TOPIC:

I'm headed for Marblehead to fish the islands mid-April this year.  I am soliciting opinions on launch sites.  I'm currently considering:

• Catawba Island State Park
• East Harbor State Park
• And the Kelly's Island Ferry area, one of my travel mates thinks there is a launch there.

We are staying in Marblehead at an Air BNB.  

Preferences on any of these, considering weather, crowds, quality of facilities?  Thanks in advance!
Grady

We usually go last week of April out of Turtle Creek.   Last fall my wife and I stayed at East Harbor campground a couple of times, and it was nice launching from there.  I am not sure about spring but last fall it was a decent place to launch from (I am planning on camping there several times this year).      

Catawba and musuriks are both nice if the have the piers in...

It is important to find a launch as close as possible to where you will be fishing, It is likely you will be in 3 to 6 foot waves. 20 mph wind in April is different then 20 MPH in summer as the air density is different. If possible go the last week in April as the females put on the feedbag. Takes about 2 weeks after the spawn for the females to start feeding. 

Bruce

Always launched out of Tuttle Creek and never had an issue, and we usually stayed in Port Clinton. But, as was said above, it can be a long run if the winds kick up.

Mazuriks launch site out near the Kelly Island Ferry is a very good site to launch if you are fishing around Kelly Island or between Kelly and the Bass islands. However, I think a lot of people fish the reefs area in spring for spawners. Launching out of Turtle Creek or Fenwick would be closer to the reefs complex. Closer is definitely better for Lake Erie. Waves can build fast and get very dangerous very fast. Be careful. But if you are staying on Marblehead, check out Mazuriks and fish around the islands at least one day. You can get out of the wind there much easier and it’s only 4 miles from the launch to Kellys. 

I usually go that time of year and stay in Marblehead too. If I want to jig and fish the reefs, i drive back west and launch out of Magee's east. It's 5 bucks to launch. They have a fish cleaning table and 1 dollar Busch lites and 5 dollar Bloody marys at the cool little bar on site.If I'm trolling, it is a short drive from Marblehead to Mazuriks' launch. Great launch, and it's free. They are currently constructing bathrooms and a fish cleaning table like EC's. I don't know if it will be completed by April.  As already stated, the wind can be tough that time of year so if you're committed to the date you have to be prepared to spend the trip in the room- there are times where you can't launch. But when you can- it can be gangbusters out there. 

Ltrain wrote:

I usually go that time of year and stay in Marblehead too. If I want to jig and fish the reefs, i drive back west and launch out of Magee's east. It's 5 bucks to launch. They have a fish cleaning table and 1 dollar Busch lites and 5 dollar Bloody marys at the cool little bar on site.If I'm trolling, it is a short drive from Marblehead to Mazuriks' launch. Great launch, and it's free. They are currently constructing bathrooms and a fish cleaning table like EC's. I don't know if it will be completed by April.  As already stated, the wind can be tough that time of year so if you're committed to the date you have to be prepared to spend the trip in the room- there are times where you can't launch. But when you can- it can be gangbusters out there. 

agree 100% about that time of year.   We have actually gone home early because we couldnt get out at all and I would say majority time we spend one day out of the 3 we go in the room due to waves.   But great fishing when we are out there.