# Cuyahoga Falls dams



## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

If you want to get pictures of the dam before they are removed you better do it this week.

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/high-water-delays-start-of-cuyahoga-river-dam-removal-1.406706


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## kobra03 (Jun 28, 2012)

Removing these dams will destroy the great fishing that this river holds. I used to fish under munroe falls damn and always catch fish. Now its just a shallow stream with no fish.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

kobra03 said:


> Removing these dams will destroy the great fishing that this river holds. I used to fish under munroe falls damn and always catch fish. Now its just a shallow stream with no fish.


Oh, but the article says the fishing is going to be much better!!


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

lol

The fishing might not be better at the EXACT location of the dam, in fact it may get worse, but overall the river(and chances are the fishing) will be better and healthier. The more natural a river is, the better imo. Gotta adapt(as in walk a little/drive to where the river isn't a "shallow stream with no fish")!


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## thefed17 (Jul 11, 2010)

Went out today on what may well have been the last charter that Gone Fishin Bait and Tackle will do on the Cuyahoga. The dam they've been working on is being let-loose in the next day or 2. Captain said he was told the boat had to come out today....no more fishin' trips.

It was quite a coincidence we got to go out today...my 8-year-old got us both a trip on the river as my Father's Day gift. I've been putting it off and putting it off and finally just picked a random day and made the reservation. I'm in my busy work season now so 3 hours is a lot to set aside. Anyway, the weather looked crappy and the spot to meet him was kind of weird...seemed sketchy. But we went along with it, the captain and first lady-mate were very very kind and held a nice conversation. There were only 4 on the boat and we caught a handfull of gills, rock bass, white bass, crappie, and one small bullhead. It was a lot of fun for the boy and he learned some new techniques. Sadly, that stretch of river will never be the same. 

I'm glad we didn't catch big ones or we'd really be bumming about the dam removal! Haha

I hope this guy and other businesses that rely on the river being a river and not a creek come out on the other end as strong or stronger than they are now.


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## HipWader (Jun 25, 2013)

I can still remember the day they tore the Monroe Falls dam down....I was heartbroken to see it go...fished there alot and caught lots of fish...after the dam was removed the river did not recover for a period of 1 year...but the Bass, Pike, and other fish are slowly starting to make a come back in that area...I fish from the Rt91 bridge and downstream and do quite well with the Fly Rod...caught some monster Carp and Bass in there....so it will take awhile before the area recovers fully...I look forward to seing what it looks like afterwards and maybe I can do some fly fishing in there....who knows ??...besides it will help the area of waterworks park from flooding so darn easy now that the 2 dams are being removed....


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## tncj (Jul 25, 2013)

In the article it says the second dam is the " lafever power house dam" .. where is that? Is that the gorge dam ?

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## triton175 (Feb 21, 2006)

No, the LeFever dam is about a quarter mile upstream from the dam by the Sheraton that is being removed. LeFever is a small lowhead dam. The gorge dam is about a half mile downstream from the one being removed today.


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## tncj (Jul 25, 2013)

OK.......thanks.......are they taking the gorge dam out?

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## TheGipper614 (Jan 11, 2013)

I heard to remove the gorge dam it would cost 8 million dollars, im guessing the metro parks cant afford that, so the gorge is staying


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## SmittyN330 (May 17, 2013)

Overall, removal of the dams on the river would eventually make fishing better. Steelhead and Walleye could run all the way throughout the Cuyahoga, instead of simply being stopped at the Edison Dam.


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

I've read that sediment removal at the gorge will cost around 19million. So i wouldn't look for that dam to come down anytime soon.


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## Stuhly (Jul 6, 2009)

I will be taking my yak down to the Edison plant and fish up by the
By the rapids there are some deep holes up there 6-8ft deep


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

SmittyN330 said:


> Overall, removal of the dams on the river would eventually make fishing better. Steelhead and Walleye could run all the way throughout the Cuyahoga, instead of simply being stopped at the Edison Dam.




if the gorge dam ever did come down I'm afraid the fish migration would be stopped by a 20ft natural water fall that's under the reservoir. There's pictures of it along the hiking trail below the dam.


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## SmittyN330 (May 17, 2013)

I never knew that there was a Waterfall behind the dam. I suppose that would stop fish migration naturally anyway! Thanks for telling me about that!


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

If the fish try and migrate, it's a one way trip!:Banane49:

You can already see a 10' high natural waterfall below the gorge dam. Wouldn't be surprised to see more falls once the dam is removed. 

Going to be interesting to see where all the fish move too once the dams go down. There's a lot of fish behind those dams that are used to slow moving water. They will migrate either up or downstream until they find the water they like, but right after the dams are removed, you might catch crappie, largemouth, or catfish in the rapids!


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## fish-on! (Aug 11, 2013)

Gonna take a while till the money is together to take the gorge dam down, fishing will be better in a matter of years ard after that dam is out, a cleaner healhier Cuyahoga will bring the steelhead further downtoward the falls


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

Before the 2nd dam came out i was fishing along the boardwalk and watched carp go up through FAST water rather than the slower they could have used. It was pretty cool to watch, was wishing they we're salmon instead. 

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## bludog (Apr 15, 2011)

We drove by the river today on route 8 and the water was way down is this because of the dam removal?


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## boss302 (Jun 24, 2005)

bludog said:


> We drove by the river today on route 8 and the water was way down is this because of the dam removal?


Yup. That's the reason. The "river closed" sign hanging 8 to 10 in the air was partially submerged after the rains about a month ago!

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## dlancy (Feb 14, 2008)

How's everyone doing fishing since the removal? Iv hit a couple spots, mostly scouting to try and find some new holes. Iv only caught a nice 2lb bass and a decent crappie. Was wondering with all of that water gone you would think the fish would retreat to the few holes that are left, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Do you think they all went downstream toward the Edison dam?















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## coachfozz (Mar 19, 2006)

I hit a bunch of big blue gills upstream from the dams late last week. Saw a couple bass following my spinners


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## Stuhly (Jul 6, 2009)

I'm heading to the Edison bridge to put in my kayak and go 
Up
Stream for some scouting soon . Any one want to join me


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## Plmrc16 (Aug 12, 2013)

Stuhly said:


> I'm heading to the Edison bridge to put in my kayak and go
> Up
> Stream for some scouting soon . Any one want to join me


Soon as in today ? I am always looking for new spots and would love to join in but today I wouldn't be able to .. Shoot me a pm and let me know !


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## dlancy (Feb 14, 2008)

I had a great day today hitting some new holes. Caught 4 pike, one smallie and a few rock bass.


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## dlancy (Feb 14, 2008)

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## ballast (Sep 15, 2011)

You guys should be ashamed of yourself,shooting fish in a barrel like that.lol!! Those are THE BIGGEST ROCK BASS EVER!! no pike for me yet. They need some real workers cleaning that mess up. Fkn dangerous down there!!!


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## Stuhly (Jul 6, 2009)

My uncle and I fished up from the Edison bridge in our kayaks on Monday with no to
fish to report. The river down there is still VERY SILTY up by the rapids. I did not 
mark any fish either.


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## lotaluck (Dec 17, 2009)

Just took a walk down to front street and walked the boardwalk along the river. Sure is nice to see it flow the way its supposed to though the water is still very dark and silty, I imagine it will take a while to settle.
On a sad note the banks of the river looked disgusting with trash all over the place, cigarette boxes, plastic cups and lids, many empty crawler cups and so on. This is all new garbage within the week as it looked relativily clean when the river first went down to this level. Highly disappinted and hope its not a trend! Would love to see them make an example of someone!!


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## coachfozz (Mar 19, 2006)

Hey Dustin,

Are you before the RT 8 Bridge or after in those pictures? I was at the park on 59 fishing off the cliffs hitting the two holes right below. I hit some, but I was planning on walking down later when I have more time.


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## ballast (Sep 15, 2011)

lotaluck said:


> Just took a walk down to front street and walked the boardwalk along the river. Sure is nice to see it flow the way its supposed to though the water is still very dark and silty, I imagine it will take a while to settle.
> On a sad note the banks of the river looked disgusting with trash all over the place, cigarette boxes, plastic cups and lids, many empty crawler cups and so on. This is all new garbage within the week as it looked relativily clean when the river first went down to this level. Highly disappinted and hope its not a trend! Would love to see them make an example of someone!!


I'm a falls native and there's a article in the falls press that says no one is to be down there. Sucks to, cus I found a hole that was a lot of fun every cast fun!!!


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## fenwick6 (Aug 28, 2013)

What were you guys using?


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## ballast (Sep 15, 2011)

Crawfish shallow running cranks.


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## trapperjon (Mar 11, 2008)

Just got back from doing a trash pick up along the boardwalk. Filled a 32gal trash bag. Hope i dont have to do this every week. We'll see. 

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## fenwick6 (Aug 28, 2013)

Just got back from walking river. Caught 3 smallies not very big and 2 largemouth in deeper pools.


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## lotaluck (Dec 17, 2009)

trapperjon said:


> Just got back from doing a trash pick up along the boardwalk. Filled a 32gal trash bag. Hope i dont have to do this every week. We'll see.
> 
> Sent from my XT555C using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Thank you Trapper. I agree, sure would be nice if people decide to respect it rather than trash it.


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## dlancy (Feb 14, 2008)

coachfozz said:


> Hey Dustin,
> 
> Are you before the RT 8 Bridge or after in those pictures? I was at the park on 59 fishing off the cliffs hitting the two holes right below. I hit some, but I was planning on walking down later when I have more time.


Those fish were caught after the bridge. Had another good day on Sunday. I fished with shinners this time and pulled a bunch of different species (pike, smallies, white bass, crappie and a channel cat). Here is a pic of some of my recent catches









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## coachfozz (Mar 19, 2006)

nice fish!!! I need to get down there instead of by the cliffs. There are some nice holes there, but lost a few trying to bring them up.


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## fenwick6 (Aug 28, 2013)

Agreed nice catch. When I went out on Sunday I did not venture too far from the park by Acme.


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## fenwick6 (Aug 28, 2013)

Hit the river upstream from the 59 bridge. 4 little ones all bass. Hit them on a shallow diving crank in deeper pools. Picked up some trash along the way. Next time bringing a trash bag.


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## Hetfieldinn (May 17, 2004)




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## kapposgd (Apr 10, 2012)

kobra03 said:


> Removing these dams will destroy the great fishing that this river holds. I used to fish under munroe falls damn and always catch fish. Now its just a shallow stream with no fish.


Destroying the dams is actually going to improve the fishery


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## coachfozz (Mar 19, 2006)

kapposgd said:


> Destroying the dams is actually going to improve the fishery


Five years from now maybe...

The fishing would have been fine if the city would have paid a little extra money and cleaned it the right way.


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## dlancy (Feb 14, 2008)

coachfozz said:


> Five years from now maybe...
> 
> The fishing would have been fine if the city would have paid a little extra money and cleaned it the right way.


My feeling is that yes it is better to have the river in it's natural state, but it is going to take years for that stretch of river to recover from this total ecosystem change. The river now has miles of exposed trash ridden banks which looks disgusting. The other day i counted 6 rusted steel barrels, in 100 yards, which I could only assume should have had biohazard labels on them, but instead they have been long rusted though with the contents going right into the river. I feel like the city and EPA needs to examine all of these areas and make sure they are safe for the outdoorsman who are curious enough to explore the new terrain. 

I also feel that since they removed the two dams to "restore the river" that the much larger Edison dam should be removed as well. If not then they are just pushing more pollution down to the Edison dam area and making that portion of the river worse. Just my thoughts.


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## fenwick6 (Aug 28, 2013)

Caught these two in the river this morning. Such a great fall day. Now time for football.


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