# Fishing the Breakwalls



## rpaisie (Oct 20, 2006)

Can you give me any information on breakwall fishing for steelhead? I'm vary familar with fishing for kings and coho off breakwalls in Michigan, so I'm pretty with the fishing tactics. I'm just looking for some information on locations. The only area I'm familar with is Fairport Harbor, but I hear there's excellent fishing in the other rivers too.

Any advise? I don't have a boat but I do have waders.


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## archman (Apr 30, 2004)

You won't need waders for breakwall fishing. You can head further east and hit Conneaut. The Fairport wall is VERY productive. To the west you have Wildwood, E. 72nd, and Edgewater.


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## Steel Cranium (Aug 22, 2005)

Usually best from east to west in the fall due to PA stocking more early running fall spawning steelhead. Fairport provides the best public access of Ohio's stocked tribs, with piers on both sides of the river. Conneaut is good as well, especially early in the season. The chagrin has limited access, and rocky & vermilion have no public access from shore. A few other parks near smaller tribs provide fish from time to time, as do the walls not at river/creek mouths (like e. 72nd, edgewater, etc.). Most catching is done with spoons to cover a lot of water. Once they're in, they can be had on jigs/maggots/minnows...


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## fishinbula (Aug 30, 2007)

Just to add on to what everyone else already posted. Almost all the big rivers have some type of wall that you can fish off from. Conneaut does really well early. You can also fish off of the Ashtabula breakwall but takes some skill because you have to walk on some uneven rocks but it does well. Geneva state park has a wall you can walk out on too but doesn't pick up there until later because of all the boat traffic. Then you head west out towards Fairport and farther west. After that I don't know to much about the walls out that way. If you want to pay some money like 75 dollars you can get the PA license pick some fish real early over there off the mouths of their rivers. Hope this helps you.


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## rpaisie (Oct 20, 2006)

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll break out the maps and start getting a game plan together. So you say move from East to West as the season progresses? When does the season start in the East and how quickly does it move West? I know mid-late October was good fishing last year off the Fairport Walls, but when does it start out east?


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## fishinbula (Aug 30, 2007)

If the weather keeps up it could start as soon as 2nd week of september. They are already catching steelhead out of the mouth of Walnut creek in PA so they are on the move. The only real way to tell is try it and see. I have a feeling some are hanging around the mouths of the rivers out east right now and with this colder weather over nights they are moving in.


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## Steel Cranium (Aug 22, 2005)

rpaisie said:


> Thanks for all the help guys. I'll break out the maps and start getting a game plan together. So you say move from East to West as the season progresses? When does the season start in the East and how quickly does it move West? I know mid-late October was good fishing last year off the Fairport Walls, but when does it start out east?


Any time now in the far east. Since the PA fish will stray a few creeks west and they are fall runners, it starts now. The shoreline fishery is best in dry falls, when more fish stack up along the shorelines waiting for high river levels. A very dry fall around five years ago resulted in some ridiculous shoreline fishing, where two dozen steelies landed in an afternoon was normal thru the month of October. Another benefit of the lake over the river is that they are fresher (fight harder) and taste better than the river fish if you harvest one for eggs, dinner, or have an unsuccessful revival.


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## archman (Apr 30, 2004)

THere are some years where double digits in a few hours are possible, lilke Steel Cranium said. There have been other falls when the lake fishing was almost nonexistant.


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## K gonefishin (May 4, 2004)

I may try and troll the mouth of the rocky in the next couple weeks. Blue shallow bombers are a favorite of mine and gold clown rips sticks and a few other colors, floating rapala's work awesome too, 55 back off inline boards smoke fish at the mounths. Might have to even bust out a spin doc with a fly and see if it will fire off riggers for bottom hugging fish.


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## AnthHol (Jul 24, 2007)

K Gone, let me know if you decide to do that I live right down the street and would love to go and gladly help with gas bait or whatever if you ever need someone.


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## K gonefishin (May 4, 2004)

AnthHol said:


> K Gone, let me know if you decide to do that I live right down the street and would love to go and gladly help with gas bait or whatever if you ever need someone.



Sounds good, I often need to fill a seat, expecially for steelhead fishing.


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