November 18, 2021

***The Fishing Report Blog is updated every Thursday***   The Rocky River is currently flowing fairly low and clear and fishing is getting challenging accordingly.  Based on the weather forecast we should be getting some rain into the weekend but it may not be enough to change conditions much for the better.  Anglers can 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>.  Walleye, steelhead and yellow perch have been biting along the Cleveland lakefront and rainbow trout and farm raised channel catfish were also stocked in mid October at the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation. 

The Rocky River and other area streams are currently flowing on the low and clear side with a growing number of fallen leaves, which all add up to make for more challenging steelhead fishing.  The weather forecast into the weekend is calling for some rain, but it may not be enough to change that situation much.  In the meantime anglers are having the most success fish low (north) in the river closer to the lake where steelhead are staging waiting for increased flows and feeding on baitfish.  In these areas casting spoons (such as Little Cleo) and spinners (such as Vibrax and Roostertail) and drifting 1/64 to 1/16 oz marabou jigs under floats are taking the bulk of the fish.  A modest number of fish have moved well upstream, too, and adventurous anglers willing to walk may get lucky and find pods of them in the deeper holes while flows remain low. Salmon egg mimmicking beads, small jigs (as already outlined) and live minnows drifted under floats (or flies that are similar to any of the aforementioned) are working best in the deeper holes upstream under the current clear water conditions.

The bite for steelhead has remained decent off the rocks and breakwalls at Edgewater Park, E55th/E72nd and Wildwood Park.  Casting a spoon (such as a 2/5 oz Little Cleo or KO Wobbler) or spinner (ie Vibrax or RoosterTail) at these locations are a good for connecting with fall lakefront steelhead trout that requires no more than a medium action spinning rig spooled with 8-10 lb monofilament line.  A bobber with a 1/32 oz jig tipped with minnow or maggots suspend 3-6 feet below is also a good producer in the aforementioned areas.  A nightcrawler suspended under a bobber on a bare hook can also work well.  A longer noodle rod is best for fishing floats.  Be especially careful of slick conditions along the shoreline rocks and breakwalls, with ice cleats and a long landing net being good investments.

The walleye bite has remained excellent after dark along the Cleveland shoreline when lake conditions permit.  Anglers have been connecting by casting lures like Husky Jerk, Bandit, Rattle Trap, and Perfect 10 stickbaits at dusk and after dark along the Cleveland shoreline.  On windy days Wendy Park pier and E55th breakwall are more protected than Edgewater and Wildwood park shorelines.  Boating anglers are continuing to find good numbers of jumbo yellow perch along the outer city breakwall and by the Cuyahoga River outer lighthouse with some decent catches also coming from shore at the E55th breakwall on emerald shiners fished on crappie rigs and spreader rigs on the bottom.  Anglers take note that the perch limit in this region of Lake Erie is currently 10 per day/angler (but you can use 3 rods/angler on Lake Erie now).

In mid October Cleveland Metroparks stocked 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 600 lbs of channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street and plenty of those fish remain to be caught.  The trout average 1.5 lb each and the catfish average 1-2 lbs, but we included a handful of bigger fish and a few albino catfish to spice things up.    If you are happy catching either species you can try a half a nightcrawler worm or peice of popcorn shrimp fished on the canal bottom.

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 covered too.

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
 

Irene shared last Thursday afternoon "Fish Ohio! 28.5” steelhead caught on the Rocky River yesterday near the yacht club off my kayak trolling a Kwikfish" (photo courtesy of Irene Roff).



Tom shared "Attached is my son, Will’s first Steelhead on the Chagrin River near the Chagrin River Park. Caught on a gold and white Rooster Tail." (photo courtesy of Tom Mignery).



DeAngelo displays a great catch of Cleveland shoreline walleye taken after dark this week (photo courtesy of DeAngelo Williams).



Proud husband Tom shared "So I invited my wife Jeni to join me on a night walleye fishing adventure out on the rocks. This was my first time out there in a couple of years so I was excited to go. She was a lil hesitant because walking on those rocks out there can be intimidating for sure, especially in the dark. Judging by that smile it seems that she likes it!! We caught fish all evening, and watched other's catching fish the whole time too. We came home with a nice cooler full of walleye to put in the freezer, and a new Walleye slayer was born." (photo courtesy of Tom Nock).



Congratulation to Jason on catching his first steelhead ever on the Rocky River this week.  He was drifting a VooDoo jig with black body and orange head (photo courtesy of Brad Gardner).




Chuck has been doing the traditional "steelhead by day, walleye by night" thing lately (photos courtesy of Chuck Naujoks).



Timmy scored a nice pair of rainbow trout from the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street.  He was fishing colorful dime size balls of PowerBait near the bottom with a small sinker.



Andrew caught a beautiful buck steelhead (photo courtesy of Andrew Kursh).



John caught a nice pair of walleye at Edgewater Park after dark (photo courtesy of John Schultz).



Jim shared "On 11/17/21 I hooked into a decent sized largemouth bass at Oxbow Lagoon. I was using a bronze colored Rebel Crawdad lure. Thank you for sharing your fishing updates each week." (photo courtesy of Jim McCormick).



Ken relayed an amusing observation about this pretty fish from the Rocky River, as follows.  "I have a fish story here.  I caught this 27.5” buck today (11/17) and believe it broke me off on Saturday. I was fishing in the same spot, it had the same hook in its mouth, the same coloured mesh I was using, and the attached line was the same length as had broken from the jig above it! Well, I wouldn’t be able to prove it in court, but I am convinced." (photo courtesy of Ken Stein).
 




Fred has been catching steelhead regularly a good 10 miles upstream of the lake (photos courtesy of Fred Meiser).




Brad shows off a gorgeous colored buck steelie from this week's adventures on the river (photos courtesy of Brad Gardner).









Buddies Jared and Billy are enjoying catch steelhead in the Rocky River by daylight, and Cleveland shoreline walleye by moonlight (photos courtesy of Jared Kassouf).






The Cleveland area fishing for jumbo size yellow perch remains good from shoreline haunts out to about 35 foot of water.  On this day we caught several Fish Ohio size perch (13" or better), as well as two bonus keeper walleye- one of which was also a Fish Ohio (28" or greater).  The bottom image compares a 14" perch and a 16.5" walleye.  We caught them all on emerald shiner minnows on crappie rigs fished on the lake bottom.



Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing’s mission is “dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and disabled veterans through fly fishing and associated activities including education and outings”.  PHWFF is having a fly fishing competition for bragging rights between the west side PHWFF Rocky River Program and the east side PHWFF Willoughby Program. We will be competing for The Steely Cup trophy in ”The Battle on Steelhead Alley” this Friday and Saturday November 19 & 20 from 8:00AM till 1:00PM (The Reel Heroes vs. The Apex Predators). Highest total inches averaged among the total team participants will be the winner. The winner will hold the trophy until it can be taken from them in a future battle. The loser will buy the hotdogs.  For more on PHWFF check out their website:  https://projecthealingwaters.org/  For anyone interested in being part of the local program to help heal our heroes either as an attendee (disabled veteran) or volunteer the West and East side local contacts are as follows:
PHWFF Rocky River Program  Program Leader: Tim Norris (440) 463-3180  [email protected]
PHWFF Willoughby Program  Program Lead: Diane Wantz (440) 840-6063 [email protected]