May 11, 2023

***NOTE:  The Fishing Report Blog is updated weekly on Thursdays from September-May and monthly from June-August***   The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering very good fishing conditions for smallmouth bass and a variety of other species.  Rain is in the forecast on Friday, though, so anglers would be wise to monitor the trend in river level at the following links: <Rocky River flow gauge data><Chagrin River flow gauge data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>.  

The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are offering very good fishing conditions at this time but rain is in the forecast for Friday so anglers should check the trend in flow at the links above before heading out on a trip to the river.  Lake-run smallmouth bass are going strong this week in the Rocky and Chagrin rivers on their spawning run.  Smallmouth bass will strike artificial lures similar to steelhead- such as medium size crankbaits, spinners, tube jigs (dark brown and olive are good) as well as marabou jigs under floats and streamer flies that imitate gobies, minnows and crayfish.  Lake-run "smallies" are typically available in the streams until early June.  This time of year offers a great opportunity to score the "silver and bronze", which is catching a steelhead and lake-run smallmouth bass in the same day, often from the same pool on the same offering. 

The East Branch Rocky River between Royalton Road and the ford (river crossing) about a mile south of Wallace Lake has been stocked with 2,700 lbs of rainbow trout since March 21 (spring river stocking is now complete).  Several easy access locations were stocked along the river and include the parking area on the north side of Royalton Road (Rt 82) along the river, off the low bridges to the Strongsville Wildlife Area and the Chalet, at the Whitney Road covered bridge, and off the ford south of Wallace Lake.  The trout average a little over a pound each and they bite well on a variety of offerings, including dime size balls of colorful PowerBait dough, small jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm, single salmon eggs or small spawn sacks, a few kernals of canned corn on hook, and small spinners.  Bait should be drifted close to the bottom or held down in place with a small sinker.
 
On March 31 Wallace Lake was stocked with 900 lbs of rainbow trout and a fair number of trout remain from earlier stockings at Shadow and Ledge lakes, as well. The majority of the fish are 1 lb rainbow trout, with some golden rainbow, brown, brook, and tiger trout were mixed in.  Note: the daily limit in the river is 2 trout/angler of minimum size 12”.  At Wallace, Ledge, Ranger and Judge's lakes daily limit is 3 trout/angler and the limit at Shadow Lake and the Ohio & Erie Canal is 5 trout/angler.  
 
The Cleveland shoreline of Lake Erie bite has been good for walleye anglers casting shallow running stickbaits from shore after dark, as well as boating anglers. Harbors, such as Edgewater, Wildwood and E72nd boat ramp areas are offering mixed catch opportunities for largemouth bass, rock bass, northern pike, yellow perch and sunfish species. This time of year the breakwall area at E55th traditionally offers opportunities to catch yellow perch or white perch using minnows or bits of worms on crappie spreaders on the bottom.
 
Orvis Giveback Days Partnership .  For the second year in a row we are excited to partner with Orvis for their Giveback Days program to raise awareness and donations for our Fishing Fund. If you make a donation of $10 or more during the month of May to our Fishing Fund you will receive a onetime use savings card that you can use at either Orvis Cleveland in Woodmere or Orvis Westlake in Crocker Park.  Please consider supporting those who support local public fishing! You can donate in store for this promotion or online through the Cleveland Metroparks website here:  <Orvis Giveback Days Partnership>.
 
Children’s Spring Fishing Derbies are coming May 20 & 21.  Our Cleveland Metroparks Spring Chidren’s Fishing Derbies are a multi-generation old tradition and will be held at Wallace Lake on Saturday May 20 and Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation on Sunday May 21.  More info on the events <here>.

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 .

Tight Lines,
Mike

Ary caught a rainbow trout at Wallace lake over this past weekend (photo courtesy of Phi Nguyen).



Christian scored bronze on the Rocky River on Tuesday using a slow sinking silver and green Shad Rap (photo courtesy of Christian Pfeiffer).




Chris shared from the Rocky on Tuesday “Landed this football shaped 3-4 pounder on a fly rod while fishing in the shallows under a tree. I saw it chasing off a threesome of long nose gar. I go back 2 the same area 1 hours later (had to pick up my kid)  and ended up hooking one of the gar. While fighting it another gar got in the mix and tangled. I wasn’t able to land it but i got up close and personal to the wildest sequence on the River I had ever seen. Hope I get lucky enough to do it again!



Drew caught this trophy walleye along the Cleveland shoreline of Lake Erie after dark (photo courtesy of Drew Davis).








Igor shared from Oxbow Lagoon this week “Hooked into a few largemouth over the two days, with the biggest one being about 14.5" (the fish pictured with my spinning rod). Caught a few on a little tungsten finesse jig (PB&J is the color I think - basically a craw color with a bit of purple on it), and the rest on a Z-Man Shroomz jighead with a Z-Man TRD Hogz creature bait (shown in the one photo) - love using the Z-Man plastics for finesse fishing because they float (or stand up) and the subtle movements seemed to trigger the bass into biting. Hooked into a larger bass - probably 16-18" but the wire weed-guards on the jighead probably messed up the hookset and it spit the hook. They seem to be guarding beds now (though I saw some cruising around the shallows), so I don't think the one I lost fully took the bait into its mouth. All of the fish were quickly photographed and released.“ (photos courtesy of Igor Balaban).



Ted caught this yellow bullhead, which is huge for this smaller catfish species (photo courtesy of Ted Choukalas).




John has the Rocky River smallmouth bass dialed in! (photos courtesy of John Zupan).





Steve had another great week targeting Cleveland harbor largemouth bass (photos courtesy of Steve Farley).



For the second year in a row we are excited to partner with Orvis for their Giveback Days program to raise awareness and donations for our Fishing Fund. If you make a donation of $10 or more during the month of May to our Fishing Fund you will receive a onetime use savings card that you can use at either Orvis Cleveland in Woodmere or Orvis Westlake in Crocker Park.  Please consider supporting those who support local public fishing! You can donate in store for this promotion or online through the Cleveland Metroparks website here: <Orvis Giveback Days Partnership>.