That reminded me of this Journal clipping that I found on microfilm at the Lorain Public Library. It's from the infamous late January Blizzard of 1978, featuring the fact that the water level at the pier had dropped dramatically. (Give it a click so you can read it.)
Like Alan, I've also enjoyed hanging around Hot Waters both as a kid and an adult.
My father brought my siblings and me there once in a while to fish, and we usually managed to get the lines from our Zebco fishing reels stuck on the rocks at the base of the pier. When we did manage to catch some gruesome looking specimen (like a sheephead), my Dad would offer it to one of the other fisherman there, who was glad to get it and knew how to cook it.
When I first got my own apartment in the 1980's, I would bring my dinner down to Hot Waters and watch the fishermen while I ate and listened to the radio. And now, decades later, my wife and I bring our ice cream treats from Terry's Dairy down there during the summer, so we can take in the fishing action. It makes for a pretty cheap date.
