October 20, 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.  Local streams flows are in good shape at this time and levels will continue to drop and clear into the weekend based on the weather forecast. 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 and inland lake/pond anglers are primarily pursuing largemouth bass, channel catfish and panfish. 

Local streams are in good shape at this time and will continue to drop in level and clear into the weekend based on the weather forecast.  Steelhead on the Rocky and Chagrin rivers are becoming more distributed throughout the few miles of stream closer to Lake Erie with additional fresh fish moving into the lowermost river sections, as well.  Anglers are catching the big lake-run trout using dime to nickel size spawn sacks (salmon or trout eggs) in brightly colored mesh (pink and chartreuse are good in stained water), 1/16-1/64 oz marabou or hair jigs tipped with a waxworm or a few maggots, and salmon egg mimmicking beads drifted near the bottom under a float.  Steelhead contine to also be caught off the breakwall by E55th Marina and off the rocks at Edgewater Park, as well as Wildwood Park 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 an early 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.  Recent observations have been some surprisingly large steelhead this fall so far. 

Lakefront areas like E55th breakwall may produce some walleye after dark, as well, with Perfect 10 and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits working well.  White perch and yellow perch have made sporadic appearances at the shoreline at spots like E55t breakwall and Wendy Park at the old Coast Guard station.  They have been biting on bits of worms or small minnows fished on the bottom on a crappie rig.

Last Wednesday and Thursday 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 many 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 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 peice of shrimp fished on the canal bottom.

Steelhead Fly Fishing offering this Saturday October 22.    There are still some spots open for the steelhead fly fishing offering this Saturday which will be led by expert fly fisher and registered fishing guide and captain Jeff Liskay.  Save hudreds of dollars versus hiring a guide for an individual outing yet learn most of the same things!  Details <here>.

2022 International Fly Fishing Film Festival November 4th.  The Trout Club of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History is pleased to host a showing of the International Fly Fishing Film Festival on Friday, November 4, 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM.  Sponsored by it will be a series of short films features a look at fly fishing destinations around the world.  The showing will take place at the Cleveland Metropark’s Emerald Necklace Marina in Rocky River Reservation, 1500 Scenic Park Dr., Lakewood, OH 44107.  Tickets are $25.00 per person and include all films, refreshments, door prizes and raffles, and a cash bar.  You can purchase tickets <here>.  (Please note this is a different event than the traditional Fly Fishing Film Tour held in spring).

Attention Perch Anglers!  The Ohio Division of Wildlife Can Use Your Help.  Are you a perch angler who wants to play a role in assisting biologists in better understanding Central Basin yellow perch in Lake Erie? Well, here's your chance!  The Ohio Division of Wildlife Fairport Fish Research Station is looking for filleted perch carcasses with the spine/head/tail still intact (they will be taking lengths and removing otolith bones from heads for aging) until the end of October.  The fish need to be from the Central Basin between Huron to Conneaut, not from the Western Basin.  The carcasses should be frozen and have general location and depth where caught included.  They can be dropped off at the Fairport Fish Research Station M-F between 9 and 5, or if 20 or more carcasses are available they can arrange pick up (within reason).  For Cleveland area anglers I am also able to accept carcasses to retain and deliver to the researchers (arrange details using my contact info below).  This is an ideal situation because it is making use of perch already harvested by anglers.

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] .

Rick shared "My 12 year-old son Jake from Rocky River caught his first ever Steelhead this Sunday with his Grandpa Jim in the Rocky River.  He was using a Kwikfish lure". (photo courtesy of Rick Damico).




Ayaan and his dad Ashish caught a couple nice steelhead in the Rocky River (photos courtesy of Ken Harper).



Phred made a catch of walleyes from E55th breakwall after dark this week (photo courtesy of Phred Carey).




The Hill family caught some farm-raised channel catfish caught at Ohio & Erie canal fishing area over the weekend (photos courtesy of Mike Hill).



Tony shared "Had fun catching this hybrid pumpkinseed and woolybear at the Fall Family Fish Festival. Both critters were released". (photo courtesy of Tony Modic).




AJ had another good week at E55th breakwall, reporting:  "My personal best steelhead, 28.5 inch fish Ohio. Caught on slip bobber and night crawler" (photos courtesy of AJ Woolen).



Tommy had a great time with his family at Fall Family Fishing Fest on Saturday (photo courtesy of Jenny Negrey).



Tori caught this fine Lake Erie walleye while fishing with her father (photo courtesy of Carl Shweisthal).



Matt caught this giant goldfish from his kayak on Lake Erie.  The natural color of goldfish is bronze, it is humans that selected for the orange color we commonly associate with the species (photo courtesy of Matt Gunn).



Ted caught his limit of rainbow trout at the Ohio & Erie canal fishing area over the weekend.  He reported that they were the best fighting trout he ever caught, too (photo courtesy of Ted Choukalas).








The Butram boys and Denman girls meet up to fish together at most Metroparks fishing events, and as you can see it pays off! (photos courtesy of Mariah Butram).



Roxanne struck silver again this week.  She's on a roll! (photo courtesy of Roxanne Shultheis).



Ken also had another successful week for steelhead at E55th breakwall (photo courtesy of Ken Bradford).












Above are just a few moments from a fun Fall Family Fishing Fest this past Saturday.  The weather was amazing, the trout and catfish bite was good, and many great memories were made!



Kali shows off the one abino channel catfish stocked among 600 pounds of farm raised catfish in the Ohio & Erie canal fishing area for the event this past Saturday.  And a lucky kid caught it (see pic above in report) and released it to make someone else happy.