November 4, 2021

***The Fishing Report Blog is updated every Thursday***   The Rocky River is currently offering good fishing conditions and based on the weather forecast that should continue into the weekend.  Anglers can monitor the most recent river water level and temperature at the following link: <Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  Walleye, steelhead and yellow perch have been biting along the Cleveland lakefront and rainbow trout and farm raised channel catfish were also stocked in mid October at the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation. 

The Rocky River and other area streams are currently offering good conditions for steelhead fishing and based on the weather forecast that should continue to be the case through the weekend.  The lower Rocky River from Rockcliff Springs north produced an increasing number of fish this week with anglers finding success casting spoons (such as Little Cleo) and spinners (such as Vibrax and Roostertail) and drifting dime size spawn sacks and 1/64 to 1/16 oz marabou jigs under floats.  A modest number of fish have moved well upstream, too, and adventurous anglers willing to walk may get lucky and find pods of them. 

The bite for steelhead has remained good been off the rocks and breakwalls at Edgewater Park, E55th/E72nd and Wildwood Park.  Casting a spoon (such as a 2/5 oz Little Cleo or KO Wobbler) or spinner (ie Vibrax or RoosterTail) at these locations are a good for connecting with fall lakefront steelhead trout that requires no more than a medium action spinning rig spooled with 8-10 lb monofilament line.  A bobber with a 1/32 oz jig tipped with minnow or maggots suspend 3-6 feet below is also a good producer in the aforementioned areas.  A nightcrawler suspended under a bobber on a bare hook can also work well.  A longer noodle rod is best for fishing floats.  Be especially careful of slick conditions along the shoreline rocks and breakwalls, with ice cleats and a long landing net being good investments.

The walleye bite has really perked up after dark along the Cleveland shoreline when lake conditions permit.  Anglers have been connecting by casting lures like Husky Jerk, Bandit, Rattle Trap, and Perfect 10 stickbaits at dusk and after dark along the Cleveland shoreline.  On windy days Wendy Park pier and E55th breakwall are more protected than Edgewater and Wildwood park shorelines.  Boating anglers are finding good numbers of jumbo yellow perch along the outer city breakwall and by the Cuyahoga River outer lighthouse with some decent catches also coming from shore at the E55th breakwall on emerald shiners fished on crappie rigs and spreader rigs on the bottom.

On October 14 & 15 we stocked 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 600 lbs of channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street for Fall Family Fishing Fest and the bulk of those fish remain to be caught.  The trout average 1.5 lb each and the catfish average 1-2 lbs, but we included a handful of bigger fish and a few albino catfish to spice things up.  For basic tips and techniques on fishing for these fish check out a past  <Facebook Live> segment offered by my colleague Faruq from Cleveland Metroparks Youth Outdoors program.  If you are happy catching either species you can try a nightcrawler worm or peice of shrimp fished on the canal bottom.

Photo Release Waivers for Fishing Blog Photos (fast and easy to complete online).  Photo release waivers for photos sent in for the fishing report can easily be completed online through Smart Waiver (takes only about 30 seconds to complete) at the following link: <Smart Waiver link>. You only need to do this one time and any future additional photos submitted are covered too.

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

 

Proud mother Kristen shared "My son Andy Kovalak caught his first ever steelhead on the Horseshoe at E55 on a Little Cleo spoon. They were somehow able to land it without a net. They were pumped." (photo courtesy of Kristen Kovalak).




Gabriel caught some jumbo yellow perch off Cleveland this week fishing with family. These beauties from their catch qualify for Fish Ohio awards, which is 13" ot better for yellow perch (photos courtesy of Andy Paramushchuk).



Tim shared yesterday "Great day on the Rock with my boys yesterday.  Had an epic battle with this 29” beauty.  Likely wouldn’t have landed it without the help of my son Grant so we both get credit for this one. Still enjoy reading about your & other’s fishing trips every Thursday so keep up the great work!" (photo courtesy of Tim Fischer).



Congratulations to Jen on catching her third steelhead ever from the Chagrin River (photo courtesy of Carl Schweisthal).



Walt and a buddy got their 2 man limit of rainbow trout at Ohio & Erie Canal (photo courtesy of Walt Gedeon).



Tyler made a nice catch of walleyes at E55th on Monday night (photo courtesy of Tyler Miller).



Tim caught this chrome bruiser of a steelhead at the Rocky River boat ramps yesterday.  He caught two steelhead in 20 minutes (photo courtesy of Tim DAurelio).



Ross made a surprise catch in the Rocky River yesterday- a stray chinook (aka king) salmon (photo courtesy of Ross Bailey).



Wes shared "With the breakwall at Edgewater being down, it forced me to try new places (I say that with cheer).  The blood in the pic is mine from when unhooking. Caught and released at E72nd on a bladebait" (photo courtesy of Wes Bombik).



Ed shared on Tuesday "Got 1, lost 1 in an hour of work after work today.  1/3 oz all gold Little Cleo spoon was the ticket.  They were not in the mood for any jigs for dinner." (photo courtesy of Ed Schmitt).










Carl and friends got their limits of Cleveland perch (currently set at 10 per person) and bonus walleye this week (photos courtesy of Carl Blaser).



Chris shared yesterday "I caught this guy on my first cast, yesterday, at the Rocky River (West Branch)! It was 25" long and weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces. Thanks for all that you do! Much appreciated!" (photo courtesy of Chris Bokjanc).



Jarred hit a smaller creek recently when the rivers were up and muddy and it paid of with this beautiful steelhead specimen (photo courtesy of Jarred Bugg).




Fred has been catching some Rocky River beauties this week (photos courtesy of Fred Meiser).



Michael Ruffo reports "Cleveland fishing report night bite 11/3/21.  Well the mayhem of the Cleveland waterfront is back. Bite was great with F18’s doing a lot of damage. Custom P 10 “Lamborghini” was the hot color with stock Pink Lemonade coming in last. All short leads from 10-30’ back and variable speeds from 1.6-2.4 mph" (photo courtesy of Michael Ruffo).

This beautiful steelhead was caught at Edgewater Park (photo courtesy of Ted Choukalas).







Some happy kids display their catches from a recent Cleveland Metroparks Youth Outdoors fishing outing (photos courtesy of Elizabeth Durkalec).











We caught a limit of Cleveland yellow perch on Saturday, along with a few bonus fish.  After a few moves we found them in 35 feet of water off the outer breakwall.  They were caught on spreaders and crappie rigs with live and frozen emerald shiners, and even small ice fishing plastics when we ran out of minnows!



Joe shared "Was fishing the dam by the Nature Center on the Rocky River on Thursday the 28th and had a visitor go right through the hole I was fishing but I didn't mind because it was this beaver just trying to cross the dam." (photo courtesy of Joe Fleming).