Lake Erie
Lake · Port Clinton, Ohio
The shallowest, warmest and most biologically productive of the Great Lakes, bordered by Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, with the largest freshwater commercial and sport fishery of the five. It was declared dead in the 1960s, and its recovery is one of the reasons the Clean Water Act exists — though the algal blooms of recent summers show the argument is not settled.
Lake Erie, Port Clinton, Ohio, 43452, United States
Open water, accessible year-round from public shore access points. Beaches, ferries and charters are seasonal, running roughly May to September.