August 2022

As we move into late summer, highlight species targeted around Cleveland Metroparks include walleye, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, panfish, channel catfish, and common carp. 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>.  Please note: the Fishing Blog is updated once a month in June, July, and August and back to weekly in September.  

Summer means family fishing time for many folks, and panfish fit the bill perfectly for a leisurely picnic and fishing outing.  Bluegill, crappie, pumpkinseed and other sunfish species can be taken with a number of offerings, but a waxworm or redworm on a small hook (or tiny jig) suspended under a stick float and fished around a weedbed or shoreline brush is always a good choice.  Wallace Lake, Shadow Lake, Strawberry Pond and Lakefront Reservation are just a few of many places in the parks to wet a line for various panfish species.  Early mornings and dusk are typically better times to fish during the heat of summer.  Largemouth bass fishing is often best in Wallace and Hinckley lakes, as well at in Lake Erie harbors.

Smallmouth bass are typically found in the deeper, rocky pools of the Rocky and Chagrin rivers during the day in summer, and often move to the heads of such pools in the early morning and evening hours to feed actively.  A dark olive or brown tube jig of 3-4" length, other lures/fliesd that imitate minnows or crayfish, and live bait are all offerings that can catch smallmouth.  Rock bass are also present in the same river areas as smallmouth, and can be caught using the same offerings.

Channel catfish and large carp are also present in some of these same areas in the river, and fishing for them can be a laid back and relaxing way to enjoy some time on the water.  On June 24th, a total of 1,600 lbs of farm raised channel catfish were stocked between Shadow Lake (500 lbs), Ledge Lake (300 lbs), Strawberry Pond (300 lbs), Oxbow Lagoon (300 lbs) and Ranger Lake (200lbs).  Channel catfish stocked in late May also remain to be caught at Wallace Lake and the Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area.  Catfishing is usually best during lower light conditions using baits such as nightcrawlers, minnows, chicken liver, and processed dough baits.  Resident channel catfish are available in the Rocky, Cuyahoga and Chagrin rivers all summer.

Carp can be found throughout local rivers in summer, as well.  Carp can often be caught throughout the day on such bait as canned corn, carp dough baits, worms or crayfish tails.  The key to fishing for either carp or catfish is fishing on (or very near) the river/lake bottom.  In addition, freshwater drum (sheepshead), white perch, and bullhead catfish are also abundant in the northern river reaches (north of Morley Ford) in summer.  For the angling generalist, any of the species thus far can be effectively targeted by fishing a nightcrawler worm right on the river bottom with a sinker.

Anglers heading north of Cleveland on Lake Erie in 55-70 feet of water are catching walleye trolling crankbaits, spoons, and crawler harnesses.  Once a good school of fish is located is casting and slowly retrieving a weight forward spinner like an Erie Dearie tipped with a whole or half nightcrawler can also be effective.  Smaller walleye are being caught and anglers are sorting through sub-legal fish, at times, to find larger walleye.  Additionally, diverse fishing opportunities including (but not limited to) rock bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white bass, catfish, freshwater drum and sunfish species can be found along the Cleveland shoreline of Lake Erie and bite on offerings such as tube jigs and live minnows.

Photo Release Waivers for Fishing Blog Photos (fast and easy to complete online).  Photo release waivers for photos sent in for the fishing report can easily be completed online through Smart Waiver (takes only about 30 seconds to complete) at the following link: <Smart Waiver link>. You only need to do this one time and any future additional photos submitted are already covered.

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 .

Matt shared "I have been sromping around the Rocky waters for over 40 yrs and it is my favorite place, pretty much in the world.  So my son is 8 - his name is Declan and he just nailed his largest Smallie and fish for that matter, to date. I push conservation and stewardship hard with both my kids and we always try to take trash out with us. Thanks again for doing what you do. Hope to see you on the river again soon." (photo courtesy of Matt Clark).







Amiy shared "Hope you are doing well!  I am a resident of Lakewood, Ohio and have been fishing the Rocky river for 5 years now.  I always read the Rocky River Fishing report and this year I wanted to see if I could post my own pictures, since I'm having good luck with catching Smallmouth Bass and some other species as well!" (photos courtesy of Amiy Jha).





The Persinger family had a fun day of fishing at Wendy Park on Lake Erie (photos courtesy of denise Persinger).





Tim shared "Took the boys out of E 72nd street on Friday to see if we could scratch up some fish around the breakwalls.  We got into sheepsheads so much that the boys had them on at the same time twice in the first few minutes.  Didn’t seem to matter what we threw, there’d be a sheepshead on the other end.  It was good fast action for the boys and as a topper I got a 34” beast.  It looked like it swallowed a basketball!  Hope all is well with you!" (photos courtesy of Tim Fischer).






Alan and his wife have been catching the fixins for some summer fish fries at E55th breakwall (photos courtesy of Alan tomko).



Bill shared "31 inch walleye. I caught him today in 53 foot of water-10 miles straight out from downtown Cleveland from Edgewater Park." (photo courtesy of Bill Rogers).




Kim made some tasty catches from Lake Erie off Cleveland recently (photos courtesy of Kim Hefner).



Dan shared "Got this nice 25 inch steelie on a Dipsey Diver and spoon while trolling off Gordon Park and limited with 12 walleye" (photo courtesy of Dan Kubicek).



Jerry shared "Took my neighbor off Edgewater.  We kept a limit of walleye and he got this beast- 34" 20-25 lbs Channel catfish. Released. All casting sprinners and crawlers." (photo courtesy of Jerry Darkes).







Carl and friends have been enjoying the summer bounty of Lake Erie (photos courtesy of Carl Schweisthal).



Matt caught a bunch of white bass from his kayak just west of the Rocky River, but this trophy fish was by far his largest (photo courtesy of Matt Gunn).















Cleveland Metroparks Youth Outdoors and summer camp programs have been introducing lots of kids to the joys of fishing this summer.



Kali shows off a longnose gar collected in the Rocky River by the marina.  These fish are living fossils, a lineage of fish dating back to the Jurrassic period when dinosaurs roamed the earth 160 million years ago!