November 10, 2022

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***   Anglers on the Rocky, Chagrin and Cuyahoga rivers have been pursuing steelhead trout.  Streams are low and clear, and have been for an extended period, but significant rain in the forecast starting tomorrow will hopefully change that for the better. 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 targeting walleye, yellow perch and steelhead and anglers are targeting recently stocked rainbow trout and channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area (off E49th Street down the trail from Canalway Visitor Center).

Local streams are currently low and clear and have been for an extended period and consequently steelhead fishing has been pretty stale.  But the good news is that significant rain in the forecast starting tomorrow and into the weekend will hopefully change that for the better.  A good bump in flow will serve to flush out a portion of the accumulated fallen leaves (which can make drifting difficult in areas) and draw a batch of fresh fish into the streams.  Over the past week finesse offerings have ruled, such as live minnows, small 1/64  or 1/32 oz jigs tipped with maggots, and salmon egg mimmicking beads drifted under floats on light 6 lb flourocarbon leaders in the deeper holes.  Fly fishing has also yielded some hook-ups, as have smaller spoons and spinners.  With a bump in flow and stain to the water hopefuuly on the way, expect brightly colored dime to nickel size spawn sacks to be a top producer as the water begins to clear.  On a note of interest, another stray salmon was caught locally this week (see images below).

Steelhead are also available off the breakwall at E55th Marina and off the rocks at Edgewater Park, as well as Wildwood Park, all on Lake Erie.  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 steelhead trout, as is suspending a whole nightcrawler on a plain hook or jigs tipped with minnow or maggots a few feet below a bobber.

Lakefront areas like E55th breakwall are producing an increasing number of walleye after dark, as well, with Perfect 10 and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits working well.  Walleye trolling off Cleveland has been excellent this week.  For anglers with access to a boat, the yellow perch bite is picking up off the east end of the Cleveland outer breakwall and by the Cuyahoga River lighthouse in about 30 foot of water, as well.  Spotty catches of perch are also being made from shore at E55th breakwall and the old Coast Guard Station at Wendy Park.  Emerald shiners fished near the bottom on a crappie rig or spreader can both be effective.

In mid October Cleveland Metroparks stocked 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 600 lbs of channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street and many of those fish remain to be caught, as evidenced by the images that follow this report.  The trout average 1.5 lb each and the catfish average 1-2 lbs, but we included a handful of bigger fish and quite a few golden rainbow trout 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 piece 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 already covered.

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] .

I don't know which is bigger- the fish or Vinny's smile!  Brian reports of his son's great catch "Vinny caught this Fish Ohio steelhead while using a spawn sack on his 3rrd 'last cast' just before dark.  I have to give a shout out to a gentleman named T who fine tuned his presentation and got him into the zone" (photo courtesy of Brian DiGioia).





Ken got his sons Xavier (5 years old0 and Julian (11 years old) into some beautiful steelhead this week (photos courtesy of Ken Willis).



Matt caught and released this bruiser hen steelhead over the weekend (photo courtesy of Matt McDonald).





Dave shared "Had a great Friday afternoon on the water! Had a pretty nice haul, 3 of us wound up with 17 keepers, lost about three, threw back about three - good quality fish!!!" (photos courtesy of Dave warner).



Dave from Berea shared "Landed my first steelie of the year 29 inches weighing 9.6 lbs at the marina on the Rocky River" (photo courtesy of Dave).




Emily scored the "gold and silver" on Friday.  The steelie came from the Rocky River followed by the walleye out of Wildwood Park on Lake Erie a few hours later (photos courtesy of Sam Horn).




Nick also scored the "Gold and Silver" this week with the steelie coming out of Euclid Creek and the walleye off E72nd at Gordon Park (photos courtesy of Nick Kosiba).




Josh quite literally got a huge surprise from the Cuyahoga River this week.  A chinook salmon, aka king salmon, which is likely a stray from programs in the interconnected upper Great Lakes (photos courtesy of Josh Brebant). 




It's not every November you can fish with your shirt off, but there's not much normal about this fall!  Tony got a skipper steelhead and yellow perch on minnows at the Rocky River boat ramps (photos courtesy of Tony Modic).



AJ got this steelhead at E55th breakwall on a slip bobber with a gizzard shad (photo courtesy of AJ Woolen).





Perch fishing off Cleveland is heating up (photos courtesy of Wes Janke).



Roxanne displays a beautiful buck steelhead (photo courtesy of Roxanne Schultheis).



Tim caught this super thick buck steelhead while walleye fishing this week (photo courtesy of tim Bock).



An angler caught this burbot, aka freshwater cod, while fishing in Lorain this week.  This fairly rare (in Lake Erie) fish loves cold water and old comes in shallower water from fall through early spring in Lake Erie.  They are most likely to be caught by accident by fall perch anglers.  I encourage folks to report unusual catches to me at the contact info in this report.  Over the years we've had some really cool stuff logged through this report, including the first ever Atlantic salmon documented from Ohio (Lake Erie) which resulted in a whole new species account page in the Fishes of Ohio book.  I always share with other pertinent agency staff elsewhere and it helps with distribution records for otherwise rare fishes.



John caught this gorgeous hen steelhead on a swung fly.  If you are ever in the Westlake Orvis shop ask for John if you have any local fly fishing questions (photo courtesy of John Brochue).






Yesterday I worked with volunteers from Ohio Fish Rescue (an official non-profit) to salvage 299 largemouth bass and bluegill from a lake being drained in Lucas county. The fish were released at Wallace Lake.  Ohio Fish Rescue did a video detailing the effort which may be viewed <here>.