Ludington Fishing Report: 15 Fish, 28 Bites...and Logan Blew Up the Game Plan
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It's been an interesting week, and man, it feels good to be back in my Ludington fantasy fishing land of fun.
Between work work and school school, Soup Club got a surprise visit from hot sauce legend Habanero Harman himself. The dude rolled in handing out bottles of hot sauce like Santa hands out candy canes. The only difference...nobody had to sit on his lap. Spoiler alert: we locked Harman in for another non-chartered fishing adventure the weekend of 8/22. That's gonna be a good one.
I also picked up Tim's lake trout mount from Dale. Dropped it off on 5/24 and picked it up on 7/29. That's one of the many reasons I like Dale. The mounts look fantastic on the condo wall. Now I just need to retire that prehistoric steelhead mount somebody gave me years ago.
It's hard to believe it's already August…July was ridiculous. Heck, the whole year has been ridiculous. I've officially reached the point where all these fishing trips have blended together. I have to use my own blog and photos to remember who I fished with, what we caught and what actually worked. Logan met me at the boat yesterday afternoon, asked what we caught them on last weekend, and I drew a complete blank. I guessed my way through the opening lineup because we had more important things to do...El Rancho was waiting.
This is always one of my favorite weekends of the year. The Gustafsons have officially arrived to take over Ludington...or at least Big Sable Point. Today's crew was me, Logan, Eric, Gunner and Dan.
A couple quick notes...Curtis, a fan favorite, apparently had something more important than fishing this weekend. I still don't understand that decision. Hopefully they’ll play some 10cc at the reception – Curtis’ fav!
And yes, for those asking, this is the same Eric Gustafson who was incredibly loyal to Ludington legend Jerry Lee aboard Sea Screw II for all those years.
Our plan couldn't have been much simpler…Leave the dock around 5:00an, point the Tiara north on a 333 heading, slide outside the fleet fishing the bank, catch 25 fish, make sure one of them weighs enough for the Bonanza, and be back at the dock by 10:00am with cigars and Löwenbräu. Easy.
Then I woke up…Before I even got the sleep out of my eyes, I had a text from Logan: "Ice water out there."
Me: "Does that mean we're fishing the pierheads?"
Logan: "I think we should."
Well...So much for the game plan.
We left the dock at 5:05am, ran about a mile and a half north, turned around and started a south troll. Apparently Logan's master plan was to time everything perfectly so we'd get all 15 rods in before the fish started biting.
I may have accidentally ruined that plan…I sent the big hoochie down on the chute a little early...and it got hammered before we could finish setting rods.
My goal for the morning was simple...Catch one fish and eat BoatMeal™. Logan's goal was something like 25 fish in 45 minutes. Close enough.
The Gustafsons did get to experience a textbook Pull Hard fishing shitshow though. Rods firing. People stepping over rods. Net handles everywhere. Boards flying. Someone yelling. Someone laughing. Exactly how salmon fishing is supposed to look.
When everything settled down, we had 11 kings and 4 coho on 28 bites.
Hot Bites:
Bechold 12" Kevin's Girlfriend paddle paired with a Rapture Sweet Pea fly on the chute rigger 38 down led the way with 7 bites.
Prototype 8" Chrome flasher paired with a Howie Gold & Green Crinkle fly on a high diver 70 back took 5 bites.
Michigan Stinger Standard Modified Coyote on 7 colors of lead core took 2 bites.
Tomik 3" Blue Wonderbread plug on 2 colors of lead core took 2 bites.
Silver Horde 4" Pinky plug on 3 colors of lead core took 2 bites.
Dreamweaver 8" Charlie Special paddle paired with a Rapture Sweet Pea fly on 200 copper took 2 bites.
Silver Horde 4" MOP Lime Green Stripe plug on 2 colors of lead core took 1 bite.
Michigan Stinger Magnum Carmel Dolphin on 5 colors of lead core took 1 bite.
Dreamweaver Mini SS Wonder Veggie on 3 colors of lead core took 1 bite.
Prototype 8" White flasher paired with a Dreamweaver Little Boy Blue fly on a low diver 60 back took 1 bite.
Dreamweaver 8" Spin Doctor paired with a Dreamweaver Isotope meat rig on a low diver 50 back took 1 bite.
Mr. Chrome Mini Yeah Mon on a slider 50 down took 1 bite.
Dreamweaver 5" Double Glow plug on 200 copper took 1 bite.
Little Captain Choice 4" Salmon Slayer plug on the SWR took 1 bite.
What I Learned Today
Maybe not today specifically, but I learned how to build an API this week and sync my website with my fishing database. That means I can finally start building some really cool fishing KPIs. Stay tuned...there's some cool stuff coming. Using AI to analyze salmon fishing data is pretty cutting-edge. Just wait until you see what having Logan in the boat does to the numbers.
It was kind of fun making the one-mile run to fish shallow again. Felt like old times...you know...about two and a half months ago.
We keep catching hogs, but still no hammers. We did have one absolute giant smoke a two-color plug, roll the line counter backwards and eventually come off after Logan tightened the drag. There were no scales on the hook afterward. Hmm...
Twenty-five-pound leaders continue to get lots of bites. They also continue to break at really inconvenient times. Three broken leaders today. WTF.
Logan continues to blur the line between genius and completely ridiculous. When the bite died, he clipped a giant plug onto the 200 copper and rubber-banded it to the chute rigger holder. I immediately thought about Mel Robbins' Let Them philosophy and figured...fine...let him. Of course it fired and caught a nice king. You win this round, buddy…again!
Gunner on the chute rod was absolute mojo. Everything just worked. Against my recommendation, somebody else grabbed the chute rod...snap...broken Sweet Pea leader. Gunner got the chute back...money. I think we may have learned something there.
Tomorrow we'll either run the exact same shallow-water program looking for the 50-pounder that got away, or we'll go back to our original plan and work the deeper side of the fleet. Personally...I don't think it matters much. There seem to be fish everywhere this year.
It'll probably come down to what Mother Nature gives us for wind and waves.
400 W. Filer St., C1, Ludington, MI 49431 | Phone: 248-534-9202 | PullHardFishing@outlook.com
