November 28, 2024

***NOTE: The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***   The Rocky River got a modest (and much needed) bump in flow this week and steelhead fishing prospects are improved 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 recently stocked rainbow trout and farm raised channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area.
 
The rain we received over the past week resulted in a much needed bump in flow in local streams and steelhead fishing prospects are improved accordingly. The big stream-run trout are beginning to spread out into our watersheds, alleviating crowds a bit in the sections closest to Lake Erie where they had been most concentrated.  The Rocky and Chagrin rivers have been producing steelhead and the Cuyahoga River and Euclid Creek can be worth a look, as well. 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. We do appears to have some sub-freezing temperatures on the way but the rivers look like they will be ice free until at least the weekend.
 
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 (ie 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. 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.
 
Good catches of yellow perch continue to be caught by 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 foremer Coast Guard station is closed for repairs and will reopen to the public in roughly August 2025. The fish cleaning station at the E72nd boat launch area is still open and will remain so until the advent of winter weather (we will try to keep it in operational through the end of the Fall Brawl in early December).
 
On October 10, we stocked 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 741 lbs of channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street for Fall Family Fishing Fest and a good number of those fish remain to be caught. The trout average 1.5 lbs each and the catfish average 2-3 lbs, but we included a handful of bigger fish and a few golden rainbow trout to keep things interesting. Trout bite good 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. Either species can be caught on a piece of nightcrawler or shrimp fished on the canal bottom. We plan to conduct our first winter stocking of rainbow trout at Wallace Lake around the end of the first week of December (about a week earlier than usual) and folks can stay tuned to this fishing report for updates on that.
 
Interesting Recent Fish Catches. As a holiday of thankful reflection approaches a handful of anglers are extra grateful for the unique diversity our local fishery provides. Over the past two weeks a number of locally unusual and even rare fish have been caught by local anglers- most being incidental catches while targeting steelhead in our streams. Folks who follow this report have likely noticed a coho salmon and a king salmon caught in the Chagrin and Rocky rivers, respectively, from the past two reports. This week an Atlantic salmon and brown trout were caught in the same Metroparks creek on the east side, and an angler targeting yellow perch out of E72nd caught a burbot, which is a native freshwater cod from Lake Erie! The unusual catches even caught the attention od WEWS Channel 5 News which did a story on some of the surprise recent catches:  <Unusual Fish Catches>.
 
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

Congratulations to Nicholas who shared “Caught my first steelhead from the rocky on a Joe flies inline spinner Friday” (photo courtesy of Nicholas Markin).


 

Derrick Young was among a small handful of anglers braving the cold north wind and waves at E55th breakwall on Tuesday morning- but in his case it was well worth it. He reports they have been catching some jumbo yellow perch fishing emerald shiners on the bottom on crappie rigs. He even caught a bonus walleye!






Moe and 3 buddies had a great day of perch fishing out of E72nd boat launch over the weekend. They scored a 4 person limit of big yellow perch as well as two bonus trophy white bass and his one friend even caught a rare burbot! Burbot are a freshwater cod and are officially listed as a Species of Concern in Ohio where they are native to Lake Erie. For folks interested in learning more about this quirky species here’s a story I was involved with a few years back: <Lake Erie burbot> (photos courtesy of Moe Odetallah).



 


Kevin was another angler who made a very rare local catch this week. He caught an Atlantic salmon while targeting steelhead in a smaller Cleveland Metroparks creek. The wayward fish was undoubtedly a plant from Michigan as there is a stocking program for the species in Lake Huron. WEWS channel 5 did a <story> this week highlighting the unusual fish catches (photos courtesy of Kevin Bjerre).



 
Tristan also made a locally unusual catch this week - a brown trout from the same creek the Atlantic salmon was caught from (photo courtesy of Tristan Reynolds).




Nick scored this beautiful buck steelhead in Euclid Creek - which also happened to be his first fly rod caught fish (photo courtesy of Nick Kosiba).


 





Wes and a buddy took full advantage of the late fall boating opportunities and bagged a two person limit of yellow perch punctuated by a bonus steelhead and channel catfish (photos courtesy of Wes Janke).





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.