Hotels, bait shops catch extra cash from lake

Associated Press

PORT CLINTON, Ohio

Business owners along western Ohio’s Lake Erie shoreline who cater to tourists in the summer have seen a nice bump from the long and unexpected ice fishing season.

Hotels restaurants, and bait shops have seen an increase in business over the last few months.

“With the fishermen coming in, I think everyone has benefited,” said Gina Gamboa, who works at Our Guest Inn in Port Clinton. “It has been very busy, even on weekdays. It’s very exciting.”

The winter is normally a slow time for tourist-related business between Toledo and Cleveland, said Jill Bauer, spokeswoman for Lake Erie Shores and Islands, the tourism bureau in the Sandusky and Port Clinton areas.

Many anglers are coming from out-of-state.

“They’re staying in hotels,” Bauer said. “They’re eating in restaurants. They’re buying gas. They’re buying bait.”

Condo owners tell The Port Clinton News Herald (http://ohne.ws/182ZAAN ) that this is the first winter in quite a while that they are renting out rooms to ice fishermen.

Mark Evans, who works at Herb’s Sportsman’s Supply on Catawba Island, said he was running low on ice fishing lures at one point. “It’s been busier than normal,” he said.

Some fishing guides along the shoreline said they were booked through mid-March if the ice holds up.

DB Charters, near Port Clinton, has been taking out a dozen anglers each day when the weather cooperates. “The past two years, we’ve had more ice than we know what to do with,” said charter captain John Gribble.