August in Ludington – Perfect Morning – Lost Zero Fish!

August in Ludington is prime time for big, four-year-old king salmon cruising close to port, and we were in the perfect position to get in on the action. Unfortunately, for the two or three people who actually read this smut, you know our fishing mojo requires precise alignment with our juju—and let’s just say the gears weren’t exactly meshing.

I’ve decided to document the whole circus, partly to figure out what went wrong and partly so future me can read this and shake his head.

Thursday: Great drive up. A couple of solid phone conversations to make the miles disappear, rolled into town just in time for a perfect sunset bike ride.

Friday: Morning run, knocked out some work, haircut at the local barber, then bike ride to the boat to get the cover off and rods ready. Took another ride over to the 4th Ward where I ran into Adam, who casually dropped that he had thirty bites north that morning. Excuse me? Thirty?? Had to bail on the chat to make it back to meet Jenn at exactly 1:20pm (arrived at 1:21pm… which counts).

Lunch at Trail’s End Baking Co. (gumbo was great!—yes, Soup Clubbers, I got the recipe). Hit the winery where Wes did his usual magic, then wandered through Peter Pan Land where some ladies were setting up for a wedding by the proposal tree. We “helped” by donating three decorative mushrooms from the overlook as props, making sure to clarify they had to be returned (you never mess with mushroom/lost boys/Blair witchy juju).

From there it was: claw game at Hamlin Grocery (15 ducks, we’re really good!), 15 lbs of blueberries, jetty time at the state park, a pizza pickup at Sportsman, quick farmer’s market run, then eating pizza on the boat while picking out the starting lineup. Back to the condo to meet the condo crew—Sister Jennifer, Tim, Uncle David, cousins Davey and Nathan, and making his 2025 debut, Dad/Euge.

Today: Up at 4am for a quick 2-mile run (hah, I say quick, but it took 20 minutes!), then down to the boat for some big’uns.

The Fishing Part: Weather was iffy, so instead of our usual 5:00am launch, we rolled in at 5:45. Might’ve been a mistake. Maybe it was the late start. Maybe the Peter Pan Land mushrooms never got returned. Or maybe my cousins still have lingering bad juju from the time they invited two guys who never showed up.

The pierhead waves weren’t bad, so we ran to the bank and set up in 90 FOW, trolling north with the waves. Tim and I got 13 rods in the water—Adam said “all spoons and plugs,” so that’s what we did. Twenty minutes, no bites. Screw it—I swapped five rods over to meat rigs and a flasher/fly. Still nothing.

We were marking fish all over the Lowrance, but they were basically ghosting us. Finally, just south of the point, we got smacked on the port low diver—blue slice meat rig, 90 back. Uncle David grabbed the rod and the fish took him out to the mid-500s. Now we’ve got a flotilla trolling south into us, playing high-stakes “Dodgem Boats” at the point.

Uncle David still has a touch of vertigo from 20 years ago, so Nathan worked the hog in and I hand-lined it in while Tim netted. Boom—boat saved from the skunk. One bite, one fish.

After that? Nada. South troll, slower speed, better control, still nothing. Pulled lines at 9:30am (should’ve been 9:00am). Ended the day with one teener king.

Hot Bite(s):

• DW Blue Slice meat rig, low diver, 90 back

Things I Learned:

• A boat with zero Kesslers and zero Fireball just feels… wrong. Do I want no fish with a sober crew, or fish with a wrecked crew? Decisions!

• Hard to sleep in the condo what the Apple watch is giving me the loud/90 decibel warnings last seen at the AC/DC concert in April!

• Never wuss out on the early departure. Waves in the dark beat missing the morning bite.

• Cleaning one fish is actually kinda nice—done in five minutes, two tails for the trouble.

Tomorrow? Could be pierheads at dawn. Could be kayaking Hamlin and letting the salmon get just a little bigger. Not sure I figured anything out here with mojo, juju, fishing…shaking my head!