Presque Isle State Park attracts tens of thousands of visitors each week from Memorial Day through Labor Day, but the park doesn’t close when summer ends. This is the fifth in a monthly series about activities and events at Presque Isle in the fall, winter and spring.
Joe Muto expected to be fishing at Presque Isle State Park in the middle of winter, but the Millcreek Township man figured he would be sitting in an ice shack on Presque Isle Bay or Misery Bay, not standing on the Waterworks Ferry Dock.
Unusually warm weather again this winter has kept thick ice from forming on the bays, except for a few precious days in mid-January.
But Muto and others who fish won’t be denied. If they can’t ice fish, they will search for places along the peninsula’s shoreline where the waters are open.
“I’ve been out at least 15 times this winter, probably two or three times a week,” said Muto, 58, as he cast his line into the bay on Feb. 8. “I do both the city side and here at the peninsula. It all depends on which way the wind is blowing.”