Lake Erie Region

The daily bag limit for Lake Erie yellow perch dropped from 30
to 25 fish per angler effective July 1 in waters west of the Huron
pier. The daily bag limit will remain at 30 fish per angler in Ohio
waters from Huron eastward. Any boats landing west of Huron, will
be subject to the 25-fish daily bag limit, while boats landing at
Huron or points east will be subject to a 30-fish daily bag limit.
Shore-based anglers west of the Huron pier will be subject to a
25-fish daily bag limit, while those on the pier and eastward will
remain at 30 fish daily.

Western Basin: Over the past week, walleye fishing was slow for
anglers who were casting. Trollers are still catching fish, but the
action is a little slower than past weeks. West of the islands, the
best fishing has been between West Sister Island and the turnaround
buoy of the Toledo shipping channel, between the northern cans of
the Camp Perry range and West Sister Island, and northeast of
Niagara Reef. Around the island area, Kelleys Island has been best
with most of the fish being caught from northwest or northeast of
the island. Drifting with bottom bouncers and worm harnesses or
casting mayfly rigs has been productive. Trollers have been
catching fish on spoons with divers, or worm harnesses fished with
in-line weights, snap weights, bottom bouncers, or divers. The best
spoon colors have been pinks and purples.

Yellow perch reports have been few and far between recently. Try
the green can west of Catawba, the airport reef east of Kelleys
Island, Lakeside, or Cedar Point for summer yellow perch. Perch
spreaders or crappie rigs with shiners fished near the bottom
produce the most fish.

Central Basin: Walleye fishing has been very good north of
Cranberry Creek marina in 32 feet of water, on the sandbar between
Vermilion and Lorain, northwest of the Chagrin River in 56 to 62
feet of water, northwest of Wildwood State Park in 60 to 62 feet of
water, north of Fairport Harbor in 60 to 72 feet of water,
northwest of Geneva in 60 to 72 feet of water, and northwest of
Ashtabula in 60 to 72 feet of water. Trollers are using crankbaits
or spoons and worm harnesses off Jet Divers, Dipsy Divers, planer
boards and downriggers. The best action has been 20 feet down and
the best spoon colors have been chartreuse, silver, orange, green
and pink.

Yellow perch fishing has been good northwest of Edgewater State
Park in 43 to 47 feet of water, northwest of Chagrin River in 38 to
44 feet of water, northwest of Fairport Harbor in 45 to 55 feet of
water, and north of Ashtabula in 50 to 60 feet of water. Perch
spreaders or crappie rigs with shiners fished near the bottom
produce the most fish. Fish have ranged from 7 to 12 inches.

Smallmouth bass fishing has been very good in 5 to 20 feet of
water around Cleveland, Fairport Harbor, Ashtabula and Conneaut
harbors. Fish are being caught on watermelon, pumpkinseed, and
green tube jigs.

Steelhead fishing is picking up and fish are being caught off
Chagrin River, Fairport, Geneva and Ashtabula. Anglers are catching
steelhead on spoons while trolling for walleye.

Anglers seeking panfish have experienced decent fishing at most
of the ponds and lakes in the Cleveland Metroparks District in the
past week. Crappies, bluegills and other sunfish species can be
taken with a number of offerings, but a wax worm 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, and Hinckley Lake are just a few of many
places in the park to wet a line for various panfish species.

Smallmouth bass are typically found in the deeper, rocky pools
of the river 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 about 4 inches in
length is one of the best producers of bass in the river.
“Smallies” also bite well on live bait (ie: minnow, crayfish, and
leeches), lures (ie: spinners and minnow plugs), and flies (ie:
crayfish patterns, Clouser minnows, dark brown or olive sculpin or
muddler minnow patterns). Rock bass are also present in the same
river areas as smallmouth, and can be caught using the same
offerings listed above. Good smallmouth bass fishing areas include
the Rocky and Chagrin river areas of Cleveland Metroparks.

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. Good numbers of
channel catfish can be found in deeper holes in the Rocky River as
well as at Wallace Lake and the Ohio and Erie Canal fishing area.
Catfishing is usually best during lower light conditions using
baits such as night crawlers, minnows, chicken liver and processed
dough baits.

Carp can often be caught throughout the day on such bait as
canned corn, carp dough baits, worms or crayfish tails. A growing
contingent of fly anglers looking for a challenge are targeting
carp with nymphs and crayfish imitations, as well. The key to
fishing for either carp or catfish is fishing on (or very near) the
river/lake bottom. In addition to the Rocky River , carp can also
be found in good numbers in Hinckley Lake .

Anglers out of the Emerald Necklace Marina have been catching
walleye trolling (and drifting when conditions permit) in Lake Erie
in 55-63 feet of water. Trolling Stinger spoons or crawler
harnesses behind diving planers (Dipsy and Jet divers) has been
most productive for most folks. Some good catches of yellow perch
are still coming scattered in waters from 40-50′ deep around the
crib area.

Cleveland Metroparks, www.clemetparks.com