May 20, 2021

The Rocky River and other area streams are offering good fishing conditions today and this is expected to last through the weekend given the weather forecast.  Anglers can monitor the most recent river water level, turbidity and temperature at the following links: <Rocky River flow gage data><Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  Wallace Lake and the Ohio & Erie Canal were stocked with trout and farm raised catish last week (details below).

The Rocky River and other area streams are offering good fishing conditions today, and weekend prospects continue to look good given the extended weather forecast.  Lake-run smallmouth bass fishing is going strong with bass anglers do well on 3-4" olive tube jigs, small marabou jigs and live baits such as leeches or crayfish.  Some big carp, channel catfish and freshwater drum are being caught by anglers fishing baits like nightcrawlers, shrimp and corn on the bottom by the marina, and a few straggler steelhead are still around, as well.

Several of our lakes and ponds are offering stocked trout and farm raised catfish.  Two weeks ago we stocked 800 lbs of trout and 700 lbs of farm raised catfish at Wallace Lake and 500 lbs of trout and 700 lbs of catfish at Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street.  Here is a link to a video about the stocking, as well as covering tips for catching these fish: <stocking video>.  Additionally, this spring we stocked a total of 3,600 lbs of rainbow trout in the east Branch Rocky River in Strongsville and the Ohio Division of Wildlife stocked trout at Shadow Lake, Hinckley Lake and Ohio & Erie canal off E49th.  Note: the daily limit at Wallace, Ledge, Ranger and Judge's lakes is 3 trout/angler, the limit at Shadow Lake and the Ohio & Erie Canal is 5 trout/angler and the limit in the Rocky river is now 5 trout/angler (the latter with a minimum size of 12")..  Trout often bite well on small to medium size spinners/spoons/crankbaits, a small marabou or tube jig tipped with a waxworm or a few maggots, canned corn kernals fished on the lake bottom or a dime size ball of colorful PowerBait. 

The walleye bite at Edgewater Park and E72nd Street access continues to be hot for anglers trolling Bandits and similar crankbaits and casting stickbaits like P-10s and Husky Jerks from the shoreline (the latter option after dark).   In spring, sunfish, largemouth bass and northern pike can be found prowling the Lake Erie shoreline harbors and marinas.  The launch ramp kiosks have been installed at all Lake Erie access locations in Cleveland Metroparks and either a daily pass (purchased with credit card at kiosk) or annual pass (see how to obtain one below) are required.

Thank You to Numerator Cleveland Office!  I would like to thank the Cleveland branch of the marketing research consulting company Numerator (numerator.com) for an online donation of $1,385 to the Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Fund this week.  I thought the backstory of how this came about was cool and an inspiring display of corporate engagement, as shared among the images below.  More on the Metroparks Fishing Fund here: <Fishing Fund>.

Cleveland Metroparks Virtual Children’s Fishing Derby Results.  Thank you to all who submitted their great family fishing photos (posted below) in our Virtual Children;'s Fishing Derby!  All entries (one per child) were assigned a number, and five numbers were chosen with a randon number gernerating app to win $50 Cleveland Metroparks gift certificates.  Our lucky winners were: Dexter Butram, Andrew Scheeringa, Maxine Koenig, Griffin Koussa and Emilya Moore.  Gift certificates are being sent to the address provided in the photo release waiver.

 

Cleveland Metroparks Annual Boat Launch Passes are Now Available.    2021 season Cleveland Metroparks Boat Launch Pass can be puchased online at this time at the following link:  <2021 Boat Launch Pass>.  The base price (there are certain discounts) is $30.  Note: this applies only to motorized watercraft that are trailered.

Photo Release Waivers for Fishing Blog Photos (fast and easy to complete online).  Photo release waivers can easily be completed online through Smart Waiver (takes only about 30 seconds to complete) at the following link: <Smart Waiver link>. 

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

 

Sophie caught a nice bass in a local lake (photo courtesy of Ted Choukalas).



Sean was targeting bass at Gordon Park when he got this bonus gorgeous northern pike, which he released (photo courtesy of Sean Johnson).



Tony caught this huge carp from his kayak along the Cleveland shoreline (photo courtesy of Tony Cillluffo).



Wes caught this 13 inch yellow perch fishing minnows on the lake bottom by Edgewater boat ramps (photo courtesy of Wes Bombik).






Father and son Brian and Zachary found success targeting carp in the Rocky River near the marina, and even caught a nice smallmouth bass on corn of all things! (photos courtesy of Brian Zaptocky).
























We had lots of great entries in our Virtual Children's Fishing Derby, as evidenced above.  Among top honors were "first fish ever" for 4 year old Grayson 9first image).  The 5 winners of the random drawings for $50 Cleveland Metroparks gift certificates are announced above.  Thank you to all who participated by submitting your wonderful family photos!
 


Carl's little buddy gives his trout catch the official sniff of approval (photo courtesy of Carl Schweisthal).








Jarred and his buddy have been making some great catches of largemouth bass at E55th Marina, including a bonus walleye (photos courtesy of Jarred Bugg).



Ed caught this bruiser smallmouth bass in the Rocky River (photo courtesy of ed Schmitt).



Richard caught this bruiser carp at the Rocky River marina (photo courtesy of Richard Moore).



Tony shared "Hey Mike caught this nice one with my Dad in front of the Lakewood Park on a Green Erie Dearie with a whole crawler in 28ft of water" (photo courtesy of Tony Modic).





Trigg is in town from Texas working an extended job at MetroHealth and has been taking full advantage of the bounty of the nearby Rocky River (photos courtesy of Trigg Wright).





Mike and a buddy have been hooking some fine walleye off the Edgewater Park rocks at dusk (photos courtesy of Mike Sekerak).



I would like to thank the Cleveland branch of the marketing research consulting company Numerator (numerator.com) for an online donation of $1,385 to the Cleveland Metroparks Fishing Fund this week.  I thought the backstory of how this came about was cool and an inspiring display of corporate engagement, as shared with the images above.  More on the Metroparks Fishing Fund here: <Fishing Fund>.