Cleveland Fishing Report: Smallies, Walleye, Trout and More Around the Waterfront

This is Artificial Lure with your Lake Erie Cleveland fishing report for Friday, May 30, 2025. Here’s everything you need to get tight lines today around the Cleveland waterfront and nearby rivers.

Sunrise hit at 5:56 a.m. this morning, with sunset coming up at 8:50 p.m. Weather’s unsettled: we’ve got cloudy skies, temperatures in the upper 60s by midday, and a stiff northeast breeze in the forecast, which is expected to stir up the lake a bit. According to the FishUSA staff and Cleveland Metroparks, recent rains have kept rivers up, but conditions are fishable right now and you’ll want to keep an eye on water clarity if you’re heading out after any more downpours.

Lake Erie’s steady spring bite continues to impress. Anglers are loading up on smallmouth bass along the city’s breakwalls, harbor mouths, and river mouths—think Edgewater Park, the E. 72nd St. launch, and the mouth of the Rocky and Chagrin rivers. This week, the smallie action has been hot on minnow or shad crankbaits, olive tube jigs, Ned rigs, and flashy streamer flies that look like a goby or shiner. For bait, live shiners and crayfish are especially deadly right now, with some anglers reporting “one-after-another” bass off rocky points and drop-offs.

Walleye are picking up as well, especially at night. Most are pulling in 2-3 pounders, though a few have gone 4-6 pounds in these past few days, according to Net Dreams Fishing and Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The best bite is happening after sunset in 10-15 feet of water near shoreline structure—trolling shallow stickbaits like Bandits in white, purple, or perch patterns is producing. During daylight, try jigging or dragging crawler harnesses in 17-24 feet. Adjust your lure color based on water clarity: green/white and green/pink for clear water, gold and orange when things get churned up.

Don’t overlook the farm-raised catfish and recently stocked rainbow trout in local lakes—Wallace and Shadow lakes got fresh shipments earlier this month, and they’re biting well on nightcrawlers, raw shrimp, or gizzard shad. And if you’re feeling ambitious, there’s still a shot at a few late steelhead, but that run’s pretty much wrapped up.

Yellow perch are steady but spotty right now—more action on the west side of the lake, but if you’re out east of Cleveland, remember the new daily limit is 20 fish in the east zone.

Hot spots for this weekend: E. 72nd St. Marina for big smallmouth, Edgewater Park breakwalls at dusk for walleye, and Bay Village boat ramps for quick lake access. In the river, the Rocky remains a top spot for “silver and bronze”—that rare double of steelhead and smallmouth in a single outing.

That’s your Lake Erie Cleveland fishing report for today. Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe for daily updates and local tips. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.