December 8, 2022

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is back to regular weekly Thursday updates from September-May***  Anglers on the Rocky, Chagrin and Cuyahoga rivers have been pursuing steelhead trout.  Steelhead fishing is good at this time although the low and clear conditions are calling for a finesse approach.  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, yellow perch and steelhead and anglers are targeting recently stocked rainbow trout and channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal fishing area (off E49th Street down the trail from Canalway Visitor Center).

Local streams are exhibiting low and clear conditions with steelhead concentrated in the deeper holes.  Although fish are distributed throughout the main branch of the Rocky and Chagrin rivers, given the overall lower flows this fall into winter the larger numbers of fish tend to be in the few miles of stream closer to Lake Erie. Top offerings continue to be dime size spawn sacks (hot pink, chartreuse, white, peach, and pale yellow being a few effectice colors), live minnows, 1/64  or 1/32 oz jigs (marabou and plastic tubes) tipped with maggots, and salmon egg mimmicking beads (same colors as noted with spawn sacks) drifted under floats on 6-8 lb flourocarbon leaders in the deeper areas.  Fly fishing with egg patterns and streamers has also been yielding hook-ups, as have spoons, spinners and crankbaits.  Another stray brown trout was taken in the river this week (photo below)).

As lake conditions permit steelhead are available off the breakwall at E55th Marina and off the rocks at Edgewater Park, as well as Wildwood Park.  In the colder water, baits drifted under floats, such as marabou jig tipped with a minnow or a nightcrawlers, have the edge over casting hardware.  These same areas also produce walleye after dark, with Perfect 10 and other shallow running stick-style crankbaits working well.  Walleye trolling off Cleveland is also good through the harbor freezing up.  For late season boating anglers, yellow perch are another option off the east end of the Cleveland outer breakwall, as well.  Spotty catches of perch can be made from shore at E55th breakwall and the old Coast Guard Station at Wendy Park.  Emerald shiners fished near the bottom on a crappie rig or spreader can both be effective.

In mid October Cleveland Metroparks stocked 1,000 lbs of rainbow trout and 600 lbs of channel catfish at the Ohio & Erie Canal off E49th Street and a fair number of those fish remain.  Small jigs tipped with maggots under a floar, a ball of dime sized PowerBait dough fished near the bottom, and small spinners are among the more popular options for catching trout.  The first winter stocking of trout in Cleveland Metroparks lakes and ponds is scheduled for sometime in mid December (stay tuned to this report for developments on that).

New Paperless Launch Ramp Payment Process.  There are a few changes boating anglers should be made aware of.  Launch fees are required for the duration of the boating season.  Lots of our late season boaters are walleye tournament anglers from outside our service area so it only seemed fair to our locals.  Also, we have gone paperless for the daily launch fee process using the ParkMobile system.  Signs outlining payment options are clearly posted throughout the parking areas at Edgewater, Emerald Necklace Marina, E72nd/Gordon Park and Wildwood parks.  For daily launch the fee is only for the site where paid (cannot be transferred to different launches).  Payment can be made via ParkMobile app, by scanning a QR code on the sign or by texting a number provided.  For those without a smart phone there is a phone number for payment provided.  Proof of purchase of daily fees can still be credited towards an annual tag but only if the tag is purchased in person at a Metroparks marina during the season these facilities are open (cannot be credited towards online purchase of the annual tag).  The easiest and most streamlined option for boaters planning to use the ramps more than a few times is to just purchase the annual tag at the beginning of the season.  Launch fees only apply to motorized and trailered craft and folks not trailering a boat can still use the parking lots with no fee required.

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 .

AJ caught his 20th steelhead at E55th breakwall this season on Tuesday.  He was using his "secret" jig/fly tipped with a minnow (photo courtesy of AJ Woolen).




Karl and a buddy had a great outing for walleye at E55th breakwall after dark, topped by his 9.2 lb trophy.  Check out Karl's YouTube fishing videos at ths <link> (photos courtesy of Karl Wolf).





Bobby shared on Monday "This morning on Rocky river I fished the same deep slow flowing pool as last week, slow drifting 1/32oz black w/red collar jig tipped w/wax worms, and twitching the jig under the float (gently short snap rod tip just enough to make float dance). All fish hooked twitching. All fish were released." (photos courtesy of Bobby Allison).



Dale shows off a pair of steelhead he caught recently (photo courtesy of Dale).




Bo has the steelhead dialed in at the Rocky River Marina (photos courtesy of david "Bo" Bowser).




Kumbo has been doing well using small tube jigs under a float on the Rocky, and even scored a bonus brown trout this week (phoyo courtesy of Kumbo Leng).



Maura displays a nice largemouth bass that we turned up during a carp removal project this week.




Owen Lockhart, who manages the biology lab at CWRU, displays a big sea lamprey we pulled off of a steelhead of the same length! It is now a specimen in the university collection.





Our Wendy Park Interpretive Signs Installation was awarded first place for a National Interpretive Media Award which was announced at last week's National Conference for the National Association of Interpretation (NAI). In addition to having two sides each with approximately life size cut outs of the adult version of each of the 27 species we included, there are side bars with information about how and where to catch them and QR codes with each fish that either go to an info video or an info page with more information.  The project was the result of teaming up of Cleveland Metroparks Visual Communications and Natural Resources divisions.