Ludington Fishing Report: 15 Bites, 9 Kings & I Now Look Like a Marine!
After yesterday’s limit catch, I put out some feelers to see if we could get a fourth person, heck, maybe even a fifth. Either A) no one reads this thing or B) no one wants to fish with us. No takers. Logan thinks there’s a C) “Well, you are kind of an intimidating-looking individual…you look like a Marine…” This is likely untrue and an insult to all Leathernecks, Logan!
Not much good prep went into today. I dropped off some rods to get the guides repaired, made a quick stop at Meijer for some red beans, yum, and spent hours doing UWGB school work on the importance of getting a good night’s sleep. Words to live by, people!
No opening lineup, either. Logan sent me a text with his lineup as if we’d be fishing in 200 FOW, then called saying we might be in front of the piers. So, without knowing where the hell we were going, I nixed the lineup.
Our crew was me, Logan and Kelly. Three dudes, nine lines, and we needed 15 fish on this 6:00am-9:30am Sunday troll.
Today was supposed to be the good weather day, right? No rain, good. Kinda light northeast wind, good. So we started off fine, ran north and set up south of the bathhouse in 60 FOW.
Same ol’, same ol’…Lowrance full of fish, only about five boats out there, but they all seemed to set up within a half mile of me. Nine lines set and zero bites for what felt like forever. Really, over an hour!
We finally turned due west at 7:00am and headed back out toward our deep-water area. Turns out 175 FOW was the magic number! Rods started popping and we had ourselves a nice little flurry.
At the same time, the wind shifted more north, we were physically farther north and no longer protected by Big Point, and it got wavy. We spun around and trolled with the waves. No bites. Turned again and picked up another small flurry.
We pulled lines at 9:30am with 9 kings on 15 bites. So we had the bites, just needed six more of those little buggers to stick! Totally my fault for using those dull Trokar hooks…according to Logan, anyway.
Hot Bites:
Flasher/Fly | Prototype 8 Inch Chrome Howie Green Gold Crinkle | High Diver 125 back | 3 bites
Meat Rig | Dreamweaver Spin Doctor 8 Inch Dreamweaver Punisher | High Diver 200 back | 3 bites
Spoon | Northeast Troller Standard Black Eye Peas | Out Down 54 down | 2 bites
Plug | Dreamweaver 4 Inch Soda | Out Down 76 down | 2 bites
Meat Rig | Dreamweaver Spin Doctor 8 Inch Dreamweaver Isotope | Low Diver 160 back | 2 bites
Flasher/Fly | Prototype 8 Inch White Dreamweaver Little Boy Blue | Chute Rigger 94 down | 1 bite
Flasher/Fly | Pro Troll 8 Inch Green Dreamweaver Pickled Sunshine | Out Down 150 down | 1 bite
Flasher/Fly | Bechold 11 Inch Kevin's Girlfriend Rapture Sweet Pea | Chute Rigger 139 down | 1 bite
What I Learned Today:
Don’t let Logan get started on the favors. “One favor to ask today…” quickly turns into an entire morning of favors. His first favor? Start in 50-60 FOW. Didn’t work. Then the floodgates opened. Get the meat. Reel in the 7 color. Set the release on the rigger. And on and on. Good thing the dude’s fishy, right?
Logan has an idea he wants feedback on. He wants me to count the alewives in the fish bellies in 2027. Something about DNR feedback or something like that. He thinks it’s a great idea. I think it’s a cumbersome waste of time that will likely double the fish-cleaning process with little to no upside. What do you people think? Should I add Official Alewife Counter to my list of boat duties? I hope not cause it feels stupid just typing this!
The blueberry lady said everything is late this year, and she’s 100% right. Seven of our nine fish were four-year-old fish and not too dark, either. Still hanging out in that deep, cool water and actively feeding. Nice!
The most important thing I learned today is that I share a birthday with…yep, you guessed it…salmon fishing living legend Bill Saiff III! Just think about that lucky juju!
That’s a wrap for this weekend. Two great trolls, and I totally enjoyed every second. We have three weekends left in the Tiara, and I’ll be savoring every moment. I’m just not ready for this year to end.
I’ll be back up here Thursday night with Surgeon Jenn riding shotgun, and we’re planning to get all fishy Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Three weekends left, people. Gotta make ’em count!
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