April 19, 2024 • 35 mins
Jibe Talking gets the opportunity to talk with Chris Zeitler who is the owner of JF Walleyes on Middle Bass Island. Listen to us talk about the food, drinks and fun planned for the 2024 season at JF Walleyes. We also dive into some of the other cool and interesting facts about Middle Bass Island. Visit https://www.jfwalleyes.net/ for more information about this great restaurant! You can also learn more about Middle Bass Island at https://www.shoresandislands.com/communities/islands/middle-bass-island/
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Well, good afternoon.
(00:03):
Today we have a special show.
We're going to start doing some shows for like travels around the Great Lakes, spots
you can go.
And one of the spots is a place I like to go.
It's on Middlebass Island called J.F.
Walleis.
And we have somebody from J.F.
Walleis today who's going to tell us a little bit about just the island and about the restaurant
(00:26):
and what we can see for upcoming entertainment or whatever other kind of mischief we want
to get into.
And I'll have everybody here introduce themselves.
Again, my name is Ted.
And then to my right, I'm going to trick you up this time.
We have...
I am Christina Columbus, co-hosting for Jive Talking.
And I'm Phil Fry, also a co-host for Jive Talking.
(00:51):
And who am I speaking with?
Why don't you introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Chris.
Hello, my name is Chris Zeitler from J.F.
Walleis on Middlebass Island.
Good to have you.
Now, are you the owner, manager?
How are you affiliated with the restaurant?
I think all of the above.
Yeah, I'm the owner and I step in and act as a manager as well.
(01:11):
Yeah, you do.
When you own a restaurant and it seems like you live at the place.
I know my cousin used to own a place.
And Phil, don't mess with the stuff.
Now, right now, the co-host is trying to unplug and plug things in and our sound engineer
is going to smack them.
So if you see Phil Fry come into your restaurant this summer, just do not allow him to enter.
(01:32):
Okay?
I'll be there.
I know you will.
Don't let him touch the electrical equipment is what you're saying.
I won't plug and unplug stuff in at your place.
But we do have an electrician that travels in our circle.
Matt's an electrician, so he could do that.
So tell us a little bit about your restaurant, what they offer and where is it located?
(01:52):
Well, you know, JF Wall Ice is super conveniently located as far as the island goes.
We are directly across the street from the Middle Bass Island State Park and Marina,
which is by far the nicest Marina facility, I believe, on Lake Erie.
And we're all got thumbs up right now, by the way.
(02:13):
Say what?
We all have thumbs up agreeing with that.
Yeah, good.
Excellent.
And also, if you're not a boater and you're a day tripper or a tourist spending a night
or a weekend, we are the first business that you would arrive at when you get off the Miller
Ferry.
On Middle Bass, you get off the Miller Ferry, you can only go one way and we're just about
(02:36):
300 yards up the road.
Yes, you are.
You are pretty conveniently located.
You mentioned the island.
How big is this island?
I've always wondered.
How big is Middle Bass?
Approximately.
Yeah, I'll be your island guide today.
I can give you the best I can give you.
The island is approximately 700 acres.
If you could take the main road, Fox Road, and it goes up by the, I like to call it the
(03:01):
Middle Bass International Airport.
What is that, a grass field?
Yeah.
Well, there's the grass field too, but this is the blacktop one.
It's a nice runway.
It's 1,850 feet long, perfect for a little four place setting airplane.
But if you stretch the road out or the island out, if you could straighten it out from one
(03:23):
end to the other, it's approximately three miles long, encompassing 700 acres.
Okay.
Now, do you have your own police force out there?
No.
We actually, in years past, we pay money to the Put-in-Bay Police Department.
It's in our taxes and they come over and they patrol.
(03:44):
They're on call and they patrol generally from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
But as of last year, that contract, I believe, expired and they contracted with the Ottawa
County Sheriff's Department.
So now we have a sheriff patrolling.
It's kind of nice for the island because in the winter time when a lot of the residents
(04:06):
are gone, the sheriff does come over once a week, once every couple of weeks and they
make their rounds and just check and make sure that homes are secure and that there's
no funny business going on.
I think it's very telling, Ted, that the second question you asked was about police on the
island.
Are you planning a caper or what?
(04:26):
I've been to a few of the places there.
That's why I wondered.
Yeah.
I've seen some of the-
You know, on Middlebass, we don't need the police.
We are very well able to take care of ourselves if you read between that.
Well, I've been sailing out there probably for a good 10 years.
Our boats are in the Western Basin, but we come out to the islands.
(04:49):
And I quickly learned that if it was a lot better to stay at Middlebass State Park Marina
than it was to stay at Southbass just because of the magnitude of madness on Southbass.
And I've certainly been in your establishment many times and I really love being out there.
(05:14):
And you're right.
It's just so convenient to the marina right there.
It's just really nice to have you guys there.
Now tell us-
We've got a great compliment of businesses on the island.
The newest one that opened up was at the old press house of the winery and it's called
the Island Grind.
(05:36):
And they have a Speakeasy bar they opened up last year as well.
But great coffee and breakfast sandwiches runs all day long.
And then at night they have the Speakeasy bar.
It's called Prohibition.
Oh, that's it.
If you go out to State Park, it's kind of adjacent to where you come in.
It's between the old winery-
(05:56):
Okay, I got somebody talking here.
Yeah, I've been up there and gotten coffee.
Yeah, that is a nice place.
Yeah, it's nice for breakfast sandwiches there.
She does a really- I don't think she sleeps.
I forget her name.
But I mean-
Yeah, Jane.
She does a fantastic-
Jane, yeah.
I mean, we'll be there.
We'll be- normally what our day is like is we'll go get a breakfast sandwich from her.
(06:21):
We go out and sail during the day, come back the afternoon, stop by your place normally
for dinner, and then go to the Speakeasy for a nightcap.
But yeah, that's a really nice combination there.
Like I said, I would rather stay out at Middle Bass 10 times more than I would at South Bass
(06:42):
just because of the madness that you get in downtown.
But the nice thing is too though, if you want to spend the afternoon over at South Bass,
when we have your boat, you just go over and grab a ball and they have a water taxi.
So you can still get the go there if you want.
But then, you know, it's elderly folk that need our sleep.
We can come.
But it's not, you know, I shouldn't just say it that way.
(07:03):
Middle Bass is something for everybody.
It's not just for us elderly folk.
I see young families riding bikes.
I see- oh, do you guys have a beach out there by the way?
I've never been to it.
I gotta ask that.
So it's interesting.
You know, all the islands were formed from glaciers.
Right.
All from the glacial loops.
So everything was the hard rock that was left.
(07:24):
And we all know Kelly's Island has that great beach on the north side.
Right.
A sandy cove.
Middle Bass does not have a sandy beach.
The only beach would be what we call the beaches across the street or next to Walleye's to
the north.
But it's kind of a stone beach.
If you wore water shoes, you could come in there on a jet ski.
(07:47):
Because you're not going to lay a beach towel down on sand.
You know, it's just not happening.
But you walk into the water, you get in about, you know, I don't know, 10 yards or so, and
then you're on the sandy bottom.
And if you had water shoes, that tends to be what people do.
It's also the best place on the island to catch the sunset.
Now, is that that place, it looks almost like a narrow, I mean, like a narrow slip between
(08:12):
two sets of rocks as you come across around?
Do you know what I'm talking about, Phil?
Yeah, I think didn't they used to have camping there, like tent camping?
Yeah, the state of Ohio, when they bought that property years ago, they made that the
primitive tent camping.
And then it's funny as as our government agencies don't communicate well with each other.
(08:34):
The I think it was the EPA or somebody said to the state, hey, you know, that's dedicated
wetlands, get that stuff out of there.
Now you've got it.
You've actually got a swimming pool, though.
I was going to ask him about that.
At Walleye's, though.
Well, let's call it what it is.
It's a wading pool.
That's OK.
It's only 18 inches deep, but very comfortable, very nice tropical feel.
(08:57):
And then we have the grotto with the waterfall and the fountain we threw in it so you can
get wet anyway, anyway you want to.
And people can also rent golf carts from you as well, isn't that correct?
Absolutely.
Yep, absolutely.
And then you can park rental by the hour, by the day, by the weeks.
And then I know when we would stay out there, we would take the sunny S if we wanted to
(09:25):
go over to South Bass.
So we've got that water taxi.
I know I think in 22 it wasn't running, but it was running again in 23.
But there are also ferries that that come out there for from the mainland.
And I mean, obviously, not everybody that comes to the island is coming on their own
boat.
There are ferries.
(09:46):
Is it Miller that runs to Middle Bass?
Yep.
Miller Ferry is our only mainland ferry that comes to Middle Bass.
And it does get quite busy.
If you were planning on coming and bringing a vehicle, they do require a reservation.
And they open up the reservations two weeks in advance of when you're coming.
(10:08):
So if you're coming two weeks from now, you need to call on the phone today and get your
reservation because they do sell out quickly.
If you're walking on, bringing a bicycle, there's no reservation ever required.
There's plenty of room.
Yeah, I know bringing cars over.
(10:29):
But most if you just come over on the ferry or bring your boat, I mean, really, I don't
even know that a car is that necessary.
Absolutely not.
You can walk the whole island.
It's super flat.
It's very friendly.
There's paths, trails for most of it.
So yeah, a car is absolutely not necessary.
The only thing I always say about, you know, bringing a car is if you're coming over for
(10:52):
the weekend and you're bringing, you know, your family with four kids, well, you might
want to bring the vehicle because it's your suitcase.
It is convenient for that fact only.
And I'll tell you what to bring a car around trip on the ferry to Middlebass.
In my opinion, it's very reasonable.
It's right around 50 bucks round trip.
That's pretty cheap, pretty convenient to be a big suitcase.
(11:15):
I would agree with you.
Now, can you rent bikes out there too or just golf carts?
As far as I know, I believe the state park has bicycles.
We used to rent bicycles, but we couldn't keep up with the weather factors on them.
The weather just ruins them so quickly.
You get one season, you know, you got a $150, $200 bike, you rent it a couple of times.
(11:36):
And then by the next season, it's rusted out and chains are falling apart.
But the state does have bicycle rentals.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
That's good to know.
Now your restaurant, how did it get its name?
Well, that's interesting.
So the restaurant was actually built by a gentleman named Bill Gross.
(11:57):
He hails out of the Monroe, Michigan area.
And I don't know how he ever came to the island, found it, whatever, but he bought the piece
of land and he put it up there.
You know, it was pre-zoning.
So he built a bar and restaurant and named it JF Walleyes.
And everybody says, what does the J and the F stand for?
(12:19):
And when I talked to Bill Gross and said, what does that JF stand for?
Because people think it's jumping, fighting.
And we know walleyes don't jump.
They might fight, but they don't jump.
So what is it?
He said, it was in memory of his two brothers, John and Frank.
That was the JF Walleyes.
Okay.
Now, one of the things I wanted to talk to you about that I think is one of the best
(12:43):
things you get is you get a lot of good entertainment.
Tell us about what do you got coming this year?
Anything you want to tell us about?
Well, every year we try to switch it up.
So we're not doing the same thing over and over again.
And I'm pretty much tone deaf, but I know what I like.
And then I have to think about, you know, what's our average age of our, our guests.
(13:06):
And I try to find bands that I think are going to fit in there.
We blend country and rock and roll.
This year we've got Last Chance Band out of the Lorraine County area.
They were out last year.
They did a really nice job for us.
That's some country.
We've got a new one.
What is it?
The Jack.
(13:27):
They're going to catch me off guard.
Jimmy Jack's band.
I think they played at the Boat Show and had a phenomenal response.
We've got them scheduled.
We've got some acoustic stuff we do on slower nights just to have something to do maybe
at the back tiki bar so that it's not full blown bands.
(13:47):
So we go back and forth.
We have full blown bands, single duo, acoustic or just small groups.
So we do a little bit of everything.
And then when the bands are done, we typically do our bands from like 8 to 11.
And then we've got two phenomenal return bartenders that work the back bar, Nikki and Anthony.
(14:09):
And they get to play in their playlist on their phones and connecting it into the house
music system and that little back tiki bar can turn into quite a party after 11 o'clock.
Okay.
I'm usually in bed asleep by then but I'm going to have to check it out.
Now when are you going to…
The other thing we did last year that was really fun that kind of happened by accident,
(14:34):
somebody said, hey, it's my wife's birthday and I want to have a glow party for her.
Can I have a glow party at your back bar?
And I just of course said yes.
I didn't even know what it was.
But this gentleman brought up all these black lights and surrounded the interior of the
back tiki bar with them and then had glow markers and everybody showed up and they were
(14:56):
drawn on themselves.
I mean, it was hilarious.
We ended up having three glow parties last year and we're going to do that again this
year.
They are a lot of fun.
Oh, that does sound like kind of a little bit of fun.
Are you having the Elton John guy back this year?
No, we weren't able to connect a date with him.
You know, he plays all over the United States.
I know.
(15:16):
I talked to him.
He does shows at Walt Disney World, I mean casinos and we were not able to secure a date
with him this year.
We've had him, you know, many years and we thought, that's okay.
Let's do a break this year and we will try again for next year.
What about…
It's hard sometimes, you know.
Our reaching out to the bands always happens in like November and December and you'd
(15:37):
be surprised.
Everybody's already booked up.
I mean, it is very hard to find good quality acts.
Phil, maybe you could go out and play.
Yeah, sure.
No, I have no skill.
I already knew that, Phil.
Yeah.
Okay.
What about Ryan Dunlap?
Is he coming back this year?
Absolutely.
Yeah, and all of our…
I've got to get that schedule updated on our website.
(16:01):
Yeah, I was just looking while I was talking to you.
I was like, we don't have it.
I'll have to tell you a private story about the Ryan Dunlap thing.
I don't want to really record it, but it's not a bad one, but once we're done, I'll
explain it to you.
Yeah, Ryan was fun to have.
I'm opening up my calendar right now so I can shoot off some other names, but I know
Ryan's there three times.
(16:22):
Rick Whited out of Toledo is incredible.
I don't know if you guys have heard of Captain Kirk, seen him anywhere.
I saw him on Star Trek.
That's not the same guy?
No, not the same guy.
Looks like a band called The Agency, Zero Hour, Last Chance Band, 100 Proof Band is
(16:45):
a country band.
I mean, they look really good.
We're going to finish out Labor Day weekend with Renegade Lemonade, which I think they've
been playing a lot of Marina-type venues as well in the summertime.
Master TC and The Visitors out of Sindusky, they do a nice 80s, 90s mix.
So when are you opening the restaurant?
(17:07):
I assume it's closed right now.
Yeah, we're closed for the winter.
We will open the first weekend of May.
That's always when we just get the doors open.
You know, on Middle Bass, it's a slow start and June's have picked up pretty well, but
once we get to Labor Day weekend, we'll be running our full schedule.
(17:28):
And ever since COVID, which bit everybody a little bit in the butt, we have been closed
on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
And we have found that that's just going to be what we're going to continue to do.
It's a great way to give the whole staff a break.
It gives us our ability to work long weekends and then relax and clean and do what we need
(17:50):
to do.
Of course, if a holiday falls in there, we'll adjust accordingly.
Okay.
Yeah, I was going to say when you have a place running seven days a week, as many hours,
it is hard to keep it cleaned and people get burned out just from that schedule.
So I could see why that makes some sense.
So if I were going to come to your restaurant for the first time, is there something you
(18:13):
would say?
Did you have your finger up to ask a question?
I did.
And I think you're going to ask the exact question that I was going to ask.
I was just going to say if I'm coming into your restaurant for the first time, what would
you suggest that I get to eat?
Or is there something unique at your restaurant that, you know, oh, you have to see this or
do this?
(18:35):
What would you recommend?
You know, that's a great question.
Every year, one of our challenges is staffing a seasonal business is we all look around
and see businesses that are struggling just finding help.
That's a normal business on the mainland.
But it's in our difficulty in trying to find a staff that we can get to commit work for
(18:56):
us for four months and then they're gone.
So we've done really well with cooks in the kitchen.
And you can use the word cook or the word chef depends on what you have.
The last three years, we were blessed to have a chef in the kitchen.
And he actually came to us from Maine each summer.
(19:16):
And he was phenomenal in the kitchen and he really changed our menu around a lot and in
good ways and in bad ways, because J.F.
Walleis was always known to be, hey, it's literally a step above a dive as far as the
food.
It's bar food.
It's the comfort bar food that we all love, the pizza, the hamburgers.
(19:38):
And we have had some seafood and different things in the last couple of years.
This year, we want to go retro back.
And I'll tell you what we're going to do is try to keep it simple, stupid.
And with that, I mean, we're going to have the burgers, the wings, the pizza, the sandwiches,
the appetizers, the stuff everybody knows, everybody loves.
(19:59):
And we're going to try to keep the portions appropriate with the price because it's expensive
enough to be out on a boat and enjoy yourself for a weekend.
And the last couple of years, our prices started getting out of hand because we started to
we were doing too much of the, oh, let's let's have the salmon, the prime rib.
And they were delicious.
(20:20):
But it was really hard to digest the pricing of the menu.
So we're going to back that up this year.
And I'll tell you what we what we do, anything we do, we're going to do good.
We're going to do really good at it.
So we carry the best beef for the burgers, the Angus beef.
It's a full half pounder.
It's a fresh brioche bun.
(20:41):
And the pizza, it's a stone fired crust.
And we we don't use sauce out of the can.
We spice it up.
And we do have a chef coming in this year that'll do all that.
And I'm sure he's already talked about he has a bacon wrap scallop that everybody loves
everywhere he works.
So he's going to bring that in.
That'll be there.
And we want to bring back perch.
(21:02):
We were really known for perch.
There's you guys ever heard of Demours and Sandusky?
Yeah, yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So Demours is no they have great perch.
In fact, I had some the other day.
We always have great perch.
We have a great recipe for the breading and perch just got crazy.
So last year we didn't even have perch on the menu.
(21:23):
I'm hoping to bring the perch back this year.
And of course, we're Jeff Walleyes.
So you've got to have the walleye bites or the walleye, you know, hoagie sandwich.
We're very good with the walleye as well.
So we're really good at a lot of things.
And I can't tell you any one thing to do.
But it's funny, the one sandwich that we're known for ever since I've owned the place,
(21:44):
which has been 20 years now, is called the Turkey Club Wedge.
I don't know why it's been it is delicious.
And we sell thousands of them in a season.
Now go ahead, Phil.
Where does does your staff stay on on the island?
Yeah, we have to provide housing for everybody.
And that's a big question because it leads into well, there's another business on the
(22:08):
island, St. Hazards.
It's not for everybody, but it is turned into a late night spot.
And if you've ever been to St. Hazards, you see all those little brightly colored trailers
that surround the property.
We actually own multiple of those.
And that's where we house our employees.
Now do you rent places to stay also?
We do at the back of the St. Hazards property is the big blue building with the yellow roof.
(22:33):
Anytime you're coming to the island, you see it.
You're coming into the marina.
You see that building to your right.
And that is called the St. Hazards condos.
They are not owned or managed by St. Hazards at all.
They're individually owned.
There's 37 condos in there.
And we own and manage eight condos in the building that we offer for rent on our website
(22:55):
on a nightly or an extended stay basis.
I got to imagine those probably are booked almost all summer.
Now it's Middle Bass Island.
This is what I love about Middle Bass Islands.
They're not.
Interesting.
Middle Bass is, you know, when I bought it 20 years ago, it was like, oh, this is going
(23:15):
to be, this is a great thing.
This island is going to explode.
Put-in-Bay is already at max.
Well, Put-in-Bay keeps reinventing themselves and keeps building more hotels and more rooms.
So we never really did explode.
And that's good.
What we're catering to is like you had said earlier, people that just don't want to get
in all of that mess.
(23:36):
And if you do, and I don't mean to call it a mess, it's to each their own.
But if you do, you simply can ride the sunny-ass ferry over, enjoy yourself for however long
you want to and that you're comfortable for, and then you can come back.
So we'd like to be what we say the little brother to Put-in-Bay, the little brother,
the little sister, more relaxed, a lot quieter, and a lot more family friendly.
(24:02):
I tell you, if you got a family and you're looking to do something in the islands, you're
right.
It's very nice to come there.
You have a very nice restaurant.
You know, let's face it, you got that pool out back.
And I tell you one, now my run from the marina over to your island's about six hours.
And after six hours in the sun, nothing feels better than popping in that waiting pool in
(24:24):
the back and ordering some food or ordering a beverage.
And it's nice.
Now is your pool heated?
No, it doesn't have to be.
At 18 inches, that thing will heat on itself.
Fair.
In fact, we have to really sometimes add cold water to it so it stays refreshing.
We have a great guy that manages our pool.
(24:46):
And the state mandates any time you have a commercial pool like that, that you are watching
your chemical levels all day long.
So we have a guy, Pat Brownlow, that is on the island.
He's a resident of the island and he specializes in the chemistry of the pool.
He comes down there four times a day.
You'll often see him.
He'll just show up and he'll be testing the water.
And then at night when everybody's gone, we drain it halfway down and we fill it with
(25:10):
fresh cold water to make sure it's good and crisp the next day.
I know some boaters that need to watch their chemical levels a little closer, but that's
a whole nother discussion.
It's a different type of chemical.
Different, different type of chemical.
Now tell us, the people who have never been there before, tell them how big this pool
is.
Because they could be, when you say wading pool, they can be pictured and you know like
(25:32):
something you put in the backyard or something you would have at the back of a hotel.
But this is quite a substantial size pool.
Yeah, we're, I think we hold 27,000 gallons of water and we can fit 100 people in there
without bumping shoulders.
You know, that's very easy.
I don't know the length of it.
(25:52):
It's a hundred feet long and at the widest point it's 30, 40 foot wide.
So it is big.
Originally we were going to put in a, um, a slim up bar with a full swimming pool.
And then at the last minute we just kind of changed and said, you know what, that's just
going to invite what we really aren't trying to get in our business.
(26:13):
We want to stay family friendly.
So we went back to the drawing board, came up with this and thought, man, this is just
the best thing ever.
How long has that pool been there?
So we, I believe we opened that in 2008.
Okay.
(26:34):
That's not too long ago actually.
Yeah, it's 15 years.
And you said you've owned the business, do you say 20?
20 years, correct.
Okay.
Now during the summer, do you spend pretty much your whole time on the island?
Yeah, I absolutely do.
I love the island.
I do have to go back and forth to do, you know, different things, different chores like
(26:56):
hey buddy.
So I ride the ferry off and on once a week.
And my favorite time to be on the ferry is when I'm leaving the island because I'm getting
a break from the island.
And in my 24 hours that I'm off the island, my next best favorite time is when I come
back to the island because I'm ready to get back.
And those who's never been out there, I got to tell you, it is very beautiful.
(27:19):
If you've never been out to Lake Erie Islands in general, because like there's a lot of
people around here that have never ventured out there, it is awesome.
You know, when you come up in the boat and it's just like a part of the, it's almost
like I know people will call Key West of the north is Putin Bay.
I don't know.
(27:40):
I think it's nicer than Key West because I've been to Key West and I really don't care.
I mean it's okay if you want to, I'm sorry Phil, I know you just came back from there.
Yeah, it was just two weeks ago.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's, but it's not one of my favorite places, but it's okay.
But I mean, just going into the islands and they don't realize really how many islands
are right there.
You know, you got North Bass, Middle Bass, South Bass, Dralter.
(28:01):
I mean, there's just so many little islands over there.
And then you pull into that Marina and like you said, it is nice.
It is very nice Marina.
It's kept well, well, the staff there is very nice.
And you get out of your, you get out of your boat and you walk up the hill and right across
the street and there's your place.
Right.
You know, we have a general store on the island too.
(28:22):
So if you came and you forgot some of your provisions, the Middle Bass general store,
which is only about, I don't know, maybe less than a half mile walk from the Marina has
everything you need, including a hardware store.
And then there's, they opened up the pizza restaurant attached in the same building.
(28:44):
We've been there.
We've been there.
Yep.
Uncle Joe's fantastic food.
Again, another great asset to our island.
And you know, I always want to make sure I mention them because it's that's cheers.
If you ever watched cheers, now I'm showing my age, but that's the Middle Bass general
store and Uncle Joe's pizza.
(29:04):
Cause everybody in there knows everybody and that's where the meetings are.
And let me tell you, we've been being with the boaters.
We have had to provision at the general store before, you know?
Yeah, we had to buy a bunch of fly swatters.
We did.
That's what it was.
We had going back by the biting flies at West sister.
(29:26):
So yeah.
Yeah.
Those are, those are terrible around there.
Now do you-
Doesn't that just mean it's going to rain?
Out there behind, behind West sister, it's because of all that, um, Cumeron, um, excrement
has generated such an incredible flies.
If you get too close to that island, they will just attack you.
They are aggressive too.
(29:47):
They are.
They'll bite through your shoes.
I've had them bite through a shoe.
Yep.
Do you boat?
Word of advice for, for people that have maybe never been around the islands or never been
to middle bass Island and being experienced and old experience boater and you guys are
get your charts, know where you're going.
Um, we sit and watch boats hit souls all the time because they're just not paying attention.
(30:12):
They see water and think it's deep, you know?
So my word of advice is anybody coming to the islands that's never been around the islands
and in particular middle bass, middle bass has a horrible soul off of the, uh, I guess
you call it the Northeast side of the Island and the Southwest side of the Island.
I didn't do that.
I'm glad I didn't hit it.
We had, uh, we had during the race, during the race last year, a couple of boats went
(30:38):
to ground.
Yeah.
Well, that's, but that's for a different reason.
That's because they put the marks on the shoals.
You gotta know where you're going.
Um, are there any residents that live on middle bass year round?
Absolutely.
So that's a great question altogether.
(31:00):
There's about, so as we said, the, the Island is 700 acres.
The last count I had was that there are 700 electric meters on the Island of which probably
a hundred of those could be facilitated to the state hazards resort with the, the villas,
the campsites and the condos.
(31:21):
So take the rest of the aisle.
You've got about 600 electric meters, which means about 600 homes.
And most of the people either are retired and spend the entire summer there or they're
still working and they're commuting back and forth and they're coming on the weekends.
But in the, in the winter time right now there's approximately 30 people that stay year round.
(31:44):
So today there's probably 30 people over on the Island.
Okay.
Very cool.
Now, how do they get back and forth?
Well, that was going to be my next thing.
How about groceries?
You know, so groceries, they call over to Bassets or Kroger's, there's already a service.
They do the shopping, they take it to Griffin airlines or the other airline.
(32:05):
And it's flown over.
There's a little surcharge on it so they can get fresh milk, fresh eggs, fresh vegetables,
whatever they need.
A lot of the stuff they do, they load up and put in the freezers in the, in the fall, but
the fresh stuff gets flown over.
And in the case of kids that have to go to school, we currently have three children on
(32:26):
the Island that are still school age and they all go to school at Put-in Bay.
There is no school on Middlebass anymore.
It hasn't been attended since 1983.
So the kids fly to school every day.
And in the event of bad weather, if they got caught on Put-in Bay and there's bad weather
and the planes can't fly, they're assigned a family to stay with until the weather clears
(32:50):
and they can get back home.
Just normal, normal life for them.
Okay.
And I heard recently the fog was so bad over there that people were having trouble getting
their groceries flown in.
Yeah, there was nothing for four days.
I think that was about a week, week and a half ago.
There was nothing.
(33:10):
So if, I think that actually Jake and Emily Dunphy that own the Marine Rescue, I believe
they actually made a run to Put-in Bay with one of their boats to help, you know, given
that emergency situation.
But yeah, that's rare.
That was a rare one where you are definitely cut off.
(33:31):
Well, now we noticed when we had, I'm going to use Phil's term, that seiche, there were
people walking around out there on the bottom, right?
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
When you get that wind and it pushes everything to Buffalo, I mean, you find new glacial grooves.
I mean, it's amazing.
Did you go out and walk around after it?
(33:54):
Just to check it out?
Yeah.
No, I leave the island in the fall.
I missed that.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
Well, like I said before, if you've never been to JF Wallace, you have to go there this
summer.
They have lots of entertainment.
It's a great place to take your family.
(34:14):
It's a great place.
They have a lot going on at night if you want to just come back and hang out.
It's safe there.
It's, you know, they don't get super rowdy, so you don't have to worry about that.
Like I said, if you're looking for a place to go eat, hang out, check it out.
Does anybody else have any questions?
No.
Thank you for your time today.
(34:36):
Yeah, thank you.
All right.
So we'll probably see you over there.
Yes.
Thanks for helping spread the word about Middle Bass.
We love visitors and we all need the business in the season and appreciate everybody and
you are completely safe there.
Very family friendly.
A couple of boutique stores on there.
You can gift shop.
I mean, it's all there.
(34:57):
I agree.
I agree.
We're coming on.
Well, good afternoon.
(00:03):
Today we have a special show.
We're going to start doing some shows for like travels around the Great Lakes, spots
you can go.
And one of the spots is a place I like to go.
It's on Middlebass Island called J.F.
Walleis.
And we have somebody from J.F.
Walleis today who's going to tell us a little bit about just the island and about the restaurant
(00:26):
and what we can see for upcoming entertainment or whatever other kind of mischief we want
to get into.
And I'll have everybody here introduce themselves.
Again, my name is Ted.
And then to my right, I'm going to trick you up this time.
We have...
I am Christina Columbus, co-hosting for Jive Talking.
And I'm Phil Fry, also a co-host for Jive Talking.
(00:51):
And who am I speaking with?
Why don't you introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Chris.
Hello, my name is Chris Zeitler from J.F.
Walleis on Middlebass Island.
Good to have you.
Now, are you the owner, manager?
How are you affiliated with the restaurant?
I think all of the above.
Yeah, I'm the owner and I step in and act as a manager as well.
(01:11):
Yeah, you do.
When you own a restaurant and it seems like you live at the place.
I know my cousin used to own a place.
And Phil, don't mess with the stuff.
Now, right now, the co-host is trying to unplug and plug things in and our sound engineer
is going to smack them.
So if you see Phil Fry come into your restaurant this summer, just do not allow him to enter.
(01:32):
Okay?
I'll be there.
I know you will.
Don't let him touch the electrical equipment is what you're saying.
I won't plug and unplug stuff in at your place.
But we do have an electrician that travels in our circle.
Matt's an electrician, so he could do that.
So tell us a little bit about your restaurant, what they offer and where is it located?
(01:52):
Well, you know, JF Wall Ice is super conveniently located as far as the island goes.
We are directly across the street from the Middle Bass Island State Park and Marina,
which is by far the nicest Marina facility, I believe, on Lake Erie.
And we're all got thumbs up right now, by the way.
(02:13):
Say what?
We all have thumbs up agreeing with that.
Yeah, good.
Excellent.
And also, if you're not a boater and you're a day tripper or a tourist spending a night
or a weekend, we are the first business that you would arrive at when you get off the Miller
Ferry.
On Middle Bass, you get off the Miller Ferry, you can only go one way and we're just about
(02:36):
300 yards up the road.
Yes, you are.
You are pretty conveniently located.
You mentioned the island.
How big is this island?
I've always wondered.
How big is Middle Bass?
Approximately.
Yeah, I'll be your island guide today.
I can give you the best I can give you.
The island is approximately 700 acres.
If you could take the main road, Fox Road, and it goes up by the, I like to call it the
(03:01):
Middle Bass International Airport.
What is that, a grass field?
Yeah.
Well, there's the grass field too, but this is the blacktop one.
It's a nice runway.
It's 1,850 feet long, perfect for a little four place setting airplane.
But if you stretch the road out or the island out, if you could straighten it out from one
(03:23):
end to the other, it's approximately three miles long, encompassing 700 acres.
Okay.
Now, do you have your own police force out there?
No.
We actually, in years past, we pay money to the Put-in-Bay Police Department.
It's in our taxes and they come over and they patrol.
(03:44):
They're on call and they patrol generally from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
But as of last year, that contract, I believe, expired and they contracted with the Ottawa
County Sheriff's Department.
So now we have a sheriff patrolling.
It's kind of nice for the island because in the winter time when a lot of the residents
(04:06):
are gone, the sheriff does come over once a week, once every couple of weeks and they
make their rounds and just check and make sure that homes are secure and that there's
no funny business going on.
I think it's very telling, Ted, that the second question you asked was about police on the
island.
Are you planning a caper or what?
(04:26):
I've been to a few of the places there.
That's why I wondered.
Yeah.
I've seen some of the-
You know, on Middlebass, we don't need the police.
We are very well able to take care of ourselves if you read between that.
Well, I've been sailing out there probably for a good 10 years.
Our boats are in the Western Basin, but we come out to the islands.
(04:49):
And I quickly learned that if it was a lot better to stay at Middlebass State Park Marina
than it was to stay at Southbass just because of the magnitude of madness on Southbass.
And I've certainly been in your establishment many times and I really love being out there.
(05:14):
And you're right.
It's just so convenient to the marina right there.
It's just really nice to have you guys there.
Now tell us-
We've got a great compliment of businesses on the island.
The newest one that opened up was at the old press house of the winery and it's called
the Island Grind.
(05:36):
And they have a Speakeasy bar they opened up last year as well.
But great coffee and breakfast sandwiches runs all day long.
And then at night they have the Speakeasy bar.
It's called Prohibition.
Oh, that's it.
If you go out to State Park, it's kind of adjacent to where you come in.
It's between the old winery-
(05:56):
Okay, I got somebody talking here.
Yeah, I've been up there and gotten coffee.
Yeah, that is a nice place.
Yeah, it's nice for breakfast sandwiches there.
She does a really- I don't think she sleeps.
I forget her name.
But I mean-
Yeah, Jane.
She does a fantastic-
Jane, yeah.
I mean, we'll be there.
We'll be- normally what our day is like is we'll go get a breakfast sandwich from her.
(06:21):
We go out and sail during the day, come back the afternoon, stop by your place normally
for dinner, and then go to the Speakeasy for a nightcap.
But yeah, that's a really nice combination there.
Like I said, I would rather stay out at Middle Bass 10 times more than I would at South Bass
(06:42):
just because of the madness that you get in downtown.
But the nice thing is too though, if you want to spend the afternoon over at South Bass,
when we have your boat, you just go over and grab a ball and they have a water taxi.
So you can still get the go there if you want.
But then, you know, it's elderly folk that need our sleep.
We can come.
But it's not, you know, I shouldn't just say it that way.
(07:03):
Middle Bass is something for everybody.
It's not just for us elderly folk.
I see young families riding bikes.
I see- oh, do you guys have a beach out there by the way?
I've never been to it.
I gotta ask that.
So it's interesting.
You know, all the islands were formed from glaciers.
Right.
All from the glacial loops.
So everything was the hard rock that was left.
(07:24):
And we all know Kelly's Island has that great beach on the north side.
Right.
A sandy cove.
Middle Bass does not have a sandy beach.
The only beach would be what we call the beaches across the street or next to Walleye's to
the north.
But it's kind of a stone beach.
If you wore water shoes, you could come in there on a jet ski.
(07:47):
Because you're not going to lay a beach towel down on sand.
You know, it's just not happening.
But you walk into the water, you get in about, you know, I don't know, 10 yards or so, and
then you're on the sandy bottom.
And if you had water shoes, that tends to be what people do.
It's also the best place on the island to catch the sunset.
Now, is that that place, it looks almost like a narrow, I mean, like a narrow slip between
(08:12):
two sets of rocks as you come across around?
Do you know what I'm talking about, Phil?
Yeah, I think didn't they used to have camping there, like tent camping?
Yeah, the state of Ohio, when they bought that property years ago, they made that the
primitive tent camping.
And then it's funny as as our government agencies don't communicate well with each other.
(08:34):
The I think it was the EPA or somebody said to the state, hey, you know, that's dedicated
wetlands, get that stuff out of there.
Now you've got it.
You've actually got a swimming pool, though.
I was going to ask him about that.
At Walleye's, though.
Well, let's call it what it is.
It's a wading pool.
That's OK.
It's only 18 inches deep, but very comfortable, very nice tropical feel.
(08:57):
And then we have the grotto with the waterfall and the fountain we threw in it so you can
get wet anyway, anyway you want to.
And people can also rent golf carts from you as well, isn't that correct?
Absolutely.
Yep, absolutely.
And then you can park rental by the hour, by the day, by the weeks.
And then I know when we would stay out there, we would take the sunny S if we wanted to
(09:25):
go over to South Bass.
So we've got that water taxi.
I know I think in 22 it wasn't running, but it was running again in 23.
But there are also ferries that that come out there for from the mainland.
And I mean, obviously, not everybody that comes to the island is coming on their own
boat.
There are ferries.
(09:46):
Is it Miller that runs to Middle Bass?
Yep.
Miller Ferry is our only mainland ferry that comes to Middle Bass.
And it does get quite busy.
If you were planning on coming and bringing a vehicle, they do require a reservation.
And they open up the reservations two weeks in advance of when you're coming.
(10:08):
So if you're coming two weeks from now, you need to call on the phone today and get your
reservation because they do sell out quickly.
If you're walking on, bringing a bicycle, there's no reservation ever required.
There's plenty of room.
Yeah, I know bringing cars over.
(10:29):
But most if you just come over on the ferry or bring your boat, I mean, really, I don't
even know that a car is that necessary.
Absolutely not.
You can walk the whole island.
It's super flat.
It's very friendly.
There's paths, trails for most of it.
So yeah, a car is absolutely not necessary.
The only thing I always say about, you know, bringing a car is if you're coming over for
(10:52):
the weekend and you're bringing, you know, your family with four kids, well, you might
want to bring the vehicle because it's your suitcase.
It is convenient for that fact only.
And I'll tell you what to bring a car around trip on the ferry to Middlebass.
In my opinion, it's very reasonable.
It's right around 50 bucks round trip.
That's pretty cheap, pretty convenient to be a big suitcase.
(11:15):
I would agree with you.
Now, can you rent bikes out there too or just golf carts?
As far as I know, I believe the state park has bicycles.
We used to rent bicycles, but we couldn't keep up with the weather factors on them.
The weather just ruins them so quickly.
You get one season, you know, you got a $150, $200 bike, you rent it a couple of times.
(11:36):
And then by the next season, it's rusted out and chains are falling apart.
But the state does have bicycle rentals.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
That's good to know.
Now your restaurant, how did it get its name?
Well, that's interesting.
So the restaurant was actually built by a gentleman named Bill Gross.
(11:57):
He hails out of the Monroe, Michigan area.
And I don't know how he ever came to the island, found it, whatever, but he bought the piece
of land and he put it up there.
You know, it was pre-zoning.
So he built a bar and restaurant and named it JF Walleyes.
And everybody says, what does the J and the F stand for?
(12:19):
And when I talked to Bill Gross and said, what does that JF stand for?
Because people think it's jumping, fighting.
And we know walleyes don't jump.
They might fight, but they don't jump.
So what is it?
He said, it was in memory of his two brothers, John and Frank.
That was the JF Walleyes.
Okay.
Now, one of the things I wanted to talk to you about that I think is one of the best
(12:43):
things you get is you get a lot of good entertainment.
Tell us about what do you got coming this year?
Anything you want to tell us about?
Well, every year we try to switch it up.
So we're not doing the same thing over and over again.
And I'm pretty much tone deaf, but I know what I like.
And then I have to think about, you know, what's our average age of our, our guests.
(13:06):
And I try to find bands that I think are going to fit in there.
We blend country and rock and roll.
This year we've got Last Chance Band out of the Lorraine County area.
They were out last year.
They did a really nice job for us.
That's some country.
We've got a new one.
What is it?
The Jack.
(13:27):
They're going to catch me off guard.
Jimmy Jack's band.
I think they played at the Boat Show and had a phenomenal response.
We've got them scheduled.
We've got some acoustic stuff we do on slower nights just to have something to do maybe
at the back tiki bar so that it's not full blown bands.
(13:47):
So we go back and forth.
We have full blown bands, single duo, acoustic or just small groups.
So we do a little bit of everything.
And then when the bands are done, we typically do our bands from like 8 to 11.
And then we've got two phenomenal return bartenders that work the back bar, Nikki and Anthony.
(14:09):
And they get to play in their playlist on their phones and connecting it into the house
music system and that little back tiki bar can turn into quite a party after 11 o'clock.
Okay.
I'm usually in bed asleep by then but I'm going to have to check it out.
Now when are you going to…
The other thing we did last year that was really fun that kind of happened by accident,
(14:34):
somebody said, hey, it's my wife's birthday and I want to have a glow party for her.
Can I have a glow party at your back bar?
And I just of course said yes.
I didn't even know what it was.
But this gentleman brought up all these black lights and surrounded the interior of the
back tiki bar with them and then had glow markers and everybody showed up and they were
(14:56):
drawn on themselves.
I mean, it was hilarious.
We ended up having three glow parties last year and we're going to do that again this
year.
They are a lot of fun.
Oh, that does sound like kind of a little bit of fun.
Are you having the Elton John guy back this year?
No, we weren't able to connect a date with him.
You know, he plays all over the United States.
I know.
(15:16):
I talked to him.
He does shows at Walt Disney World, I mean casinos and we were not able to secure a date
with him this year.
We've had him, you know, many years and we thought, that's okay.
Let's do a break this year and we will try again for next year.
What about…
It's hard sometimes, you know.
Our reaching out to the bands always happens in like November and December and you'd
(15:37):
be surprised.
Everybody's already booked up.
I mean, it is very hard to find good quality acts.
Phil, maybe you could go out and play.
Yeah, sure.
No, I have no skill.
I already knew that, Phil.
Yeah.
Okay.
What about Ryan Dunlap?
Is he coming back this year?
Absolutely.
Yeah, and all of our…
I've got to get that schedule updated on our website.
(16:01):
Yeah, I was just looking while I was talking to you.
I was like, we don't have it.
I'll have to tell you a private story about the Ryan Dunlap thing.
I don't want to really record it, but it's not a bad one, but once we're done, I'll
explain it to you.
Yeah, Ryan was fun to have.
I'm opening up my calendar right now so I can shoot off some other names, but I know
Ryan's there three times.
(16:22):
Rick Whited out of Toledo is incredible.
I don't know if you guys have heard of Captain Kirk, seen him anywhere.
I saw him on Star Trek.
That's not the same guy?
No, not the same guy.
Looks like a band called The Agency, Zero Hour, Last Chance Band, 100 Proof Band is
(16:45):
a country band.
I mean, they look really good.
We're going to finish out Labor Day weekend with Renegade Lemonade, which I think they've
been playing a lot of Marina-type venues as well in the summertime.
Master TC and The Visitors out of Sindusky, they do a nice 80s, 90s mix.
So when are you opening the restaurant?
(17:07):
I assume it's closed right now.
Yeah, we're closed for the winter.
We will open the first weekend of May.
That's always when we just get the doors open.
You know, on Middle Bass, it's a slow start and June's have picked up pretty well, but
once we get to Labor Day weekend, we'll be running our full schedule.
(17:28):
And ever since COVID, which bit everybody a little bit in the butt, we have been closed
on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
And we have found that that's just going to be what we're going to continue to do.
It's a great way to give the whole staff a break.
It gives us our ability to work long weekends and then relax and clean and do what we need
(17:50):
to do.
Of course, if a holiday falls in there, we'll adjust accordingly.
Okay.
Yeah, I was going to say when you have a place running seven days a week, as many hours,
it is hard to keep it cleaned and people get burned out just from that schedule.
So I could see why that makes some sense.
So if I were going to come to your restaurant for the first time, is there something you
(18:13):
would say?
Did you have your finger up to ask a question?
I did.
And I think you're going to ask the exact question that I was going to ask.
I was just going to say if I'm coming into your restaurant for the first time, what would
you suggest that I get to eat?
Or is there something unique at your restaurant that, you know, oh, you have to see this or
do this?
(18:35):
What would you recommend?
You know, that's a great question.
Every year, one of our challenges is staffing a seasonal business is we all look around
and see businesses that are struggling just finding help.
That's a normal business on the mainland.
But it's in our difficulty in trying to find a staff that we can get to commit work for
(18:56):
us for four months and then they're gone.
So we've done really well with cooks in the kitchen.
And you can use the word cook or the word chef depends on what you have.
The last three years, we were blessed to have a chef in the kitchen.
And he actually came to us from Maine each summer.
(19:16):
And he was phenomenal in the kitchen and he really changed our menu around a lot and in
good ways and in bad ways, because J.F.
Walleis was always known to be, hey, it's literally a step above a dive as far as the
food.
It's bar food.
It's the comfort bar food that we all love, the pizza, the hamburgers.
(19:38):
And we have had some seafood and different things in the last couple of years.
This year, we want to go retro back.
And I'll tell you what we're going to do is try to keep it simple, stupid.
And with that, I mean, we're going to have the burgers, the wings, the pizza, the sandwiches,
the appetizers, the stuff everybody knows, everybody loves.
(19:59):
And we're going to try to keep the portions appropriate with the price because it's expensive
enough to be out on a boat and enjoy yourself for a weekend.
And the last couple of years, our prices started getting out of hand because we started to
we were doing too much of the, oh, let's let's have the salmon, the prime rib.
And they were delicious.
(20:20):
But it was really hard to digest the pricing of the menu.
So we're going to back that up this year.
And I'll tell you what we what we do, anything we do, we're going to do good.
We're going to do really good at it.
So we carry the best beef for the burgers, the Angus beef.
It's a full half pounder.
It's a fresh brioche bun.
(20:41):
And the pizza, it's a stone fired crust.
And we we don't use sauce out of the can.
We spice it up.
And we do have a chef coming in this year that'll do all that.
And I'm sure he's already talked about he has a bacon wrap scallop that everybody loves
everywhere he works.
So he's going to bring that in.
That'll be there.
And we want to bring back perch.
(21:02):
We were really known for perch.
There's you guys ever heard of Demours and Sandusky?
Yeah, yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So Demours is no they have great perch.
In fact, I had some the other day.
We always have great perch.
We have a great recipe for the breading and perch just got crazy.
So last year we didn't even have perch on the menu.
(21:23):
I'm hoping to bring the perch back this year.
And of course, we're Jeff Walleyes.
So you've got to have the walleye bites or the walleye, you know, hoagie sandwich.
We're very good with the walleye as well.
So we're really good at a lot of things.
And I can't tell you any one thing to do.
But it's funny, the one sandwich that we're known for ever since I've owned the place,
(21:44):
which has been 20 years now, is called the Turkey Club Wedge.
I don't know why it's been it is delicious.
And we sell thousands of them in a season.
Now go ahead, Phil.
Where does does your staff stay on on the island?
Yeah, we have to provide housing for everybody.
And that's a big question because it leads into well, there's another business on the
(22:08):
island, St. Hazards.
It's not for everybody, but it is turned into a late night spot.
And if you've ever been to St. Hazards, you see all those little brightly colored trailers
that surround the property.
We actually own multiple of those.
And that's where we house our employees.
Now do you rent places to stay also?
We do at the back of the St. Hazards property is the big blue building with the yellow roof.
(22:33):
Anytime you're coming to the island, you see it.
You're coming into the marina.
You see that building to your right.
And that is called the St. Hazards condos.
They are not owned or managed by St. Hazards at all.
They're individually owned.
There's 37 condos in there.
And we own and manage eight condos in the building that we offer for rent on our website
(22:55):
on a nightly or an extended stay basis.
I got to imagine those probably are booked almost all summer.
Now it's Middle Bass Island.
This is what I love about Middle Bass Islands.
They're not.
Interesting.
Middle Bass is, you know, when I bought it 20 years ago, it was like, oh, this is going
(23:15):
to be, this is a great thing.
This island is going to explode.
Put-in-Bay is already at max.
Well, Put-in-Bay keeps reinventing themselves and keeps building more hotels and more rooms.
So we never really did explode.
And that's good.
What we're catering to is like you had said earlier, people that just don't want to get
in all of that mess.
(23:36):
And if you do, and I don't mean to call it a mess, it's to each their own.
But if you do, you simply can ride the sunny-ass ferry over, enjoy yourself for however long
you want to and that you're comfortable for, and then you can come back.
So we'd like to be what we say the little brother to Put-in-Bay, the little brother,
the little sister, more relaxed, a lot quieter, and a lot more family friendly.
(24:02):
I tell you, if you got a family and you're looking to do something in the islands, you're
right.
It's very nice to come there.
You have a very nice restaurant.
You know, let's face it, you got that pool out back.
And I tell you one, now my run from the marina over to your island's about six hours.
And after six hours in the sun, nothing feels better than popping in that waiting pool in
(24:24):
the back and ordering some food or ordering a beverage.
And it's nice.
Now is your pool heated?
No, it doesn't have to be.
At 18 inches, that thing will heat on itself.
Fair.
In fact, we have to really sometimes add cold water to it so it stays refreshing.
We have a great guy that manages our pool.
(24:46):
And the state mandates any time you have a commercial pool like that, that you are watching
your chemical levels all day long.
So we have a guy, Pat Brownlow, that is on the island.
He's a resident of the island and he specializes in the chemistry of the pool.
He comes down there four times a day.
You'll often see him.
He'll just show up and he'll be testing the water.
And then at night when everybody's gone, we drain it halfway down and we fill it with
(25:10):
fresh cold water to make sure it's good and crisp the next day.
I know some boaters that need to watch their chemical levels a little closer, but that's
a whole nother discussion.
It's a different type of chemical.
Different, different type of chemical.
Now tell us, the people who have never been there before, tell them how big this pool
is.
Because they could be, when you say wading pool, they can be pictured and you know like
(25:32):
something you put in the backyard or something you would have at the back of a hotel.
But this is quite a substantial size pool.
Yeah, we're, I think we hold 27,000 gallons of water and we can fit 100 people in there
without bumping shoulders.
You know, that's very easy.
I don't know the length of it.
(25:52):
It's a hundred feet long and at the widest point it's 30, 40 foot wide.
So it is big.
Originally we were going to put in a, um, a slim up bar with a full swimming pool.
And then at the last minute we just kind of changed and said, you know what, that's just
going to invite what we really aren't trying to get in our business.
(26:13):
We want to stay family friendly.
So we went back to the drawing board, came up with this and thought, man, this is just
the best thing ever.
How long has that pool been there?
So we, I believe we opened that in 2008.
Okay.
(26:34):
That's not too long ago actually.
Yeah, it's 15 years.
And you said you've owned the business, do you say 20?
20 years, correct.
Okay.
Now during the summer, do you spend pretty much your whole time on the island?
Yeah, I absolutely do.
I love the island.
I do have to go back and forth to do, you know, different things, different chores like
(26:56):
hey buddy.
So I ride the ferry off and on once a week.
And my favorite time to be on the ferry is when I'm leaving the island because I'm getting
a break from the island.
And in my 24 hours that I'm off the island, my next best favorite time is when I come
back to the island because I'm ready to get back.
And those who's never been out there, I got to tell you, it is very beautiful.
(27:19):
If you've never been out to Lake Erie Islands in general, because like there's a lot of
people around here that have never ventured out there, it is awesome.
You know, when you come up in the boat and it's just like a part of the, it's almost
like I know people will call Key West of the north is Putin Bay.
I don't know.
(27:40):
I think it's nicer than Key West because I've been to Key West and I really don't care.
I mean it's okay if you want to, I'm sorry Phil, I know you just came back from there.
Yeah, it was just two weeks ago.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's, but it's not one of my favorite places, but it's okay.
But I mean, just going into the islands and they don't realize really how many islands
are right there.
You know, you got North Bass, Middle Bass, South Bass, Dralter.
(28:01):
I mean, there's just so many little islands over there.
And then you pull into that Marina and like you said, it is nice.
It is very nice Marina.
It's kept well, well, the staff there is very nice.
And you get out of your, you get out of your boat and you walk up the hill and right across
the street and there's your place.
Right.
You know, we have a general store on the island too.
(28:22):
So if you came and you forgot some of your provisions, the Middle Bass general store,
which is only about, I don't know, maybe less than a half mile walk from the Marina has
everything you need, including a hardware store.
And then there's, they opened up the pizza restaurant attached in the same building.
(28:44):
We've been there.
We've been there.
Yep.
Uncle Joe's fantastic food.
Again, another great asset to our island.
And you know, I always want to make sure I mention them because it's that's cheers.
If you ever watched cheers, now I'm showing my age, but that's the Middle Bass general
store and Uncle Joe's pizza.
(29:04):
Cause everybody in there knows everybody and that's where the meetings are.
And let me tell you, we've been being with the boaters.
We have had to provision at the general store before, you know?
Yeah, we had to buy a bunch of fly swatters.
We did.
That's what it was.
We had going back by the biting flies at West sister.
(29:26):
So yeah.
Yeah.
Those are, those are terrible around there.
Now do you-
Doesn't that just mean it's going to rain?
Out there behind, behind West sister, it's because of all that, um, Cumeron, um, excrement
has generated such an incredible flies.
If you get too close to that island, they will just attack you.
They are aggressive too.
(29:47):
They are.
They'll bite through your shoes.
I've had them bite through a shoe.
Yep.
Do you boat?
Word of advice for, for people that have maybe never been around the islands or never been
to middle bass Island and being experienced and old experience boater and you guys are
get your charts, know where you're going.
Um, we sit and watch boats hit souls all the time because they're just not paying attention.
(30:12):
They see water and think it's deep, you know?
So my word of advice is anybody coming to the islands that's never been around the islands
and in particular middle bass, middle bass has a horrible soul off of the, uh, I guess
you call it the Northeast side of the Island and the Southwest side of the Island.
I didn't do that.
I'm glad I didn't hit it.
We had, uh, we had during the race, during the race last year, a couple of boats went
(30:38):
to ground.
Yeah.
Well, that's, but that's for a different reason.
That's because they put the marks on the shoals.
You gotta know where you're going.
Um, are there any residents that live on middle bass year round?
Absolutely.
So that's a great question altogether.
(31:00):
There's about, so as we said, the, the Island is 700 acres.
The last count I had was that there are 700 electric meters on the Island of which probably
a hundred of those could be facilitated to the state hazards resort with the, the villas,
the campsites and the condos.
(31:21):
So take the rest of the aisle.
You've got about 600 electric meters, which means about 600 homes.
And most of the people either are retired and spend the entire summer there or they're
still working and they're commuting back and forth and they're coming on the weekends.
But in the, in the winter time right now there's approximately 30 people that stay year round.
(31:44):
So today there's probably 30 people over on the Island.
Okay.
Very cool.
Now, how do they get back and forth?
Well, that was going to be my next thing.
How about groceries?
You know, so groceries, they call over to Bassets or Kroger's, there's already a service.
They do the shopping, they take it to Griffin airlines or the other airline.
(32:05):
And it's flown over.
There's a little surcharge on it so they can get fresh milk, fresh eggs, fresh vegetables,
whatever they need.
A lot of the stuff they do, they load up and put in the freezers in the, in the fall, but
the fresh stuff gets flown over.
And in the case of kids that have to go to school, we currently have three children on
(32:26):
the Island that are still school age and they all go to school at Put-in Bay.
There is no school on Middlebass anymore.
It hasn't been attended since 1983.
So the kids fly to school every day.
And in the event of bad weather, if they got caught on Put-in Bay and there's bad weather
and the planes can't fly, they're assigned a family to stay with until the weather clears
(32:50):
and they can get back home.
Just normal, normal life for them.
Okay.
And I heard recently the fog was so bad over there that people were having trouble getting
their groceries flown in.
Yeah, there was nothing for four days.
I think that was about a week, week and a half ago.
There was nothing.
(33:10):
So if, I think that actually Jake and Emily Dunphy that own the Marine Rescue, I believe
they actually made a run to Put-in Bay with one of their boats to help, you know, given
that emergency situation.
But yeah, that's rare.
That was a rare one where you are definitely cut off.
(33:31):
Well, now we noticed when we had, I'm going to use Phil's term, that seiche, there were
people walking around out there on the bottom, right?
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
When you get that wind and it pushes everything to Buffalo, I mean, you find new glacial grooves.
I mean, it's amazing.
Did you go out and walk around after it?
(33:54):
Just to check it out?
Yeah.
No, I leave the island in the fall.
I missed that.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
Well, like I said before, if you've never been to JF Wallace, you have to go there this
summer.
They have lots of entertainment.
It's a great place to take your family.
(34:14):
It's a great place.
They have a lot going on at night if you want to just come back and hang out.
It's safe there.
It's, you know, they don't get super rowdy, so you don't have to worry about that.
Like I said, if you're looking for a place to go eat, hang out, check it out.
Does anybody else have any questions?
No.
Thank you for your time today.
(34:36):
Yeah, thank you.
All right.
So we'll probably see you over there.
Yes.
Thanks for helping spread the word about Middle Bass.
We love visitors and we all need the business in the season and appreciate everybody and
you are completely safe there.
Very family friendly.
A couple of boutique stores on there.
You can gift shop.
I mean, it's all there.
(34:57):
I agree.
I agree.
We're coming on.
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