November 21, 2024

***NOTE: The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***   The Rocky River is low and clear and the best steelhead fishing prospects are in the lower river closer to Lake Erie. 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>. The Lake Erie shoreline bite has been hot with anglers targeting walleye and steelhead and inland anglers are catching recently stocked rainbow trout and farm raised channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area.
 
The rain we received over the past week has done little to increase flows substantially in local streams. The extended low flow conditions and abundance of fallen leaves in the water have made for more challenging fishing in our streams. The best steelhead opportunities have been in the lower stream segments closer to Lake Erie.  The Rocky and Chagrin rivers have been producing steelhead and the Cuyahoga River can shine during drought conditions given it has a substantially bigger watershed. Anglers drifting smaller marabou/hair jigs tipped with a few maggots, dime size spawn sacks and egg mimicking beads under floats through the holes are connecting with some fish.
 
The river fishing for steelhead may be less than ideal sop far this fall, but the lakefront fishing for staging steelhead waiting to run upstream has been hot. Along the lakefront steelhead are being caught off the rocks at Edgewater Park, E55th breakwall, and Wildwood Park. Casting a spoon (i.e. Little Cleo or KO Wobbler) or spinner (i.e. Vibrax or RoosterTail) at these locations are a good bet for connecting with an early steelhead trout. These same locations are also producing good catches of walleye after dark, with Perfect 10, Husky Jerk and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits working well. Access to the Lakefront parks at Edgewater, E55th/E72nd, Wildwood and the Rocky River boat ramps are exceptions in that anglers can fish them 24 hours a day (other Cleveland Metroparks areas are closed to access from 11:00 p.m. - 6:00 a.m.). Trolling Flicker Shad and Mag Lip crankbaits and flutter spoons along the shoreline and river mouth areas is also a good bet for connecting with a bright steelhead.
 
Good catches of yellow perch continue to be caught by boaters near the Cuyahoga River outer lighthouse, at the east end of the outer city breakwall, and out of Rocky River and Bratenahl in 30-40 feet of water. A few perch have also turned up at E55th breakwall, although shore fishing for them is less predictable. Perch will bite minnows fished on the bottom on a crappie rig, as well as using spreaders if fishing from a boat (the color and spinner blades on the latter can trigger bites some days). Please note that Wendy Park at the foremer Coast Guard station is closed for repairs and will reopen to the public in roughly August 2025. The fish cleaning station at the E72nd boat launch area is still open and will remain so until the advent of winter weather (we will try to keep it in operational through the end of the Fall Brawl in early December).
 
On October 10, we stocked 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 741 lbs of channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street for Fall Family Fishing Fest and a good number of those fish remain to be caught. The trout average 1.5 lbs each and the catfish average 2-3 lbs, but we included a handful of bigger fish and a few golden rainbow trout to keep things interesting. Trout bite good on a dime size ball of PowerBait about a foot from a sinker on the bottom, small marabou/hair jigs tipped with a few maggots about 2 feet under a small bobber and on smaller spinners. Either species can be caught on a piece of nightcrawler or shrimp fished on the canal bottom.
 
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

 
Igor shared that his son caught his first steelhead ever this week and then followed up with his second (photo courtesy of Igor Gromilic).





Francesca had a successful outing casting for walleye along the Cleveland shoreline (photos courtesy of Francesca Garcia).




 
Brent was fly fishing the Rocky River for steelhead and got a big surprise- a king salmon. Also known as chinook salmon these fish stray into Lake erie in modest numbers from the upper Great Lakes (photos courtesy of Brent Oneill).




Kyle shared the following “I hooked up with this buck on the rocky river on 11/16 throwing a big Mepps spinner. That was my only catch of the weekend. It seems like the fish are still scattered." (photo courtesy of Kyle Radatz).



 
 
Devonte got a walleye and bonus white bass casting from shore at E55th breakwall after dark (photos courtesy of Devonte Jones).




Ben caught this 30.5” buck steelhead drifting an egg pattern fly (photo courtesy of Ben Brown).




 

DeAngelo made a nice catch of Cleveland shoreline walleye and also scored a bonus white bass (photos courtesy of DeAngelo Williams).



 
Taylor caught this bruiser steelhead in the Rocky River (photo courtesy of Taylor DiBlasi).





 


Wes and friends are enjoying the good Cleveland yellow perch bite. They are even getting a few from shore (photos courtesy of Wes Janke).





 
Nick not only scored the Gold-Silver-Bronze Challenge one day this week, but they were all good sized fish (photo courtesy of Nick Zarzeczny).





Owen and I got a nice ctach of perch recently and I came the bronze shy of incidentally scoring the Gold-Silver-Bronze myself!






Local kayak guide Chuck Earls and some clients had a successful outing targeting steelhead at the mouth of the Rocky River (photos courtesy of Chuck Earls).




Jeff caught this chunky walleye out of Edgewater Park on Tuesday night (photo courtesy of Jeff Deluca).




Smallmouth bass are in the rivers all year around, although the resident fish like the one pictured from the Rocky River are significantl;y smnaller on average than the bronze bruisers that come up from Lake Erie in spring (photo courtesy of Anthony Cilluffo).




Sean, who retired with our park police, shows off a huge buck steelhead he caught in the Rocky River this week.  He reports that he lost and even bigger one and also caught several smaller fish (photo courtesy of Sean Flanigan).



 

Sam had two Cleveland icons on his boat- outdoors writer D’Arcy Egan and Slyman’s corned beef sandwiches for lunch! (photos courtesy of Sam Horn).



 

Dr. Jeff Miner of Bowling Green State University is seeking the assistance of local anglers for a steelhead study.  See the information above about the project and please consider participating if you harvest steelhead of the requested size.