September 29, 2022

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***   Anglers on the Rocky, Chagrin and Cuyahoga rivers are pursuing steelhead trout.  The cooler temperatures and bump in flow have helped entice more steelhead into area streams. 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>.  Lake Erie anglers are targeting walleye and inland lake/pond anglers are primarily pursuing largemouth bass, channel catfish and panfish. 

With the cooler weather and rain this week, more steelhead have moved into the lower portions of the Rocky River, Chagrin River and other area streams closer to Lake Erie.  Early fall steelhead are also being caught off the breakwall by E55th Marina and off the rocks at Edgewater Park, as well as Wildwood Park on Lake Erie.  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 an early steelhead trout.  These same areas are also producing some walleye after dark, as well, with Perfect 10 and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits working well.

Rock bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, crappie, freshwater drum and sunfish species can be found along the Cleveland shoreline in late summer and can be caught on offerings such as tube jigs, dropshot rigs and live bait.  White perch and yellow perch have made sporadic appearances at the shoreline at spots like E55t breakwall and Wendy Park at the old Coast Guard station.  They have been biting on bits of worms or small minnows fished on the bottom on a crappie rig.

Anglers at our inland lakes and ponds can find catfish, largemouth bass, and panfish.  Wallace Lake, Ledge Lake, Shadow Lake, and Beyer's Pond are just a few locations worth poking around in early fall.

Fall Family Fishing Fest will be held Saturday October 15.    Come out and join us for Fall Family Fishing Fest at the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation on Saturday October 15th from 10-2:00pm  This event is free and we will have a limited number of fishing poles to loan out, as well as bait.  We will be stocking 600 lbs of channel catfish and 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout at the Ohio & Erie Canal in anticipation of the event.  Although anglers of any age can participate, prizes in several categories will be reserved for kids 15 years old and under.  And all attendees will be eligible for the grand drawing of a walleye fishing trip with Captain Gary Norman and Dog Pound Charters (must be present to win).  Thank you to Ohio Division of Wildlife and Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders for supporting this great event with grant funds.  More details here:  <Fall Family Fishing Fest>.

Attention Perch Anglers!  The Ohio Division of Wildlife Can Use Your Help.  Are you a perch angler who wants to play a role in assisting biologists in better understanding Central Basin yellow perch in Lake Erie? Well, here's your chance!  The Ohio Division of Wildlife Fairport Fish Research Station is looking for filleted perch carcasses with the spine/head/tail still intact (they will be taking lengths and removing otolith bones from heads for aging) until the end of October.  The fish need to be from the Central Basin between Huron to Conneaut, not from the Western Basin.  The carcasses should be frozen and have general location and depth where caught included.  They can be dropped off at the Fairport Fish Research Station M-F between 9 and 5, or if 20 or more carcasses are available they can arrange pick up (within reason).  For Cleveland area anglers I am also able to accept carcasses to retain and deliver to the researchers (arrange details using my contact info below).  This is an ideal situation because it is making use of perch already harvested by anglers.

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 already covered.

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] .

Gary shared "Here is a photo of my daughter Amelia.  She caught her first crappie casting a hammered spoon off of the E. 55th St. breakwall on Saturday, 24th.  We used, and enjoyed, the new paved path to try the west end and fished on the lake side." (photo courtesy of Gary Kotlarsic).



Brian shared "Caught this guy on a tube jig this week in the Rocky River. Can’t wait to start getting into some steelhead!" (photo courtesy of Brian Blaine).




Pat and Kevin scored silver on the Rock on Monday on a crappie tube jig and spawn sack, respectively (photos courtesy of Pat Cramer).



Steve caught this chromer at E55th breakwall on a spoon (photo courtesy of Steve Farley).





Ashley and Chris scored an exciting steelhead doubleheader casting 2/5 oz Little Cleo spoons from the shoreline (photos courtesy of Chris Hudson).




Kumbo always knows where the steelhead hide (or try to hide) in the Rocky River (photos courtesy of Kumbo).



Jared shows off a bright early fall steelie (photo courtesy of Jared Kassouf).






A few bruisers are showing up early this year, which is a great sign of things to come!



The river temperature has been consistently below 65 deg F for almost a week now which is what we need to entice more steelhead upstream.




At Fall Family Fishing Fest on October 15 we will be offing this cool T-shirt for a recommended donation of $15 to our Youth Outdoors program. This group touches the lives of many kids from underserved communities making outdoor experiences available to them that would (in many cases) otherwise be out of their reach. The shirt was co-branded with Cleveland Fishing Co.. And it's the first shirt I've ever seen that features our beautiful, native pumpkinseed sunfish!  Also new this year any attendees 18 or older will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a full Lake Erie walleye outing thank you to the generosity of Captain Gary Norman at Dog Pound Charters (must be present to win). Gary is a big believer is making kid fishing opportunities available, especially for at risk youth.  More on the event at this link: <Fall Family Fishing Fest>