October 31, 2024

***NOTE: The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***   The Rocky River is running low and clear with an increasing amount of fallen leaves in the water making fishing more challenging. The best steelhead fishing prospects are in the lower river closer to Lake Erie although pods of fish may be found further upstream. 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 yellow perch, and inland anglers are catching stocked rainbow trout and farm raised channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area.
 
Area rivers are exhibiting clear and low flow with an increasing amount of fallen leaves in the water making fishing challenging in many areas. The best steelhead opportunities are currently in the lower stream segments closer to Lake Erie, although there are pods of fish further upstream for anglers willing to explore. The larger Cuyahoga River also sustains a strongly flow during dry conditions and enough stray steelhead enter the river to make it a worthwhile prospect. A river hot spot has been the Rocky River boat ramps area at Scenic Park in Lakewood.  Anglers drifting smaller marabou/hair jigs tipped with a few maggots, dime size spawn sacks and egg mimicking beads under floats through the holes are connecting with some fish. Trolling spoons and medium size crankbaits (like Flicker Shad) around the river mouths has also been production, although the fallen leaves can be frustrating.
 
Along the lakefront steelhead are being caught off the rocks at Edgewater Park, E55th breakwall, and Wildwood Park. Casting a spoon (ie Little Cleo or KO Wobbler) or spinner (ie Vibrax or RoosterTail) at these locations are a good bet for connecting with an early steelhead trout. These same locations are also producing good catches of walleye after dark, with Perfect 10 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.
 
Yellow perch are being 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 may also turn up at E55th breakwall, although shore fishing for them is less predictable, and will take minnows fished on the bottom on a crappie rig. Please note that Wendy Park at the old Coast Guard station is closed for repairs and will reopen to the public in roughly August 2025.
 
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 many 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.
 
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 Benjamin’s biggest steelhead caught casting an X-Rap from the Cleveland shoreline (photo courtesy of Scott Mills).






Kylie shared regarding her successful week on the water  “Hello! Finally figured out how to submit my photos! I'm just a Florida girl living in ohio, on the hunt for big fish nightly. All of these fish were caught in the last week, starting 10/23. The large steelhead and walleye were caught same night of 10/24. They were all caught at edgewater, off the rocks. Chrome was 27.5 inches and over 6 lbs, and my first "real" steelhead ever. Walleye was 18.5 inches and my partner caught a 25 inch walleye the night before. Both my catches that night hit a large blue curly tail on a jig, with a fast steady retrieve in very shallow water (aprox 8-10ft). Partner caught his on a mepps black fury spinner. Day before that was the trophy drum (24.5 inches) and a small steelie (21.5 inches). They both hit an Erie Dearie!  've been on the hunt for a consistent walleye spot from shore and finally found it! There were also a couple largemouth pulled out LATE, past midnight. Really hoping you guys consider my pics as entries, it would make me absolutely giddy to see my pics on the site. Plus, there's rarely any women anglers that get posted, or there's just not that many women anglers in general. I'd love for my picture to get out there and encourage other women to catch some big fish.” (photos courtesy of Kylie Park).




Ryan shared “Here’s a picture of nice hen I caught just up river from the Rocky River boat docks at Emerald Necklace. It was 29.5 inches and had to be in 12lb range. Also first time trying to make poor man's caviar with these eggs/roe. love the report you produce and tight lines!” (photo courtesy of Ryan Kuczykowski).





Father and son Jason and Tobias had a successful outing with local kayak fishing guide Chuck Earls. Speaking of Chuck, he recently did a 120 Outdoors podcast full of information regarding kayak fishing on Lake Erie that can be found <here> (photos courtesy of Chuck Earls).


 
Joe from West Virginia shared that he came up to fish Lake Erie for walleye this week and next trip will be on the Rocky River for steelhead (photo courtesy of Joe Goodman).




Eric was on break from Michigan State University and caught this colorful buck steelhead in the Rocky River (photo courtesy of Eric Abramczyk).




John accomplished a very rare feat catching a coho salmon 2 days in a row on the Chagrin River (note the black pigmentation inside the mouth, a steelhead has an all white interior mouth). The second catch was ½ mile downstream of the first. He caught them on a 1/8 oz silver and red Little Cleo spoon and a 1/32 oz blue and white VooDoo jig tipped with shrimp. Do you think it was the same fish? (photos courtesy of John DiFranco).


 


Phillip and his buddy caught some nice steelhead this week (photos courtesy of Phillip Shevchenko).
 



Mike scored a fine steelhead on the lower Rocky River closer to the marina (photo courtesy of Mike Simon).



 

Rick batted 1,000 on a recent outing along the Lake Erie shoreline landing all 6 of the steelhead he hooked. He got 2 on Little Cleo spoons and 4 on jigs tipped with emerald shiner (photos courtesy of Rick Bower).



Austin scored a limit of shoreline walleye Saturday night. His lucky bait was a Strike King KVD Elite deep diving jerkbait in smelt color (photo courtesy of Austin Kraus).



Ken likes to prospect for silver on the Rocky River before heading in to work. This week is paid off with a brute (photo courtesy of Ken Harper).






Jeff and his buddy George made a nice multi-species catch out of Edgewater Park this week (photos courtesy of Jeff Deluca).




Jerry Darkes of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History Trout Club wanted to make folks aware that the International Fly Fishing Film Fest is coming up at Emerald Necklace Marina in Cleveland Metroparks on Friday November 15 as a fundraiser for their non-profit club.  More info and purchase tickets <here>. Note: not to be confused with the similar Fly fishing Film Tour in spring.




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.