November 17, 2024

***NOTE: The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***   The Rocky River is very low and clear the morning of this report but hopefully the rain throughout day will change that. Until now the best steelhead fishing prospects had been in the lower river closer to Lake Erie. 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 has been hot 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.

Based on the weather forecast today hopefully we will finally get a much needed boost in stream flow. Up until now the extended low flow conditions and abundance of fallen leaves in the water have made for challenging fishing in our streams. The best steelhead opportunities have been in the lower stream segments closer to Lake Erie, although a boost in flow will start to spread out some fish upstream too. The Rocky and Chagrin rivers have been producing steelhead and the Cuyahoga River and Euclid Creek (the latter at Wildwood Park) have also turned up some steelhead this week. 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.

The river fishing for steelhead may have been challenging this fall, but the lakefront fishing for staging steelhead waiting to run upstream has been hot. 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 (i.e. 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, 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 former 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.

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 md@clevelandmetroparks.com .

Tight Lines,

Mike

Jesse shared on Saturday “Caught today in the Cuyahoga River. Was bass fishing with jigs and and suddenly my drag started peeling. Further south than the recently removed dam near Rt 82. Would never have expected them to be this far south until today” (photo courtesy of Jesse Bacha).

Chuck and friends got a limit of jumbo yellow perch and a bonus walleye fishing out of E72nd this week and utilized the public fish cleaning station afterwards. The cleaning station closes based on the advent of winter weather, but we will try and keep iot in operation through the end of the Fall Brawl the first week of December.  Also note that the E72nd restrooms are already closed for the season (photos courtesy of Chuck Costic).