November 8, 2018

In fall anglers along the Rocky River and other area streams are pursuing steelhead trout, as well as a surprising number of walleye in the northernmost river reaches.  The Rocky River and other area streams are currently exhibiting good flow and stain for fishing, although abundant leaves can cause difficulties drifting.  Rain forecasted for tomorrow could change conditions before the weekend, though, so wise anglers will monitor the most recent river water level and temperature at the following link: <Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  Nearshore Lake Erie anglers are targeting walleye, steelhead, and yellow perch.  Anglers at Ohio & Erie Canal are catching recently stocked rainbow trout and channel catfish. 

The Rocky River and other area streams are ofering good flow and stain for steelhead fishing, although abundant leaves are in the streams following a windy week.  Rain is in the forecast tomorrow, though, so anglers should check the flow gage links above before planning a trip.  Steelhead opportunities were good today and should remain that way until stream conditions change.  As is typical this time of year, the greatest concentration of fish, and therefore also anglers, is in the northernmost river stretches.  The big trout, averaging 5-7 lbs as of late, have been biting on brightly colored dime to nickel size spawn sacks when the water is stained and 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 as the water clears further.  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.

Fishing along the Cleveland lakefront was good this week with steelhead and yellow perch by day and walleye after dark caught from the E55th/E72nd breakwalls, as well as at Edgewater and Wildwood parks as wave conditions allowed.  Lakefront steelhead will bite on a whole nightcrawler on a plain hook or small jig tipped with minnow suspended between 4-6 feet under a bobber, as well as for anglers casting a spoon (ie Little Cleo or KO Wobbler) or spinner (ie Vibrax or RoosterTail).

Anglers at our inland lakes and ponds are catching catfish, largemouth bass, and panfish. In mid-October rainbow trout (1,000 lbs) and farm raised channel catfish (600 lbs) that were stocked in the Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area off E49th Street and plenty of these fish remain.  Trout often bite well on a dime sized ball of colorful PowerBait fished near the canal bottom with a sinker.  Our lakes/ponds are scheduled to be stocked with rainbow trout around mid December.

Walleye fishing was very good along the Cleveland shoreline of Lake Erie after dark this week.  Anglers are connecting by casting Husky Jerk or Perfect 10 stickbaits.  A few yellow perch are being caught at E55th breakwall, as well.  Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, freshwater drum, northern pike, and panfish species can also be found along the Cleveland shoreline.  The ODNR Division of Wildlife weekly Lake Erie fishing report can be viewed <here>.

ODNR Needs Angler Assistance on Reporting Lake Trout Catches   If you or anyone you know/see catches a lake trout in Ohio waters of Lake Erie or a tributary please remember the following. If the fish is kept, the head would be extremely appreciated for the information that can be obtained from the implanted coded wire tag (which you will not see because it is internal).  If the angler chooses not to keep the fish, a picture (or even call/email) with information would be a much appreciated second option to taking the head. Any information would be good: date, location, size, was the fish flowing any milt or eggs, what was it caught with, name, email contact, etc. This information is CRUCIAL to tracking the success of this program in Ohio.  Please report to: John Deller, ODNR Fairport Fish Station at [email protected] or (440) 352-4199 and/or Mike Durkalec, Aquatic Biologist at [email protected] or (216) 701-7634.  Thank you!

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

Proud dad Randy watched his daughter catch a nice walleye along the CLE shoreline this week (photos courtesy of Randy Smith).



Congratulations to Tee Lynn on catching her first walleye ever at E55th breakwall this week (photo courtesy of Orenzie Spencer).





Jermiah and friends caught some jumbo yellow perch and steelhead at E55th breakwall on tuesday and Wednesday (photos courtesy of Jermiah Cheffen).



Ken reported today "I had a great time this morning on the Rock.  There must have been 4 people in the first set of riffles before 730; the number would grow to about 8 before 1100.  I bet I saw close to 40+ steelies hooked in 4 hours.  About 2/3 of these were skippers and the others were about 24-25”. I (and others) had no luck with eggs but did well with combinations of black jig/orange head, green maribou with green head, green, orange, and yellow feathers with yellow head.  All were tipped with maggots and/or pink salt worms, white trout worms, and orange trout worms.  Also caught one on a silver Kwikfish but it hit gently and I lost it.  I cleaned one fish and its stomach had several shad in it- my daughter always wants ot know what they are feeding on.  Thanks again for all that you do for us anglers." (photo courtesy of Ken Stein).



Tyler Miller caught a 28" walleye at E55th breakwall this week (photo courtesy of Kyle Martin).




Mike caught a fine steelie fly fishing the Rocky River by Tyler Field recently (photo courtesy of Mike Keys).





When the river was muddy this week Tudor took his kayak off the Lake erie shoreline of Cleveland and caught some multi-species diversity (photos courtesy of Tudor St Stephen).



Randy landed a really nice walleye along the CLE shoreline on tuesday night casting a pink lemonade colored stickbait (photo courtesy of Randy Zimmerman).





Greg showed his Cleveland sports teams colors on the Rocky this week and the steelhead took notice and bit his spinners (photos courtesy of Greg Palka).



John caught enough jumbo perch for a nice meal at E55th breakwall on Tuesday and got 10 more and a steelhead yesterday (photos courtesy of John Davis).



Jeremy caught a big buck steelie in a smaller Metroparks creek on Sunday drifting a pink egg sack (photo courtesy of Jeremy Springer).



On Tuesday John  caught a 29.5" and 25" walleye at E55th breakwall (photo courtesy of John Pastva).



Scotty caught a beautiful chrome hen steelhead in the northern Rocky River on Tuesday (photo courtesy of Scott Denham Jr).



Neil made a fine catch of walleye along the Cleveland shoreline of Lake Erie this week (photo courtesy of Neil Martino).





We stocked some largemouth bass and sunfish in Shadow and Judge's lakes this week.  That redear sunfish measured 11 inches!




Here is a good comparison of a pumpkinseed sunfish (in my right hand, viewer's left) and a similar redear sunfish.





Madeline captured some nice fall images on the Cuyahoga River, Beyer's Pond, and Rocky River-  in that order (photos courtesy of Madeline Wenzler).