Highlights from my
1999 Vacation to CastAway Harbor
Week
of June 14th, 1999
Castaway
Harbor
9437 East Bayshore Drive
Lakeside Marblehead, OH 43440
419-798-5600
CastAway Harbor is located on the southern side of the Marblehead Peninsula, on the north shore of the Sandusky Bay just west of Johnson Island. It is a private community of permanently installed trailers, with a large, open, grassy area dotted with trees available to tent campers and temporary recreational trailers. There is a manmade harbor with a breakwall fronting the bay, complete with an excellent single-lane access ramp. Camping services include running non-potable water, Portapoddies, available firewood and basic camping/fishing/boating supplies, fish-cleaning station with electricity, roped-off sandy beach area, and available dockage. One item NOT included is showers, so beware!
I would highly recommend this campground if you are coming out to the western end of Lake Erie for a little camping and touring and watersports, since it is close to everything, and the Sandusky Bay is a huge playground for jetskiis, tubers, and water-skiiers, with an average 6 foot depth and waves usually under 2 feet. Around to the east side of Johnson Island is a long sandbar called Bay Point, and is used by boaters as a swim beach.On hot weekends and holidays, it is crowded with anchored boats, and people swim or walk ashore where folks are often found playing volleyball, cooking out, or just laying in the sun. Watch your depth when anchoring! Be sure to allow for the wave troughs, or you may find youself bumping the sandy bottom while anchored. This is only about a 10-15 minute boat ride from CastAway Harbor.
If you are coming out to fish and camp, I recommend you stay at CastAway Harbor and trailer your boat over to the other side of the Marblehead Peninsula, to a public access area call Mazuric Access. This is a very nice ramp area with 6 lanes and 2 courtesy docks, only about a 10 minute tow from CastAway Harbor. This access launches boats directly into Lake Erie just to the east of the East Harbor mouth, with a clear 20 minute ride to the closest islands.
All in all, an excellent base of operations if you're coming out to see this part of the country.
The pictures below were taken and provided by Cleo Baker, whom I had the pleasure of meeting on this trip. He and I became acquainted at the The Fishing Network, a web community of fishermen from all over the world, and first met here at CastAway Harbor.
Here's what our campsite looked
like. We had a nice spot in the middle of the tent camping area,
with what we think is the best spot for a tent on the whole
property. Situated as it is under this tree, there are other
trees around that combine to assure that the tent was NEVER in
the sunlight all day long! The camper in the background belongs
to the Wood Fairy - ask us about that some time!
;-)
One of the biggest highlights of this trip was our charter with Captain Bob Loveland, out of West Harbor. He took Cleo, myself, Walt Gunter, and Pete ZaDave, along with a couple others, on a 9-hour fishing excursion in the area of South Bass Island and Kelley's Island. There were 6 of us fishing, and among us we boated 19 walleye, weighing a total of 36 pounds. Not a real great catch - the fishing seemed to be much slower this year than recent years. Some suspected culprits are unusually warm water, and the huge insect larvae hatches coming as a result. Nevertheless, we had a great time, and have booked a date with Captain Bob for next year!
If you would like to try him out, and I would endorse him, here is the information you need:
Loveland
Fishing Charters
Captain Bob Loveland
Charters in Lake Ontario, Olcott, New York, 716-776-9773
Charters in Lake Erie, Port Clinton, Ohio, 440-266-3532
223 North Hambden Street
Chardon, Ohio 44024
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This is a picture of the interior of Sea Dog II, a 30' Sportcraft with an 11'6" beam, powered by a single 354 V8 engines. There is enough room for 6 of us plus Captain Bob, and comfortably. It is at the dock in West Harbor, about 7:00 am in the morning as we loaded up to go out. It was a hot and hazy day. We fished by the drift method, casting and retrieving weight-forward spinners and rigs called a "weapon" tipped with half a nightcrawler, doing a count, and then retrieving. We were fortunate enough to pick up a decent breeze as the day went on, and the fishing on either side of the boat was distinctly different as the drift speed increased. |
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Here is Walt, on the left, and Captain Bob, on the right. Sea Dog II is underway. Captain Bob pilots the boat while Walt watches the graph, looking for the arcing walleye marks on the sonar. We ended up catching quite a few wallies near the red can which marks Carpenter Point Reef on the west side of Kelley's Island, just southwest of the stone dock on shore. We also boated an uncountable number of sheephead - *BIG* sheephead. These kept the action brisk, at least! |
We're still on Sea Dog II, same day, a fishin'
away! Top left is Dick Mecsko. Top right is Cleo, with a pretty
decent walleye! At the bottom is Walt on the left and me on the
right. It looks a little funny because I enhanced it to reveal
the detail in the shadow......
Of course, it wouldn't be complete without me at
the end! Remember what I said about no showers at the beginning?
About bewaring? It was no joke....... ;-0
See Ya!
