November 2, 2017

In fall highlight species targeted by anglers in Cleveland Metroparks include steelhead, walleye, yellow perch, and landlocked coho salmon (the latter recently stocked in Wallace Lake).  The Rocky River and other area streams are dropping in level and clearing to fishable conditions following rain last night, but the window of opportunity will likely be short lived with quite a bit of rain in the forecast into the weekend.  This increase in flow can be expected to draw a good run of steelhead into the streams.  Wise anglers will monitor the flow gage data at the links below to help determine river conditions. When the waves are not too rough the steelhead bite has remained very good along the Cleveland lakefront, as has the night walleye bite.    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 Rocky River and other area streams are just reaching fishable confditions after being elevated and muddy from rain last night.  A run of fresh steelhead will be waiting for anglers, although the window of opportunity will likely be short lived with quite a bit more rain into the weekend.  Wise anglers will stay tuned to the flow and turbidity (water stain) data offered at the links above to determine the trend in river conditions.  Prior to the rain, steelhead were reported in the northern reaches of the Rocky River (especially around the marina) and other area tributaries.  The big trout, averaging 5-7 lbs as of late, are biting on brightly colored dime to nickel size spawn sacks, beads that mimic salmon eggs, small marabou jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm drifted under a float, flies (egg patterns and baitfish streamers), and lures such as Little Cleo spoons and Vibrax spinners.  The fall run is just gaining momentum with the increase in flows and more steelhead will continue to migrate up area streams into the fall season.

The steelhead bite has remained very good along the Cleveland lakefront as lake wave conditions allow- especially at Edgewater Park and E55th east facing breakwall.  Steelhead are also being hooked off the breakwall at E72nd, the pier at Wendy Park at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, off the breakwall at Wildwood Park, and off the jetties at Huntington Beach.  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 lakefront steelhead trout, as is suspending a small jig tipped with minnow or maggots under a bobber.  Make sure to bring a long handed landing net when fishing the lakefront for steelhead!

In addition to steelhead, nice catches of walleye (15-20 inches) have been found along nearshore Lake Erie.  Shore based walleye anglers are doing best casting stickbaits (ie- Husky Jerks and Perfect 10s) and glow in the dark spoons at dusk and after dark.  White bass and yellow perch fishing has been slow lately.  The ODNR Division of Wildlife weekly Lake Erie fishing report can be viewed <here>.   Anglers/boaters can view current lake conditions off Cleveland at the following link: <City Of Cleveland Water Intake Crib Cam>.

The Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area off E49th Street (down the walking trail from Canalway Center) was stocked with 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 600 lbs of farm raised channel catfish on Friday Octover 13th.  The daily limit here is 5 trout per angler.  Trout bite well on PowerBait, small jigs tipped with maggots, and small spinners.  Catfish bite great on chicken liver.  Trout and catfish can both be targeted effectively fishing a half nightcrawler worm or chunk of cocktail shrimp right on the canal bottom.

Anglers at Metroparks inland lakes and ponds are catching catfish, largemouth bass, and panfish.  Wallace Lake, Ledge Lake, Shadow Lake, and Beyer's Pond are a few spots worth poking around in fall.  Wallace Lake was just stocked with the majority of another 166 largemouth bass and bluegill on Monday (in addition to 283 fish last week) from a private golf course lake being drained, and additionally recently recieved 300 catchable size coho salmon and a few rainbow trout.

Fall Dockage Specials at E55th Marina.    As an FYI to late season Lake Erie fishing boaters, we are offering some fall specials on dockage at E55th Marina.  Dockage from November 1-30 is available for $150, or for $5/day.  There will be electric, but no water, during this time.  If interested call Lisa Buie at (216) 881-8141.

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
 

Krystal caught a pair of steelhead at Edgewater Park this week (photos courtesy of Krystal Detwiler).




Alanna was in town from Louisiana visiting her twin Aleinna and her fiance Brad and they caught some fine steelies by the Rocky River Marina (photos courtesy of Brad Gardner).




Congratulations to James on catching his first two steelhead ever at Edgewater Park yesterday.  They hit a blue and silver Little Cleo spoon right before dark (photos courtesy of Jason Blackeny).





David shares "Me and my buddy Dave went down to lower Rocky after work on Friday and went 5 for 6 on steelhead and landed one walleye all on spoons. Just thought I would share." (photos courtesy of David Duchnowski).



Tony observes "Here is another beautiful Cuyahoga River bronzeback for you and most likely the last of the season considering the weather took a turn for the worse.  I had the best spring/summer of fishing I have ever had so I have absolutely nothing to complain about.  About an hour before this picture was taken I was at my usual spot on the Hoga fishing for bass.  On my second or third cast fishing with a tube not even thinking there would be any steelhead around I hooked into a monster steelie and on the Hoga again nonetheless 12 miles from the lake!  She fought like crazy and my first thought was...how the heck am I going to land this fish?  Luckily, and usually I wouldn't say this about loosing a gorgeous fish, she spit the hook right as I was bringing her into shore.  I'm kind of glad she did because I had no idea how I was going to land her.  I didn't have my waders on and I had no net not to mention the rocks in front of me were pretty jagged, and beyond that was a drop off into deep water." (photo courtesy of Tony Cilluffo).



Dave caught this gorgeous chrome steelhead at Edgewater Park on a blue and silver Little Cleo spoon.  It was also great to meet Dave and his son at a talk I gave last night and hear about their enjoyment checking out the lakefronmt steelhead fishery for the first time (photo courtesy of Dave Hudak).




On Sunday Chuck and a buddy caught some steelhead fishing from their kayaks by the Rocky River marina (photos courtesy of huck Earls).




Mike shares "I went to Wallace Lake in Sunday 10/29 first thing in the morning. Within my first 5 to 10 casts I pulled in a nice sized largemouth bass. About an hour later, I landed another one, even bigger. In between those catches I had two others that I hooked, but lost. I was originally targeting the coho salmon, but knew bass and panfish would be a possibility as well. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. I spent the rest of the morning trying new spots around the lake, and jigging for panfish. Wasn't successful doing that, but it didn't matter. Can't wait to go back next weekend." (photos courtesy of Mike Brady).

Jason caught a Rocky River steelhead casting a spoon from his kayak this week (photo courtesy of Jason Jesse).



Bob writes in "After a couple of failed attempts I finally got a Wallace Lake salmon. I was there this morning and it was still dark and raining. Used a lighted float and orange trout worm. I really like this salmon addition to Wallace and hope this will become a permanent addition to fall thru spring fishing at Wallace. Diana cooked it on the grill and it was awesome. Also she was full of eggs so that was a bonus too. Thanks Mike for your efforts of improving Wallace Lake."  SPOILER ALERT:  I hate to note but this is a rainbow trout! They look very similar to the coho salmon there and can be difficult to tell apart (photo courtesy of Bob Brunner).






Matt took his buddy Spenncer (top photo) on his first steelhead trip and they caught some silver beauties casting silver and green Little Cleo spoons along the lakefront (photos courtesy of Matt Arroyo).




Last Thursday we conducted a fish population evaluation at Brunswick Lake.  You can read an article about what and why we did  it <here>.



On Tuesday we transferred an additional 166 bluegill and largemouth bass from a private golf course pond being drained to Wallace Lake.



On Monday we conducted resampling of fish at Ranger Lake. This is done at our fishing lakes and ponds on a five year cycle.  In 2012 we turned up zero largemouth bass in the survey.  I'm pleased to report that since that time we've been successful in re-establishing bass in the lake-  including some good ones like those pictured.



It's always neat to see wildlife while fishing in the river valley, such as this coyote (photo courtesy of Mark Bullard).