October 28, 2021

***The Fishing Report Blog is updated every Thursday***   The Rocky River is currently offering very good fishing conditions, but more rain is in the forecast into the weekend.  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>.  Steelhead have been biting along the Cleveland lakefront this week and rainbow trout and farm raised channel catfish were also stocked last week at the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation. 

After being elevated and muddy for several days the Rocky River and other area streams are currently offering very good conditions for steelhewad fishing.  But more rain is forecasted leading into the weekend so wise anglers will keep abreast of the latest conditions at the flow links offered about.  The lower Rocky River from Rockcliff Springs north has been producing fish with anglers finding success casting spoons (such as Little Cleo) and spinners (such as Vibrax and Roostertail) and drifting dime size spawn sacks and 1/64 to 1/16 oz marabou jigs under floats.  Another good bite for steelhead has been off the rocks and breakwalls at Edgewater Park, E55th/E72nd and Wildwood Park.  For the lakefront an all around good offering has been a 2-3 inch blue and silver spoon.  An increasing number of walleye have been mixed in with the lakefront catch, too.

A mixed bag catch can be found along the Cleveland shoreline in early fall, including white and yellow perch, channel catfish, rock bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, freshwater drum and various sunfish species and can be caught on offerings such as live shiners, tube jigs, and dropshot rigs.  Fair catches of yellow perch have been caught at shoreline spots like E55th breakwall, Edgewater Park and Wendy Park recently, and have been biting on live minnows and bits of worm fished on the bottom on a crappie rig.

On October 14 & 15 we stocked 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 600 lbs of channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street for Fall Family Fishing Fest and the bulk 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.  For basic tips and techniques on fishing for these fish check out a past  <Facebook Live> segment offered by my colleague Faruq from Cleveland Metroparks Youth Outdoors program.  If you are happy catching either species you can try a nightcrawler worm or peice of shrimp fished on the canal bottom.

Lost and Found: Fly Box on the Rocky River.  A box of flies was found on the Rocky River recently.  If you contact me with details that match up (ie where you were fishing that day, details of the flies and box) I will arrange to have it re-united with you. 

Last Call for The Steelheaders Ball tomorrow evening!  When: Friday, October 29, 2021- 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM  Where: The LaSalle Theater, 823 E. 185th St, Cleveland, OH 44119  What: Live Music by The Interstate All-Star Band, BBQ Food Truck, cash bar, assorted raffles, door prizes and more!  Why: Cleveland Museum of Natural History Trout Club Fundraiser to support a variety of local fisheries projects.  Tickets- $20.00 online, $25.00 at the door. Purchase tickets online at: <Steelheaders Ball tickets>

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

 

Luke shared "I caught this fishing in the Rocky River it is a bowfin and I have never seen one or caught one in my life. I caught it on a square bill crank bait the color was blue shad runner." (photo courtesy of Laura Masek).



Christian caught a nice rainbow trout at the Ohio & Erie Canal on Monday (photo courtesy of Walt Gedeon).



Tony from Wisconsin was visiting family in Cleveland and shared "Good talking to you at E55th St. today. Here’s the photo of the steelhead I managed to land Sunday at Edgewater in a too small net with the help from a neighboring angler. I had two more that were mostly in the net but managed to flip out and throw the Cleo. Quite a challenge to land a fish on those slippery rocks.  Quite a fun morning. Nothing today. Hope to make it out on Wednesday before starting the trek back to La Crosse." (photo courtesy of Tony Batya).
 


Matthew shared this week "Caught this 19 in smallie tonight on a gold shallow Flicker Shad" (photo courtesy of Matthew Neuzil).



Steve scored a limit of tasty rainbow trout on Sunday (photo courtesy of Steve Farley).



Fabio caught this beautiful steelhead swinging a fly through the flows of the Chagrin River (photo courtesy of Fabio Malaspina).



Jarred sent in this great photo to boost the spirits of his father Jeffrey Bugg Sr who is battling stage 4 cancer.  The whiskered brute was recently caught at Edgewater Pier (photo courtesy of Jarred Bugg).





Carl and friends did a recent trip out of Rocky River on Lake Erie and scored a dozen jumbo perch (photos courtesy of Carl Blaser).





Michael shared on Saturday "Fishing still remains outstanding in C-Town. Pulling a two man ticket. Best lure by far was neon golden boy." (photos courtesy of Michael Ruffo).











Anglers young and old alike got to experience fishing at an outing we hosted in Cleveland on Saturday in partnership with Doan Brook Watershed Partners.





Mike scored some bronze beauties in the Cuyahoga River recently (photos courtesy of Mike Sekerak).





Brad got his fix of silver from the Rocky last Friday (photos courtesy of Brad Gardner).



On October 19 I transferred 280 largemouth bass (most 8-10") from a private lake to Shadow Lake (the fish had a value of $2.6K if they had been purchased)  This was a result of a cyclic 5 year fish survey conducted at Shadow Lakw on 9/30 indicating that largemouth bass abundance was pretty low.  Please be sure to handle carefully and quickly release any sub-legal (<12") bass from the lake so these new arrivals can grow and prosper.  On a sidenote the private landowner donated the fish because his pond was overspopulated with smaller bass and can write off the donation if he chooses.  If you own a pond or have contacts who may be in a position to discuss a similar arrangement please get in touch with me.