November 25, 2020

In autumn the steelhead trout are the highlight species targeted by anglers along the Rocky River and other area streams. The Rocky River and other area streams are in good shape right at the moment but rain today could make conditions muddy.  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 primarily targeting steelhead and walleye along the shoreline and Wallace Lake was recently stocked with trout.

The Rocky River and other area streams are in good shape at the moment, but rain today could begin to muddy the water.  I'd advise anglers to keep an eye on the flow gage data to determine the trend in flow. The number of emerald shiners and small gizzard shad in the marina area has subsided a bit recently, and steelhead there are noticing baits again in the crowd of forage and the bite has picked up.  There have been reports of steelhead in deeper holes all throughout the Main Branch of the river and beyond.  With the clear water, downsizing to smaller dime size spawn bags, salmon egg mimicking beads, small (1/32-1/64 oz) jigs tipped with maggots or live minnows under a float will gain the edge.

Steelhead can be found at Cleveland Lakefront off the rocks at Edgewater and breakwall/rocks at E55th/E72nd areas, the pier at Wildwood Park and Wendy Park at the old Coast Guard station.  An abundance of baitfish has been hampering the bite in these areas at times.  Casting a spoon (ie 2/5 oz Little Cleo or KO Wobbler) or spinner (ie 1/8 oz Vibrax or RoosterTail), or drifting a 1/32 or 1/64 oz marabou jig tipped with a waxworm or a few maggots under a float at these locations are a good bet for connecting with a steelhead trout.  These lakefront areas have proved tougher than usual to catch walleye from shore after dark, with an abundance of forage and larger schools of walleye still hanging out in deeper water a few miles off shore the likely culprits.  Walleye anglers typically do best casting Perfect 10 and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits and lipless rattle baits.  For the convenience of anglers a commercial grade fish cleaning station was recently installed at Gordon Park (E72nd) boat ramp area.

Anglers are catching yellow perch along the Cleveland shoreline with boating anglers target around the east end of the city breakwall, Cuyahoga River lighthouse in about 36 foot of water, as well as off Lakewood in 28-32 feet of water and off Bratenahl, using emerald shiners on crappie rigs or spreaders on the bottom.  Anglers were even making some catches, at times, from shore at the E55th north facing breakwall.  It's been a few years since we've seen good numbers of this culinary favorite of local anglers off Cleveland- so get out and enjoy the good fortune while it lasts! 

At the end of October we released 500 lbs out mixed trout at Wallace Lake (these fish were delayed from stockings in May due to COVID).  Most of the fish were rainbow trout averaging a pound, but quite a few trophy rainbows, brook, brown and golden rainbow trout were in the bunch (see photos below).  In addition, in early October we stocked 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 600 lbs of channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street.  Note: the daily limit at Wallace Lake is 3 trout/angler and the limit at the canal is 5 trout/angler.  The trout bite well on a hook filled with kernals canned corn, colorful dime size balls of power Bait dough, and smaller spinners.  If you are interested in catching either species you can try a nightcrawler worm or piece of shrimp fished on the canal bottom.

Photo Release Waivers are now Required for Fishing Blog Photos (and are fast and easy to complete online).  Photo release waivers are now required for any fishing blog photos where individuals are identifiable.  The good news is it only has to be done one time per person (and then it's good for any subsequent photos) and there's a super easy and secure online form to do it through Smart Waiver that takes only about 30 seconds to complete.  So please use this link to complete the waiver if you send in any images for there report: <Smart Waiver link>.  Sorry for the slight inconvenience and THANK YOU for all who have contributed in the past to make this report a fun and personal offering!

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

 

Cheyanne caught this 5.3 lb steelhead on Monday (photo courtesy of Chetanne Cooper).



Congratulations to Macklin on catching and releasing this fine steelhead specimen from his jet ski along the CLE lakefront (photo courtest of Mark Pinchot).



Ray caught this colorful bruiser buck steelhead.  People sometime mistake a darker male steelhead with a hooked jaw as a salmon- in fact I am asked enough that I was prompted to mention it here (photo courtesy of Ray Porter).




Tony shows off another steelhead from this week exhibiting some nice colors.  The closer a steelhead is to spawning season/longer it is in the river the more they tend to take on the traditional rainbow trout colors (photos courtesy of Tony Cilluffo).




Last week Ephrain bested his dad David's steelhead by a bit, but this week dad came back with a vengeance and clearly got the bigger Rocky River steelhead! (photos courtesy of Ephraim Bowser).



Luther braved the rain and was rewarded with a steelhead at the Rocky River marina on Sunday (photo courtesy of Luther Williams).



Mark went 4 for 6 on Monday, including this chromer (photo courtesy of Mark Warren).



Fred caught a colorful buck on the East Branch Rocky River (photo courtesy of Fred Mieser).







Elizabeth and I caught these Lake Erie lake trout yesterday.  Lake trout are among the only salmonid (salmon/trout/char) species native to Lake Erie.  They were decimated by non-native parasitic sea lamprey, but as sea lamprey numbers are supressed and Ohio and New York stock modest numbers in the lake they are doing much better.