October 22, 2020

In autumn the steelhead trout are the highlight species targeted by anglers along the Rocky River and other area streams. The Rocky River is elevated and muddy from rain, but is dropping now and conditions into the weekend look relatively dry so it should be fishable within a few days.  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 the Ohio & Erie Canal was stocked with rainbow trout and channel catfish earlier in October.

The Rocky River and other area streams are elevated and muddy this morning, but the weather forecast looks relatively dry in the coming days so by the weekend conditions will should be fishable.  Prior to the rain anglers were reporting fair catches of steelhead by the public boats ramps and Emerald Necklace Marina.  There have been lots of emerald shiners and small gizzard shad in that area.  Anglers further upstream have been targeting deeper holes and finding some success.  As the water first begins to clear, larger nickel to quarter size spawn sacks in brighter colors will shine, and as water clears smaller dime size spawn bags and small jigs tipped with maggots under a float will gain the edge.  Fallen leaves in the water are posing an increased challenge this week, especially in the slower pool areas, although the increased flow should serve to flush some of those and temporarily alleviate the issue. Some really nice fish pushing 30 inches and 10 lbs were caught this week, as evidenced by some of the photos below.  Anglers can look forward to the best fall steelehad fishing in our streams yet to come.

The Cleveland Lakefront steelhead bite has been good when the big lake isn't too kicked up.  Productive spots have been off the rocks at Edgewater and breakwall/rocks at E55th/E72nd areas, as well as at Wildwood Park and Wendy Park at the old Coast Guard station pier (parking near the latter is closed for a trail connection project, so you need to park further away and walk in).  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 installed at lakefront and opened to the public last week.  More on that <here>.

On October 7th we stocked 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 600 lbs of channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street.  The trout average a bit over 1 lb each and the catfish average 2 lbs, but we included a handful of trophy trout and a few albino catfish to spice things up.  After a slow start immediately post stocking, several anglers reported the trout biting well this week 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 peice 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

Aubrey proudly shows off her prize catch (photo courtesy of Joe Ward).





The Butram family caught some fine trout at the Ohio & Erie Canal Sunday on canned corn and orange Power Bait.  The trout were destined for the smoker.  They saw 3 other people leaving with limits of 5 fish each so the trout stocked there recently have clearly started biting (photos courtesy of Corey Butram).



Kevin caught this gorgeous 29.5" steelhead in the Rocky River (photo courtesy of Kevin Opheim).



Ed was casting a spoon for steelhead at Edgewater Park when this bruiser smallmouth bass grabbed his offering instead (photo courtesy of Ed Schmitt).



Ben reported frm the Rock on Saturday "After several failed attempts I finally landed a nice steelhead today under the I90 bridge! I caught this beauty on a pink spawn sac on my second drift." (photo courtesy of Ben Snyder).





On Tuesday night Sean scored a pair of dandy walleyes casting from shore at E72nd, and then gave the new fish cleaning station at Gordon Park boat ramps a try (photos courtesy of Sean Johnson).



Miles landed his first steelhead of the season by the Rocky River marina on Monday (photo courtesy of Miles Boozer).



Some of the steelhead showing up this season are great size healthy specimens (photo courtesy of Ken Harper).



Late last week Mike walked down to the docks by the Rocky River Marina to take a few casts before work (he manages the marina there) when this brute buck steelhead hammered his silver and green Little Cleo spoon (photo courtesy of Mike Bobincheck).



Bruce proved this week that not all walleye are caught after dark from shore at E55th breakwall (photo courtesy of Bruce Boualyphanh).



Nick was trolling a Flicker Shad crankbait off E72nd when this chucky chrome steelhead made his day (photo courtesy of Nick Kosiba).






Billy is taking full advantage of all the great fishing opportunities this week-  from Rocky River steelhead to rainbow trout stocked recently at Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street (photos courtesy of Billy Szabo).



Brad shows off a walleye against a backdrop of Cleveland at dusk (photo courtesy of Brad Gardner).



Robert caught his first steelhead of the year at E55th breakwall (photo courtesy of Robert Thomas).



Josh displays a bruiser buck steelhead he caught last week 9photo courtesy of Josh Hudson).





Greg has been persistent in catching steelhead in the Rocky River lately (photos courtesy of Greg Palka).





Chuck scored some more "silver" prospecting from his kayak on the lower Rocky River this week.  Success has been hit or miss in this area lately, depending on water level and conditions (photos courtesy of Chuck Earls).







Father and son Rickhard and Tyler found a nice bunch of steelhead trolling spoons behind the Cleveland breakwall (photos courtesy of Tyler Converse).



Jimmy shows off a nicely colored buck steelie caught by the Rocky River boat docks (photo courtesy of Jimmy Miranda).



Although not caught in Cleveland Metroparks, proud father Jeff sent in this photo of his son's fine largemouth bass caught in the Cleveland area (photo courtesy of Jeff Zvara).



Anyone know what this little fellow is?  This fish is often confused as a juvenile walleye or other species, but is a full grown logperch darter.  One of the most unique stories I have about this species is the time a guy visited my office to say he caught a "baby muskie" in the Rocky River.  Quietly skeptical of this possibility, I asked if he happened to get a photo for verification.  He replied "Better yet- I have the fish!".  I responded "Great!"  and began to get out of my seat to go outside and see it in what I assumed was a bucket in his car, but he replied he had the fish on him.  He proceeded to pull a sandwich bag out of his pocket and uncerimoniously unrolled it to show me a very dead logperch darter.  I filled him in regarding the correct species, but really wanted to ask "Why the heck did you kill it if you thought it was a juvenile muskie?!".  You can't make some of this stuff up!