May 25, 2023

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is updated weekly on Thursdays from September-May and monthly from June-August***   The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering very good fishing conditions for smallmouth bass and a variety of other species.  Anglers can monitor the trend in river level at the following links: <Rocky River flow gauge data><Chagrin River flow gauge data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  

The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering very good fishing conditions at this time and based on the weather forecast conditions should not change much through the weekend.  Although it will be wrapping up soon enough there are still lake-run smallmouth bass in the Rocky and Chagrin rivers on their spawning runs.  Smallmouth bass will strike artificial lures similar to steelhead- such as medium size crankbaits, spinners, tube jigs (dark brown and olive are good), ned rigged plastics, as well as marabou jigs under floats and streamer flies that imitate gobies, minnows and crayfish.

As the weather warms up trout fishing opportunities will come to an end, but with the cooler temperatures this month plenty of trout are still available. Among good spots to try, just last week a total of 1,300 lbs of rainbow trout and 1,400 lbs of channel catfish ere stocked between Wallace lake and Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area for the Spring Fishing Derbies and lots of these fish remain to be caught by anglers.  Note: the daily limit in the river is 2 trout/angler of minimum size 12”.  At Wallace, Ledge, Ranger and Judge's lakes daily limit is 3 trout/angler and the limit at Shadow Lake and the Ohio & Erie Canal is 5 trout/angler.  
 
Additionally, the East Branch Rocky River in Millstream Run Reservation was been stocked with 2,700 lbs of rainbow trout since March 21 (spring river stocking is now complete).  Several easy access locations were stocked along the river and include the parking area on the north side of Royalton Road (Rt 82) along the river, off the low bridges to the Strongsville Wildlife Area and the Chalet, at the Whitney Road covered bridge, and off the ford south of Wallace Lake.  The trout average a little over a pound each and they bite well on a variety of offerings, including dime size balls of colorful PowerBait dough, small jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm, single salmon eggs or small spawn sacks, a few kernals of canned corn on hook, and small spinners.  Bait should be drifted close to the bottom or held down in place with a small sinker.
 
The Cleveland shoreline of Lake Erie bite has been hit or miss this week for walleye anglers casting shallow running stickbaits from shore after dark. Harbors, such as Edgewater, Wildwood and E72nd boat ramp areas are offering mixed catch opportunities for largemouth/smallmouth bass, rock bass, northern pike, yellow perch and sunfish species. This time of year the breakwall area at E55th traditionally offers opportunities to catch yellow perch or white perch using minnows or bits of worms on crappie spreaders on the bottom.
 
This is the Final week of the Orvis Giveback Days Partnership.  For the second year in a row we are excited to partner with Orvis for their Giveback Days program to raise awareness and donations for our Fishing Fund. If you make a donation of $10 or more during the month of May to our Fishing Fund you will receive a onetime use savings card that you can use at either Orvis Cleveland in Woodmere or Orvis Westlake in Crocker Park.  Please consider supporting those who support local public fishing! You can donate in store for this promotion or online through the Cleveland Metroparks website here:  <Orvis Giveback Days Partnership>.
 
Rocky River Volunteer Clean-Up is Saturday June 3^rd.  Please join us on Saturday June 3rd starting at 9:00am at the Scenic Park/Rocky River Marina picnic shelter for the family-friendly volunteer river clean-up!  Cleveland Metroparks is partnering with Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District and Rocky River Watershed Council to host the event.  We will break up into groups and clean up trash from along the river banks, then re-convene at the picnic shelter starting around 11:30am to host a thank you cookout.  Trash bags will be provided and long pants and boots are recommended.  Please pre-register here as an <adult> or for <youth> if you are parent or guardian.

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] .

Tight Lines,
Mike


 

Gabi shows off a few nice largemouth bass that she caught recently (photos courtesy of Mark Durkalec).



Patrick and his daughter scored a few nice yellow perch this week (photo courtesy of Patrick Knowlton).



Mason won the biggest fish honors at Gordon Park at a fishing derby his high school class had yesterday.  His prize was a Fish of Cleveland Metroparks book.



Tony shared on Monday “Just got a nice 30” 7.75lb walleye off Cleveland yesterday. Caught trolling bandits near the Cleveland crib.” (photo courtesy of Tony Renfro).



Nick caught this beautiful smallmouth bass in the Rocky River (photo courtesy of Nick Zarzeczny).





Richard and Bud had a great outing on Lake Erie this week, catching quite a variety of quality size fish (photos courtesy of Richard Seltz).







Jarred has had a great week casting for walleye after dark from the shoreline at Edgewater Park and caught a nice largemouth bass, as well (photos courtesy of Jarred Bugg).









Chris continues to be amazed by the bounty of our local waters. He shared “I honestly cannot believe the variety in my backyard. The absolute variety in the river is bonkers. All these fish (2 smallies , rock bass, steelhead smolt, and bowfin) were caught within 150 feet of the Horse Ford on the Rocky River. One of the smallies just shy of 17 inches. Don't even get me started on the 20-30 lb carp that were ignoring my flys! The Smallies were all caught on a fly that a fellow fly fisherman (Brent - from last week's post) gave me. An olive green jiggy thingy. What's up Brent!?  I can't help but notice that every time I wear my Lakers hat (I spent my childhood in LA) it's always a good day.  Calling this place the ‘mecca’ of fishing is no longer accurate. I am now dubbing The Land ‘Disneyland of Fishing’! “ (photos courtesy of Chris Ligan).





Phillip is catching lots of quality bass in Cleveland Lakefront harbor areas.  Above are just a few examples (photos courtesy of Phillip Shevchenko).




Elizabeth shows off a nice yellow perch from a two person limit caught in 36 feet of water on Monday.




Emily caught a limit of walleye with her father Sam out of E72/Gordon Park and then utilized the onsite fish cleaning station. Also, new to the station area is an ice and filtered water machine for the convenience of anglers and other guests. Please note: the machine only accepts credit cards (photos courtesy of Sam Horn).