May 8, 2025

Cleveland Metroparks would like your feedback on potential fishing t-shirt designs that are coming soon to Nature Shops near you. This survey is estimated to take less than 5 minutes. Thank you for your time!

Complete Survey

***NOTE: The Fishing Report Blog is updated weekly on Thursdays from September-May***  The Rocky river and other area streams have a muddy stain from recent rain but should be offering decent fishing conditions this weekend. To monitor the most recent river water level and temperature you can check the following link: <Rocky River Main Branch flow gage data> <Rocky River East Branch flow gage data> <Chagrin River flow gage data> <Rocky River NEORSD station with turbidity>. (Note: The flow gage on the Rocky River Main Branch is unavailable due to an upcoming bridge project but the East Branch flow data above will still give anglers a good idea of the trend in river flow). Anglers are pursuing a variety of species along the lakefront, including walleye and smallmouth bass, as well as rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River and Wallace and Shadow lakes.

The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are have a muddy stain but based on the forecast should be offering decent fishing conditions this weekend. The excellent lake-run smallmouth bass fishing continues to be the highlight opportunity. Smallmouth bite medium size minnow or shad crankbaits, spinners, tube jigs (3” olive colored is great), and Ned rigs, as well as streamer flies that mimic a minnow or goby. There are still a few steelhead around, although that is tapering off quickly. 

Throughout spring we stocked 2,700 lbs of rainbow trout in the East Branch Rocky River. Fish have been released at the parking area off the parkway just north of Rt 82/Royalton road, as well as off the bridges to the Strongsville Wildlife Area and The Chalet, at Bonnie Park, at the covered bridge, and at the low ford that crosses the river just south of Wallace Lake. The trout are well dispersed throughout the stocking zone at this time so don’t feel the need to stick to the more heavily fished stocking locations.  This concludes spring trout stocking in the river.

A good number of trout are still available at Wallace Lake and back in mid March the Ohio Division of Wildlife stocked just over 1,000 rainbow trout in Shadow Lake. Small to medium size spoons and spinners, a dime size ball of PowerBait on a bare hook and fished about 18” from a sinker on the bottom, and small jigs tipped with a few maggots or a waxworm below a float/bobber are just a few proven offerings for stocked trout. To clarify trout limit by location (all trout species combined), the daily limit is 3 trout at Wallace, Ranger, Ledge and Judge’s lakes. The daily limit is 5 trout at Shadow Lake and Ohio & Erie Canal. For steelhead/rainbow trout in the rivers, harbors and Lake Erie this time of year the daily limit is 2 with minimum size of 12”.

In spring there are a variety of fishing opportunities along the Cleveland shoreline.  Post-spawn walleye fishing after dark has been slow overall but persistent anglers are hooking into a few fish. Casting larger Perfect 10 or Husky Jerk shallow diving stickbaits are a good option. Largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike, rock bass, steelhead, yellow perch, and sunfish can all be found in area harbors and breakwalls. The courtesy docks have been installed at both E72nd/Gordon Park and Edgewater public launch ramps for the convenience of early season boaters. Additionally the dock at Emerald necklace ramps on the Rocky River was installed and the E72nd fish cleaning station was re-opened this week.

Children’s Spring Fishing Derbies are coming May 17 & 18.  Our Cleveland Metroparks Spring Chidren’s Fishing Derbies are a multi-generation old tradition and will be held at Wallace Lake on Saturday, May 17 and Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation on Sunday, May 18.  More info on the events <here>. 

Castapalooza is Back. Castapalooza is a free event that is open to the public that will be held on May 10 from 9:00am-4:00pm at Helen Hazen Wyman Park in Painesville. Castapalooza is an event focused on fly casting and fly tying and this year the emphasis is on single-hand casting for beginners and a review of the various FFI certification levels. Advanced techniques and two-hand casting will be presented late in the afternoon. Fly tying will be ongoing. The event is presented by FFI Ohio Council, North Coast Fly Fishers, CMNH Trout Club and Cleveland Anglers.

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 [email protected] .

Tight Lines,

Mike

Brent shared from Wallace Lake “Put a small olive nymph on under a float and was NOT disappointed. He was revived and safely released.” (photos courtesy of Brent ONeill).

Vinny and Luke scored some fine Rocky River bronzebacks (photos courtesy of Brian DiGioia).

Ryan and a buddy scored some beautiful walleye off Cleveland (photos courtesy of Brian Lester).

Kylie shared the following story regarding her monster steelhead catch “This week has been rough in the walleye competition. We're almost halfway through, and it is still brutally slow. The fishing gods said ok, you've been out every night, I still have no eyes for you, but here's this-- a fresh buck, over 30 inches and 9lbs, 10 oz. I was by myself, and netting such a massive fish alone is still a very big challenge. Took me well over 15, maybe 20 tries on my knees, net in one hand and pole in the other. He would dart under the dock, and I would have to lift his big heavy butt back out, set the net down, gain back line, pick the net back up. It took soooo long. Having the experience keeping my head cool fighting a fish of this caliber really, really came in handy. I even successfully netted twice, only for him to jump and thrash so hard in the net that I could not lift him with one arm, and he flipped back out!! I thought for sure I would lose this fish so many times. On the third successful swoop I quickly held the net handle down with my elbow, set the rod down, and grabbed it with both hands, and was finally able to gain control and lift him over the side of the dock.  Just wow. Still marveling at the size of his head!!! Hope yall enjoy, and tight lines!!” (photos courtesy of Kylie Kwon).

Brian notes that fishing for post-spawn walleye along the lakefront has been relatively slow, but he grinded out a few this week.  These are 4 different fish (photos courtesy of Brian Kich).

DeAngelo had a great day at E55th yesterday catching a nice northern pike as well as a chunky smallmouth bass (photos courtesy of DeAngelo Williams).

A few happy scenes from a Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Cleveland fishing outing on Saturday. Dennis Knowles from The Fishing Foundation (in red in first photo) was also on hand to assist and pass out free fishing rods and copies of his book on fishing basics to attendees.

There are still trout available in Wallace Lake, including a few brook trout that were stocked months ago!

#25-001 Jeff Liskay, Great Lakes Flyfishing LLC, [email protected] (440) 781-7536

#25-002 Gareth Thomas, Alley Grabs Guide Service, [email protected] (216) 235-5056

#25-003 Jim Lingenfelter, Wild Ohio Outdoors Guide Service, [email protected], (440) 731-9160

#25-004 Monte Casey, Steelhead Guide, (440) 773-8064 www.steelheadguide.com

#25-005 Nicholas DelVecchio, Wildwood Outfitters, [email protected] (724) 433-2315

#25-006 Lucas Smith, What That Vise Do LLC, [email protected] (724) 841-1564

#25-007 Nate Miller, Steelhead Alley Outfitters, www.steelheadalleyoutfitters.com (440) 796-6105