November 19, 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 possible in the forecast late 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 like it might be coming later into the weekend. The number of emerald shiners and small gizzard shad in the marina area has subsided a bit this week, and steelhead there are noticing baits again in the crowd of forage and the bite has picked up.  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.

The lake has been rough more days than not the past week, but when amenable 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 have proved tough to catch walleye freom shore after dark, with an abundance of forage and larger schools of walleye still hanging out in deeper water a few miles off shore the likely culprits.  Walleye anglers typically do best casting Perfect 10 and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits and lipless rattle baits.  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>.

Untilthe lake kicked up, a pleasant fall surprise was targetable numbers of jumbo yellow perch (many between 12-14 inches) being caught along the Cleveland shoreline.  Boating anglers target 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 were 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

 

Ross and Kelsey scored some nice steelhead in the Rocky River yesterday despite low and clear water (photos courtesy of Ross Bailey).



Michael shared on Saturday "13 inch perch out of Cleveland today! Caught on shiners in 41’ of water. 6 walleye and 6 perch (combination of white and yellow perch) all off the Cleveland lighthouses" (photos courtesy of Michael Hydzik).



Ed shared "Got a couple on Saturday, and seems to be a big run in November...The last 2 times I fished around the golf courses, I've never seen that many trout rolling, jumping, and acting like porpoises in the deeper areas.  Usually they rarely show their faces, but last week they were putting on a show, while not biting too much in super clear water. This one was just over 28 inches and grabbed a white/pink, 2 inch Berkely swimbait." (photo courtesy of Ed Shmitt).



Jason shows off his recent walleye catch taken along the Cleveland shoreline.  Lately, walleye fishing from shore has been uncharacteristically tough for this time of year.  This is likely a combination of LOTS of natural forage for anglers' lures to compete with and the fact that large schools of walleye are still in deeper water several miles off Cleveland (photos courtesy of Jason Blakeney).



Tony shared on Tuesday "Hey Mike got my first Steelhead of the season in a local Stream. Thanks for your report and everything you do!" Nice job, Tony! (photo courtesy of Tony Modic).




Father and son Dave and Ephraim always have a friendly competition with each other when fishing the Rocky River.  I hate to tell dad, but it looks like his boy got the bigger one the other day! (photos courtesy of Ephraim Bowser).



Ted caught this gorgeous rainbow trout at Wallace Lake yesterday and released another 6 regular rainbow trout too (photo courtesy of Ted Choukalas).





Richard and friends have been scoring some fine steelehad in the Chagrin River this week (photos courtesy of Richard Foreman).



Due to work, Joseph got out for steelhead for the among the first times this year this week and was rewarded with this colorful chunky beauty 9photos courtesy of Joseph Jakab).













Although we are not getting limits, we've been making nice catches of yellow perch every time out.  The schools have been on the small side but the fish have been JUMBOS!  We've been fishing crappie rigs with 3/4 oz weight on the bottom with live emerald shiners.
 


Cool close-up of a colorful buck steelhead (photo courtesy of Ken Harper).





Liz and I recently targeted prehistoric sturgeon with success on the Detroit River.  We also had some hard earned muskie success.



A local photographer captured this great image of an American mink among the shoreline rocks at Edgewater Park yeaterday.  They look almost black when wet (photo courtesy of Chuck Slusarczyk Jr).