Trailer ramp · Lake Erie · Ohio

Kelleys Island State Park Boat Launch

A public trailer ramp on Lake Erie in Kelleys Island, Erie County, Ohio. Managed by ODNR Parks and Recreation.

Directions All Erie launches

The launch

What the agency lists

Launch type: Trailer ramp — boat ramp
Water: Lake Erie
Parking: Parking on site
Toilets: Yes
Fee: No ramp fee listed
Managed by: ODNR Parks and Recreation
Location: Kelleys Island, Erie County, Ohio
Coordinates: 41.6144° N, 82.7062° W

Also listed: restrooms, fishing pier, 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 spots at or near Kelleys Island:

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

Smallmouth Bass Fishing on Lake Erie

Kelleys Island shoals: Broad rock shelves off Ohio's largest Erie island. Reliable post-spawn water in 12–20 ft and easily reached from Marblehead or Port Clinton.

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

Yellow Perch Fishing on Lake Erie

Kelleys Island and the Bass Islands shoals: Western basin perch on hard bottom in 25–38 ft. Faster limits when it is on, smaller average fish than the central basin.

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.

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

Mazurik Access Area5.9 mi · trailer ramp · OH
Village of Put-in-Bay Beach6.1 mi · hand / carry-in launch · OH
Put-in-Bay Village Public Launch6.3 mi · trailer ramp · OH
Put-in-Bay Village Marina6.3 mi · trailer ramp · OH
Middle Bass Island State Park6.8 mi · trailer ramp · OH
Middle Bass Island East Point Preserve6.9 mi · hand / carry-in launch · OH

Straight-line distance, not a boating route.

Landmarks from the water

Lighthouses nearby

Marblehead Light5.4 mi
Perry's Memorial Lighthouse6.1 mi
Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial6.1 mi

For the crew ashore

Beaches nearby

Kelleys Island State Park0.1 mi

Camp or picnic

State parks nearby

Kelleys Island State Park0.1 mi

On shore nearby

Worth the stop

Kelleys Island Glacial Grooves0.3 mi · park
Marblehead Lighthouse5.3 mi · lighthouse

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 ODNR Parks and Recreation 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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