December 5, 2024

***NOTE: The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***   Following our first real blast of winter milder temperatures are in the weekend forecast which will make fishing more comfortable. The Rocky River water level remains low and steelhead fishing prospects are fairly stale accordingly. 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>. The Lake Erie shoreline bite continues to be good when wave conditions allow with anglers targeting walleye and steelhead and inland anglers are catching a few rainbow trout at the Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area.
 
Weekend temperatures are looking to be milder and anglers should expect low water conditions on our streams, which has been an ongoing challenge this fall into winter. The results is more of the fish staging in the rivers closer to Lake Erie and cruising the nearby shoreline. The Rocky and Chagrin rivers have been producing steelhead and the Cuyahoga River is worth a look given the low flows overall since it has a bigger watershed and consequently more substantial base flow. Anglers drifting smaller marabou/hair jigs tipped with a few maggots, dime to nickel size spawn sacks and egg mimicking beads under floats through the holes are connecting with the most fish.
 
When wind and wave conditions permit the Lake Erie shoreline fishery has continued to produce catches. Along the lakefront steelhead can be caught off the rocks at Edgewater Park, E55th breakwall, and Wildwood Park.  Casting a spoon (i.e. Little Cleo or KO Wobbler) or spinner (i.e. Vibrax or RoosterTail) at these locations are a good bet for connecting with steelhead trout. These same locations are also producing good catches of walleye after dark, with Perfect 10, Husky Jerk and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits working well. In fact, I can’t remember a year when anglers targeting walleye along the Cleveland shoreline have caught so many steelhead incidentally, as well. Access to the Lakefront parks at Edgewater, E55th/E72nd, Wildwood and the Rocky River boat ramps are exceptions in that anglers can fish them 24 hours a day (other Cleveland Metroparks areas are closed to access from 11:00 p.m. - 6:00 a.m.). Trolling Flicker Shad and Mag Lip crankbaits and flutter spoons along the shoreline and river mouth areas is also a good bet for connecting with a bright steelhead.  
 
Yellow perch are still available to boaters near the Cuyahoga River outer lighthouse, at the east end of the outer city breakwall, and out of Rocky River and Bratenahl in 30-40 feet of water. A few perch have also turned up at E55th breakwall, although shore fishing for them is less predictable. Perch will bite minnows fished on the bottom on a crappie rig, as well as using spreaders if fishing from a boat (the color and spinner blades on the latter can trigger bites some days). Please note that Wendy Park at the former Coast Guard station is closed for repairs and will reopen to the public in roughly August 2025. The public fish cleaning station at Gordon Park is now closed for the season.
 
A modest number of rainbow trout stocked back in October are still available at Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street.  Trout bite reliably on a dime size ball of PowerBait about a foot from a sinker on the bottom, small marabou/hair jigs tipped with a few maggots about 2 feet under a small bobber and on smaller spinners. We plan to stock 500 pounds of trout at Wallace lake tomorrow (12/6) and plan to stock 3,000 lbs of trout between 5 lakes the week of December 16 (stay tuned to the fishing report for details on that).
 
Lost Fly Rod on the River. An angler reported leaving an Orvis fly rod behind under the Brookpark Road bridge on the Rocky River this past weekend. If you happened to find it (or know who did) you can coordinate returning it to the owner through me. He would be very grateful. 
 
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

Chris reports “Submitting a pic of Dawn's first walleye from shore. She has been out all week in these freezing Temps trying hard. Husky Jerk Helsinki ghost.”  (photo courtesy of Chris Furlong).


 
 
Joshua shared “Braved the cold on Black Friday and caught my first steelhead of the season tossing a silver Cleo off the lakeshore.” (photo courtesy of Joshua Stefan).




The unique catches from last week spilled into this week. Ryan was casting a Bandit crankbait for walleye along the Lake Erie shorteline when he was shocked to catch this bruiser 46” muskie (photo courtesy of Ryan Clifton).


 



Andrew has been scoring some beautiful walleye along the Cleveland shoreline after dark (photos courtesy of Andrew Smith).



 
Nick caught this colorful buck steelhead in North Chagrin Reservation (photo courtesy of Nick Kosiba).







Tyler and a buddy made this catch of walleye on Friday not far from shore off E72nd (photos courtesy of Tyler Converse).


 
 
Joe shared “Wanted to share this fish out of Rocky River from this past Sunday. Flows were so low, I didn't want to go out there but just had to satisfy the itch. Rabbit tail did the trick, probably a nice six or seven pounder. Hope that encourages others to get out there! Take care, Happy Holidays!” (photo courtesy of Joe Varcelli Jr).


 
 

Matt shared regarding his recent walleye catches from the Lake Erie shoreline “Rapala Husky Jerks 12-14 SIZE . Retrieve slower than your mind can possibly handle HaHa” (photos courtesy of Matt Arroyo).


 


 
Zach caught a surpise buck brown trout mixed in with the steelhead he has been catching fly fishing our local streams (photros courtesy of Zach Zaptocky).




I hit the river on Saturday morning and as luck would have it was rewarded with this 33” buck steelhead in the first 10 minutes.




The public fish cleaning station at Gordon Park/E72nd is now closed for the winter. Despite having an internal heater in place a frozen water line blew on a recent cold night.





Dr. Jeff Miner of Bowling Green State University is seeking the assistance of local anglers for a steelhead study.  See the information above about the project and please consider participating if you harvest steelhead of the requested size.