait dough, and smaller spinners.  If you are interested in catching either species you can try a nightcrawler worm or piece of shrimp fished on the canal bottom.

Photo Release Waivers are now Required for Fishing Blog Photos (and are fast and easy to complete online).  Photo release waivers are now required for any fishing blog photos where individuals are identifiable.  The good news is it only has to be done one time per person (and then it's good for any subsequent photos) and there's a super easy and secure online form to do it through Smart Waiver that takes only about 30 seconds to complete.  So please use this link to complete the waiver if you send in any images for there report: <Smart Waiver link>.  Sorry for the slight inconvenience and THANK YOU for all who have contributed in the past to make this report a fun and personal offering!

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

 

Congratulations to Anthony on catching his first steelhead- a 24 incher (photo courtesy of Tony Solic).



Emily scored a fine chrome hen steelhead on the fly rod this week (photo courtesy of Emily Pechaitis).





Buddies Carl and Ron made a nice catch of jumbo perch in 32 feet of water off Lakewood on Tuesday (photos courtesy of Carl Blaser).



Joe displays a beautiful Rocky River buck steelehad (photo courtesy of Joe Yang).




On Saturday Tony and his dad made a very nice catch of yellow perch locally in 28 feet of water (photos courtesy of Tony Modic).




Fred shows off a pair of Rocky River steelehad caught on Sunday, including an absolute bruiser buck (hotos courtesy of Fred Mieser).






Dave shared "I really enjoy reading your weekly fishing report, great job! Here are some pictures from this past weekends trips: Went trolling off of Cleveland on Friday November 6th and Monday November 9th and two great days, we landed 11 walleye and 1 Steelhead on Friday and 13 Walleye on Monday - both days were absolutely beautiful on the lake!" (photos courtesy of Dave Warner).



Phred shows off a gorgeous steelhead specimen caught at E72nd (photo courtesy of Phred Carey).



Matt shared "I reeled this female in front of the power plant on 72nd about noon on Sunday. Hit an all silver 2/5 Little Cleo spoon. Was around 25 inches and had 19 shad inside. I was shocked it even hit with all the shiners and shad swimming the shores. As always thanks for the reports!" (photo vcourtesy of Matt Neuzil).



Dale shared late last week "Just wanted to add this catch for your fishing report. Water was just a little high and fast at The Rocky on Tuesday, despite flow rate on USGS showing around 200. You never really know until you get there. Caught this very nice 6lb chrome hen on a jig and soft plastic under a float on the centerpin. You cannot beat the pin’s ability to slow down a presentation in fast water. The fish gave an awesome fight so I decided to let her go, she swam off strong. Love fishing here! Learned so much from Cleveland Metroparks! Thanks for all you do!" (photo courtesy of Dale Novotny).





Wendy and Rich made the trip up from Columbus and got enough jumbo perch for some tasty sandwiches (photos courtesy of Rich Good).




Brad is a multi-speciers angler and this week he shows off a fine Cleveland smallmouth 9photos courtesy of Brad Gardener).



Rich sent in this pic of a fish for an ID that his buddy caught in the Rocky River this week.  The fish is a chinook salmon, aka king salmon.  They are not stocked anywhere in Lake Erie these days but a modest number do stray south into our tributaries from programs in the upper Great Lakes (photo courtesy of Capt Rich).



John caught this dandy 29.5" buck steelehad at the Rocky River boat ramps on a orange and gold Little Cleo spoon (photo courtesy of John Hall).



James caught this thick chrome hen steelehad at the Rocky River boat ramps (photo courtesy of James semple).




On Sunday Rich and Sean caught a dozen jumbo perch up to 13.5" long by the Cuyahoga River lighthouse (photos courtesy of Rich Svboda).




A few trout were biting at Wallace Lake on Friday (photos courtesy of "Catfish John").



Jack shows off a quality Lake erie walleye from this week (photo courtesy of Mike Mochan).








Joe makes the trip up to fish the Rocky River from West Virginia about this time every year, and he (along with friends from thye river) were not disappointed (photos courtesy of Joe Goodman).



Nate shared "Super excited! First day ever steelhead fishing and got my first one! Thanks too all the great fisherman I met that were very friendly and gave me pointers making a great day of fishing that much better!" (photo courtesy of Nate Moore).



Despite low and clear conditions on the Rocky River on Sunday, Bill reports that they found a frw good fish willing to play (photo courtesy of Bill Wahl).



Carl was fishing Wallace Lake for trout and caught this consolation sucker (photo courtesy of Carl Schweisthal).



Ed reported from the Rocky on Saturday "Got a nice one today. The bite was good near the golf courses & picked up a few around 1pm in great weather. This one did not like selfies, and actually tail whipped me hard right in the face, sliming up my Costas!  Never had a fish do that in all my yrs, have you?" (photo courtesy of Ed Schmitt).



Dave and a buddy caught afew jumbo perch off Cleveland on Friday (photo courtesy of Dave Ritter).



Ephraim shows off a quality steelhead from the marina area on the Rocky River (photo courtesy of Ephrain Bowser).



Steve got a limit of stocked trout (photo courtesy of Steve Farley).



Tony caught was rewarded with a nice weekday steelhead today on the Rocky (photo courtesy of Tony Cilluffo).







I thought folks might appreciate a few of the highlight fish from our recent fall surveys at Hinckley and Wallace lakes.  These fish population surveys take place on a five year cycle (2 lakes a year) and data is used to update lake sportfish management plans.