# Anyone fish Gorge park in Akron



## junkyardbass (Mar 19, 2006)

I just started working in Akron and noticed it on a map. Can you fish there? If so anyone do any good there and if so what type of fish can be caught. Just looking for a place close to work to maybe run to on lunch or before or after work for an hour or two.


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## schwing343 (Apr 11, 2006)

ive been fishing there for since i was 13, usually catch small smallies, the occasional LM. u gotta watch out cuz the fat a$$ park rangers sometimes will roll down the hill and kick ya out. good luck man


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## legendaryyaj (Nov 1, 2005)

The Gorge is awaste of time if you ask me. You arent allowed to fish anywhere but off of their little deck that they built. Its pretty much useless.

You can try to fish elsewhere but you arent allowed. I had a ranger tell me once that the only spot allowed was their deck.

If you want, you can try the Hoga over by Front St. and Second St. WaterWorks isnt too far from there either.


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## MSmith2004 (Sep 12, 2006)

Ya you can only fish from the dock. You aren't allowed off the paths in the park. I have tried there 3 or 4 times but have been skunked every time.


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## Deerehunter03 (Sep 7, 2006)

schwing343 said:


> u gotta watch out cuz the fat a$$ park rangers sometimes will roll down the hill and kick ya out. good luck man


All they are doing is there job I work for the parks system and know all the rangers and tourny fish with 10 of them. I cant count the amount of times I have heard over the radio that some fisherman had fallen and is hurt trying to fish where they arn't allowed to be. be happy they could have given you a ticket.


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## schwing343 (Apr 11, 2006)

im sorry there guy. if they dont want anyone down there, they should really put NO FISHING signs there. there isnt anything saying no trespassing or anything, so hey whatever.


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## homeworker (Oct 3, 2005)

Git real...there are "No Fishing" signs regularly spaced down both the Akron and Falls sides all the way to the dam.Unfortunately those that choose to ignore them anyway are usually too busy litering too to notice them...
Nice to see they've recently begun handing out more tickets for such behavior.


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## Cheesehead Cory (May 16, 2004)

It's just hearsay, so take it for what it's worth, but I talked to a couple guys fishing under the bridge. They said they fish there all the time, and sometimes the ranger stops by to see how they're doing, but never shoed them away. Looked like they were either carping or catting.

Others, including myself have put in a kayak/canoe/jonboat from that same spot, just park across the street. In the Gorge, I have caught pike, smallies, largemouth, white perch, yellow perch, crappie, bluegill and sunfish.


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## schwing343 (Apr 11, 2006)

ive been going down there for 10 years, only been stopped ONCE. there isnt 1 NO FISHING sign down there. i dont litter, all i do is fish and leave. i dont know who the he(( u are telling me i am the one littering, i dont know where u go fishing but where i go, there are no signs. from all the trash i see down there, looks like the rangers arent doing there jobs stopping people. people even climb down the wall on the falls side right next to the observation deck and noone ever says a dam thing. so hey whatever man


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## Deerehunter03 (Sep 7, 2006)

do you realize that the rangers have to cover 5 other parks including that one. heres an this is what i have always said about littering "you had room to bring it in, you have room to take it out"


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## homeworker (Oct 3, 2005)

well said;and I still don't see how anyone cannot see the "no fishing" signage(as well as "no trespassing and "stay off the banks")unless they simply wish to not see it...
Cory,
About the bridge, it depends on what side you're on-Akron side is ok(as long as you don't wander onto Metro shorelines)as it is Ohio Edison property,Falls side is off limits and we've seen more than a few tickets distributed over there(according to Falls news,about a fifty buck average) and one truck towed from lot you referred to, owned by a guy fishing on that side,tho I don't know what the details were .
I can't believe there are still "outdoorsmen" who rationilize littering or trespassing because they feel "rangers aren't doing their job",etc.


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## zachtrouter (May 1, 2006)

Anyways...... yes you can fish and catch smallies down there like crazy. If you can wade the river you can catch smallies! A better place to start is off of Cuyahoga St. before you hit the big hill to go into north hill. IF you come to a brick road you went to far.(Uhler rd) The chuckery is what its called. Good smallie action from the to under the gorge dam where the big boy smallies hang out. You can also hit the river at the softball fields. I think its called oxbow. Good smallie action down there as well. I also caught my first pike down there below clay mt. There is NO fishing on the banks down there to "prevent erosion" or some other bullcrap.


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## coachfozz (Mar 19, 2006)

homeworker said:


> well said;and I still don't see how anyone cannot see the "no fishing" signage(as well as "no trespassing and "stay off the banks")unless they simply wish to not see it...


HW, see us North Hill people know to park on Clifton and walk down from there. I haven't been down there in a while but there are paths that take down by Butterfly rock and then you walk back up the river that way so I am sure you don't see any signs that way. Back in the 80's, my brother and I caught some monsters down there.


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## Cheesehead Cory (May 16, 2004)

Sorry, should have been clearer. I meant the south (Akron) side, by OH Edison. Park on the SW side in the metroparks lot [That's not where someone was towed from, is it?], and cross the street to OH Edison lot to get under the bridge.

When people say "the Gorge", I assume they're talking about the area ABOVE the Gorge dam. You're not talking about wading there, Zach, are you?


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## schwing343 (Apr 11, 2006)

thankyou coach fozz, thats exactly where im talking about. people dont know how to walk down the hill off of riverside. homeworker if u ever went down there, there are no signs in that area


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## DanAdelman (Sep 19, 2005)

i have put my 12 ft aluminum boat in there a few times... I marked tons of fish and the water is deep enough to hold some monsters but all i ever caught was LM and one cigar pike... A lot of fun and good atmosphere... Very relaxing and very very little pressure.... Down river from the gorge i have fished in the chuckery area with much success with smallies... The hill is too steep and too thick by the Gorge Dam to fish with any real success... If i am on a boat casting the entire shoreline getting skunked good luck spending 10 mins to get down to a 10 ft casting radius of an area....and about all the litter everywhere I wish i knew who it was doing it because i would have somewhere to get rid of all my scraps after every fish i filet...


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## jason81 (Sep 16, 2005)

schwing343 said:


> ive been going down there for 10 years, only been stopped ONCE. there isnt 1 NO FISHING sign down there. i dont litter, all i do is fish and leave. i dont know who the he(( u are telling me i am the one littering, i dont know where u go fishing but where i go, there are no signs. from all the trash i see down there, looks like the rangers arent doing there jobs stopping people. people even climb down the wall on the falls side right next to the observation deck and noone ever says a dam thing. so hey whatever man



There is a "no fishing from shorline" sign in the parking lot across from edison. I've fished under the bridge multiple times with out issues from the rangers. Its a hot spot for crappie spring/early summer. I also know a couple people who work for the parks and my buddies dad retired from there so we've never had any issues with them.


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## schwing343 (Apr 11, 2006)

jason81 said:


> There is a "no fishing from shorline" sign in the parking lot across from edison. I've fished under the bridge multiple times with out issues from the rangers. Its a hot spot for crappie spring/early summer. I also know a couple people who work for the parks and my buddies dad retired from there so we've never had any issues with them.


yea ummm i dont fish there, thats not what im talking about there guy


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## johnboy111711 (Apr 7, 2004)

odds are that most of the trash comes from up stream and all the storm pipes that flow into the river. i know i used to see a ton of trash behind where the old tackle shack was


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## collinwoodie (Sep 23, 2005)

Hmmm...I don't ever remember that being a particularly trashy area at all. Sure is a depressing spectacle now, though...


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## zachtrouter (May 1, 2006)

Cheesehead I was actually talking the part below the dam. If you enter at either of those spots I mentioned previously you can wade upriver until you get right under that waterfall. There is some pretty good smallie action back there. Alot of smaller fish on the way upriver until you reach about 100yards from the waterfall. There are easily some 2-3lbers in that stretch. I have also fished above the dam under the bridge there quite a few times. It really is a crappie hotspot when the time is right. I have also caught several nice sized cats there too.


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## Biodude (Nov 5, 2004)

Hey folks... I just had an epiphany of sorts! Since you can't walk the shoreline, can you at least get on the ice in the winter? If it freezes to a safe depth. I would think that would be a fun way to target some big northerns. Howboutit?


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## Agent47 (Jun 27, 2006)

Imagine that, me confused..lol, As a kid growing up in the area when someone said "gorge" we all took it as the park where you turn of at and parked.., then you walk from there on down the trail to the dam near where the huge metal pipe was that came out of the ground. Now as a kid we walked that pipe and continued on the trail to campbells cave I believe it was called.
I was told a few years ago you cant walk that old pipe anymore as some kids fell off of it a few years back and got seriously injured {not sure on the truth of that}. In the winter they had an ice skating area with big drums and a fire to warm only 1 side of you at a time..LOL
A buddy used to waid out at the bottom of the dam and fish..I was told this is now a NO NO also..
I havnt been to that area in at least 7 years so bare with me but thats what I was always told was THE GORGE...


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## homeworker (Oct 3, 2005)

Dear Biodude,
see you on Newscenter 8...,
hw


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## Biodude (Nov 5, 2004)

okey dokey then, lol


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## Deep Fry (Sep 3, 2007)

Used to wade the gorge from cuyahoga st up to the dam. caught many small smallies, and LM. Bigger smallies were located in the pool below the dam. I once helped a teen land a 5lb walleye from that pool, then he hooked himself in the back of the head with a rapala past the hook barbs, and had to climb up out of the gorge to go home with that lure stuck in his head. My 2 largest fish were a 4lb Lm, and a 28 inch pike from the pool below the dam. On some days you could catch and release 50 smallies, fishing was great because you never knew what you were going to catch, I've had my reel almost stripped a couple of times from something that I never saw totally just a large fish tail flash and it was gone, and line snapped. maybe a large carp???? Fishing was great until I ran upon a pair of teens with about 30 smallies on 2 stringers behind them all of the bass were dead. The ranger was so pissed, he threathened to arrest them. He wrote 2 huge tickets. After that, you were lucky to catch 3 smallies fishing the gorge all day. This occurred about 10 years ago. I haven't fished it since. If you put a boat in north of ohio edison, and run it almost to within sight of the sheraton hotel then drift back down, you can have great success with bass, pike, large cats, panfish etc. Jack Kiser who used to own the tackle shack bait shop on front street used to fish edison lake all of the time. There used to be a large tree that toppled down the bank, and landed in about 45-50 ft of water at the end, we used to call it the crappie tree, because you could literally catch a hundred crappie from that spot depending on water, and weather conditions. Jack made over a dozen videos of gorge and edison resovoir fishing along with his brothers, He used to sell them at the shack, i don't know if the videos are still at the shack or with Jack. He knew that area inside and out when it came to fishing.


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## homeworker (Oct 3, 2005)

ah, the good old days...like Joni Mitchell said:, "You don't know what you've got 'til its gone."
I had a bad vibe when the Kiser's sold the place after fifteen years, and it didn't take long to go south.Now there is no bait shop around North Hill,Falls, etc. at all.I think we showed we'd support a place that provided the service and knowledge you talk about but now people will be too scared to start one up.
Nothing fancy to begin with -good bait & tackle fairly priced and people supported it. Looking back now, that knowledge and service sure mattered more than how much money someone bragged they had or how many times they'd pat you on the back.
I sure hope someone who cares and is locally hip on fishing will take a chance and that the customers finally reappear.I'm tired of the driving,etc.


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## NickRummy (Sep 26, 2006)

I haven't been out there lately but I fished there early this summer with Huntinbull. Had a BLAST!!! We parked off gorge/front st. Walked down past the dam (there are signs up there that say no fishing, the bank is HORRIBLE there) After the dam we went down and walked the river all the way to the high level bridge. Caught a bunch of SM, got a sunfish, some chub lookin things and seen LOTS of carp towards the bridge. Nothing really to brag about. I think the SM I got was around 13-14" or so. Could of been smaller. You know how fish stories go


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## jiggin'fool (Dec 18, 2005)

I think everyone fishes that stretch of the river! at least from what I saw tonight! I think I am going to have to try to find some less crowded stretches of the river! there was a guy around every corner of that place today!


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