Lake Erie Was The Fishing Universe

When I was growing up in the late 50’s and early 60’s my family lived in a Polish neighborhood in Cleveland. Our house was only minutes away from Lake Erie. Travel down what was Liberty Boulevard, now MLK Drive, and you could be at the East 72nd pier very quickly. My earliest memories of fishing are from the pier that existed at that time.

It was always a summertime activity, as the extended daylight hours allowed my father to fish after a long day at work. He’d come home, grab something to eat, and we would head out the door with poles, a bucket to sit on, and a tub of worms.

For whatever reason our backyard was a worm farm. The soil must have been perfect for harvesting worms. The night before we would fish we’d get the hose out and wet down the backyard. Then we would take a flashlight and hunt for them. The size and quantity we found was unbelievable. Keep them wet and they would last for days.

Back then Lake Erie wasn’t clean. That was before the environment was a concern, especially for an industrialized city. I remember keeping perch that we caught but other fish always went back. In addition to perch, sheepshead, carp, and catfish were the other species that were caught. This was years before walleye made a comeback.

I had an uncle who lived in Marblehead, near Sandusky. He owned a home near the bay. Our family would go there for a weekend visit and we would fish from the rocky shoreline (see photos). I don’t remember much about the fishing but what I do remember is my uncle’s house. The second floor was one big room with about 10 cots. I never knew why all the cots were there.

What I now realize is that back then there were no other fishing spots in my universe besides Lake Erie. We didn’t fish small inland lakes and river fishing in northeast Ohio wasn’t popular at that time. It would be many years before the rivers were cleaned up and Ohio started stocking programs that included coho salmon and steelhead. Little did I know that late in life I would quickly become addicted to river and stream fishing.

Go out and fool a fish!