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Waterfront: Lake Erie Locals

Waterfront: Lake Erie Locals

Late this summer as we in the more temperate reaches of the northern hemisphere were squeezing out our last little stretch of the fair-weather boating season, I caught up with a young Lake Erie-based boating couple, Leah and Mike Hydzik, who fell in love with boating after getting a taste for the lifestyle while attending university. They’re on their second boat now, and run an Instagram account, @LakeErieLocals, chronicling their adventures, exploits and love of yellow perch fishing. I had to ask what it was like starting out for them.

Leah and Mike Hydzik

Mike: We started with Freedom Boat Club, going after work pretty much every other day, every weekend.

Leah: It’s the perfect situation. But we kind of realized that we want the stuff before and after [the rental] too.

Mike: It’s stupid to say, but you walk past the docks and you see these guys washing their boats off. I’m like, I want that.

Owen Burke: No, that’s one of my favorite parts of the day too. What was your first boat that you bought together?

Leah: Our first boat together was inflatable kayaks from Walmart, a matching set. Oh my gosh, we would go all over Lake Erie, we’d be in an Uber with our two giant bags of kayaks getting dropped off.

OB: I imagine that got tiring quickly.

Mike: So we bought this camper right on Lake Erie. We got it dirt cheap. So now it’s like, okay, we’ve got this camper right up on the Lake—

Leah: And the camper actually came with a dock.

Leah kicks back aboard Blue Streak II at the dock on a perfect Erie summer day.

Mike: Yes. So now we’ve got this sad, empty dock and it’s like, okay, it’s time. We were walking on our dock and of course fate be it, there was a really small Sea Ray. I still don’t know how we found out it was for sale.

Leah: Every boat’s for sale.

Mike: It was a small, 20-foot bowrider. It was old. We knew it was going to be kind of a transition because within Freedom Boat Club, we were used to brand-new 2020 center consoles—the top of the line tech. We couldn’t even fire up the Sea Ray at first, but we got it working. We had so much fun with it. Before we knew it, we were looking for the next boat, and ended up moving up to a Sea Ray Weekender. So we can handle the waves now, we can fish, we can cruise, we can stay on the islands overnight.

OB: I imagine, for where you are, that’s perfect.

Mike: But we’re already thinking about what’s the next step.

OB: What’s your dream boat?

Mike: I would say the new Tiaras that have the sportfishing packages on them. (Leah nods.) The 43, I think for Lake Erie, that’s probably as good as you can get for that in terms of size, being able to fish and cruise for the weekend.

Leah and Mike hold up yellow perch—their preferred quarry within their home waters.

OB: I saw you like to cruise to Put-in-Bay. The way it’s described is kind of like the Key West of the Great Lakes.

Mike: We love it because there’s so many things you can do there, and it seems like each dock has its own vibe.

Leah: I think sometimes within Ohio, Put-in-Bay gets a bad rep just because it is the party island, but once you start exploring—

Mike: So much history on that island, too. It was one of the scenes of the War of 1812. But the restaurant scene, that’s really amazing, too.

OB: The Lakes can be seen and referred to as a monolith, especially to unfamiliar folks. What does Lake Erie offer that others don’t?

Mike: I think something like 50 percent of all of the fish in the entire Great Lakes are actually found in Lake Erie. Port Clinton, Ohio is the walleye capital of the world. On top of that, then you throw in the islands.

Leah: You have so many options and whether it’s stormy, whether the wind’s coming from one direction, you can go hide and go to a different island protected from the wind there.

Mike: And then there’s still so much that we haven’t explored. Once we upgrade the boat a little, we want to take it to Michigan through Lake Erie, and I mean, we could even go to Canada.

Lake Erie Locals lay claim to Erie being the walleye capital of the world.

OB: Are you seeing many other young folks out there?

Mike: The kinds of boaters weekend-cruising into the islands like us, it seems like we’re kind of always on that younger end.

Leah: We talk to people in our marina and they’ll say, when we were your guys’ age, we’d all be on our own boats and we’d be going out to the islands. It just doesn’t seem like the amount that they’re always talking about even within that previous generation.

OB: A lot of aspirational boaters find themselves with itchy feet at certain junctures in life. You guys, though, have stayed near your home port.

Leah: We’re not tied down anywhere, but what’s great about Cleveland—and what really we think is the best thing about Cleveland—is that it’s right on Lake Erie.

OB: Would you ever move to find that community, or would wanderlust take you somewhere far-flung?

Mike: I am going to say no right now, but if you ask me this question in December…

Leah: If you can snowbird, that’s obviously the best way to do it. But I always wonder, too, if we could boat all year round, if we would do it as much because when the summer and the spring come around, we’re ready to go.

OB: Seasonality puts things into focus. I’ve never been on a Great Lake, and our boating seasons might be a bit longer in New York, but I can certainly appreciate that, too.

Mike: Yeah. Well, if you ever want to come to Ohio. Let us know. Once we get the bigger boat, we’ll bring you out.

OB: I’ve never caught a walleye, either.

Leah: Bring tuna. We’ll trade fish!

This article originally appeared in the December 2024 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.

View the original article to see embedded media.

Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/column/waterfront-lake-erie-locals

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