Hand / carry-in launch · Lake Erie · Ohio

French Creek Reservation Launch

A public hand / carry-in launch on Black River, French Creek in Sheffield, Lorain County, Ohio. Managed by Lorain County Metro Parks.

Directions All Erie launches

The launch

What the agency lists

Launch type: Hand / carry-in launch — small-boat launch
Water: Black River, French Creek
Parking: Parking on site
Toilets: Yes
Fee: Not published in the source — ask the manager
Managed by: Lorain County Metro Parks
Location: Sheffield, Lorain County, Ohio
Coordinates: 41.4616° N, 82.1218° W

Also listed: restrooms, shore fishing.

Before you launch

Lake Erie is big water

Erie is the shallowest Great Lake and the quickest to turn. A sustained blow builds a short, breaking sea in a couple of hours, and summer squalls can arrive from the west with little warning. In the western basin, mind the reefs; on the run to the islands, mind how far you are from shelter.

Wind against a shallow basin. Erie stacks up faster and steeper than any lake on the chain — a sustained 20-knot wind over 60 feet of average depth builds a short, breaking four-to-six-foot sea in a couple of hours. Boats swamp here in weather that would be uncomfortable elsewhere.
Unstable ice. Western-basin ice moves. Anglers have been carried off on detached floes and taken off by helicopter more than once, most infamously with over a hundred people at a time.
Fast-moving line squalls in summer, often arriving from the west with little warning behind a hot afternoon.

Read how to read a Great Lakes marine forecast and trailering and launching on big water. Pack the big-water safety kit.

From this launch

What to fish on Lake Erie

Our Erie fishing guides name a spot at or near Black River:

Yellow Perch · Late August through November, with October the peak

Yellow Perch Fishing on Lake Erie

Lorain and the Lorain crib area: Deeper, 50–62 ft, and often the first central basin port to turn on in late August. Short run from the Black River launch.

Brown Trout · October through April in the tributaries alongside steelhead; April and May nearshore; July and August deep

Lake Erie Brown Trout: Pennsylvania's Small Stocked Fishery

Lake Erie brown trout are a small, stocked side fishery concentrated on the Pennsylvania shore, and most are caught by anglers fishing for something else. Pennsylvania stocks steelhead by the million and browns by the tens of thousands — come for steelhead and treat a brown as a bonus, not a plan.

Lake Trout · May and June in 50–60 ft off North East, PA; July through early September in 90–130 ft off Dunkirk and Barcelona

Lake Erie Lake Trout: The Eastern Basin off Dunkirk and Erie

Lake Erie's lake trout are a stocked population rebuilt from zero, and they live almost entirely in the deep, cold eastern basin off New York and Pennsylvania. It is a real summer fishery in 90 to 130 feet off Dunkirk and Barcelona, but it is narrow, and most fish are still caught by walleye trollers running one rod deep.

Muskellunge · September through November, with October the best window

Lake Erie Muskie Fishing: Where to Fish & Fall Tactics

Lake Erie is not a muskie destination and you should not plan a trip around it. Where the fish do concentrate — Presque Isle Bay, the upper Niagara River at Buffalo, and the western basin near the Detroit River mouth — they are genuinely large, and a fall fish there is a real trophy.

Northern Pike · Ice season on Presque Isle Bay; April through early June and September through November in open water

Lake Erie Northern Pike: Presque Isle Bay and the Upper Niagara

Lake Erie is not pike water, and outside a few sheltered, weedy corners you will rarely see one. Presque Isle Bay in Pennsylvania is the one place on the lake with a dependable pike population; the upper Niagara River is the New York option, and Ohio's pike are scarce.

Smallmouth Bass · Late May through June, and September through early November

Smallmouth Bass Fishing on Lake Erie

Erie grows the heaviest smallmouth in the Great Lakes and the eastern basin from Erie, Pennsylvania to Buffalo is where they live. The western basin islands give you numbers and easier water; the eastern basin gives you five-pound fish over 25 feet of rock.

Steelhead Walleye

Erie by season

SpringJig season on the reef complex SummerTroll the open basin, and go east as it warms FallSteelhead Alley and the biggest walleye of the year WinterIce when it comes, tributaries when it doesn't

Next ramp over

Nearest Erie launches

Sheffield Lake Community Park2.0 mi · trailer ramp · OH
Black River Wharf Boat Launch2.4 mi · trailer ramp · OH
Lakeside Landing2.9 mi · trailer ramp · OH
Lorain Public Boat Ramp3.3 mi · trailer ramp · OH
Lakeview Park3.8 mi · hand / carry-in launch · OH
Miller Road Park4.3 mi · trailer ramp · OH

Straight-line distance, not a boating route.

Landmarks from the water

Lighthouses nearby

Lorain West Breakwater Light3.7 mi · deactivated
Lorain East Breakwater Light4.0 mi

For the crew ashore

Beaches nearby

Source

Launch facts are from the Ohio DNR Office of Coastal Management, Lake Erie Public Access, retrieved 2026-10-05. Ramps close for repairs, fees change and water levels move; confirm with Lorain County Metro Parks before you tow. Fishing rules are set by theOhio DNR Division of Wildlife.

Chart shoreline generalized from Natural Earth (public domain). Not for navigation. Something wrong or missing? Write to contact@greatamericanlakes.com.

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