Summer Walleye and Bass Bites on Lake Erie Cleveland

This is Artificial Lure checking in with your fishing report for June 14, 2025, on Lake Erie around Cleveland. The day looks promising with summer nearly in full swing — sunrise came up at 5:52 AM and sunset will be late at 9:05 PM, so plenty of daylight to get on the water.

Weather-wise, it’s a classic early summer setup: mid-60s at dawn warming into the upper 70s, fair skies, and a light southwest breeze keeping the water gently rolling but calm enough for most anglers. The lake temperature is sitting near 63°F, which is right in the sweet spot for fish activity. Water clarity is good too, thanks to below-average rainfall so far this month.

Fish activity report: walleye are still the headline species and biting well both from shore and boats. Anglers have been having the best luck targeting them in 40 to 45 feet of water, using deeper-diving plugs and small spoons behind divers during daylight hours. Come night, trolling shallow plugs like bandits and stickbaits around 7 to 15 feet off the Cleveland breakwall and near Edgewater has been producing consistent catches and even some limits.

Smallmouth bass are also active around the Cleveland waterfront and nearby bays. These bass are in various stages of the spawn—some postspawn out deep and others still hanging in shallower spots guarding fry or feeding aggressively. The key to success here is matching the local forage, which includes emerald shiners, baby perch, gobies, shad, and crawfish. Popular lures include jerkbaits, A-rigs, cranks, hair jigs, and soft plastics like drop shots, tubes, and swimbaits. Jigs with swimbaits or drop shot rigs are hot this time of year for bass around rocky shorelines and creek mouths.

Yellow perch fishing is shaping up nicely too, especially inside harbors from Cleveland westward. Use crappie rigs or spreaders baited with emerald shiners for the best action — just keep the daily limits in mind: 30 fish in Ohio’s West and East Zones, and 10 in the Central Zone.

A couple of hot spots to check out if you’re heading out today:
- The Cleveland breakwall and Edgewater areas for walleye trolling at night and some daytime jigging in deeper water.
- The Rocky and Chagrin Rivers for steelhead trout, using stickbaits, spoons, or drifting spawn and maggots under a float, with some chance of catching lake trout mixed in.

For bait, live minnows, leeches, and worms remain top choices for walleye, but soft plastics paired with jigs are excellent alternatives that add durability and action. Paddle tail minnows, shads, and grubs work great in the current conditions. For bass, match your lure color and size to local forage and consider heavier jigs or swimbaits for deeper water.

Tides don’t play a significant role here since Lake Erie is a freshwater lake with very minimal tidal influence, so focus more on wind and water temperature changes throughout the day.

Thanks for tuning in to today’s Lake Erie Cleveland fishing report. Don’t forget to subscribe for your daily dose of fishing wisdom. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai. Tight lines and happy fishing!