Ludington Fishing Report: 22 Bites, 12 Hogs & One Perfect September Morning!

9/27/20264 min read

Going into today, I have exactly five trolling opportunities left in the Tiara for 2026, weather permitting. I can only hope my next four trips end up half as good as today!

Our crew today was me, Surgeon Jenn, Petunia Josh, Alabama Luke and Kate. I’m pretty sure we always have a good morning when Kate joins us, so we had that good juju perfectly lined up. Josh remembered his Bajios, he remembered his custom coffee mug and, yes, he brought a larger cooler than yesterday.

The wind was light and out of the east. Boat traffic was basically null.

We stuck to the plan from yesterday and buzzed out northwest to the deeper side of the bank.

The moon was souper bright, setting over Wisconsin. Not a cloud in the sky revealed a perfect sunrise over the state park. Words, nor pictures, could describe the colors in the sky. But who was looking at that crap? There were fish underneath us and rods were a poppin’!

We started getting bites about two-thirds of the way into our morning 15-rod set. It was steady and steady, but slowed down again once we got north of Big Point. We spun around and trolled south and, again, slower bite.

None of this mattered, though. We had at least one fish, some extra delicious BoatMeal™. Lake Michigan does not get any better than this.

We ended up with 8 kings and 4 steelhead on 22 bites.

Usually missing 10 fish would have me scratching my head, but not today. I’m chalking this one up as a perfect 3.5-hour troll on a great fall September morning.

Hot Bites:

Spoon | Silver Streak Magnum Glow Rasta Goose | Out Down 50 down | 4 bites
Plug | Silver Horde 5 Inch Seahawk | Lead Core 7 Colors | 2 bites
Spoon | Mr. Chrome Magnum Blue with Black Dots | Lead Core 7 Colors | 2 bites
Flasher/Fly | Prototype 8 Inch Chrome Howie Banks Frog | High Diver 150 back | 2 bites
Meat Rig | Dreamweaver Spin Doctor 8 Inch Dreamweaver Soda | Low Diver 100 back | 2 bites
Meat Rig | Dreamweaver Spin Doctor 8 Inch Dreamweaver Punisher | High Diver 150 back | 2 bites
Spoon | Yeck Standard Chubster | Lead Core 3 Colors | 2 bites
Plug | Moonshine 4 Inch Ludington Watermelon | Lead Core 5 Colors | 1 bite
Spoon | Moonshine Mini Green Slice | Slider 175 down | 1 bite
Spoon | Yeck Standard Malort | Lead Core 2 Color | 1 bite
Flasher/Fly | Prototype 8 Inch White Dreamweaver Little Boy Blue | Low Diver 125 back | 1 bite
Flasher/Fly | Bechold 11 Inch White Slick KRW Riverside | Chute Rigger 139 down | 1 bite
Flasher/Fly | Pro Troll 8 Inch Green Dreamweaver Pickled Sunshine | Out Down 150 down | 1 bite

What I Learned Today:

Josh educated us that back when Ludington was a logging town, the logs somehow floated higher in the moonlight. Kate then Googled the whole log-and-moon thing and found it to be an urban legend. Josh promptly dismissed the Google search as BS. Kate then re-searched and found that Josh could actually be right. What I learned here is that this sort of dialogue between Josh and Kate is apparently common, and no one really cares about the float height of a log in the moonlight.
Kate is highly teachable. Show her once and she’s got it! I don’t think she lost any of the 10 fish that got away today. I’m not sure the rest of us can make that claim…except for Surgeon Jenn.
Surgeon Jenn has never seen any of The Godfather movies! She can now cross one off the list. Oh, and no Godfather movies OR Goodfellas. We will likely be quoting that stuff for a while. “Looks like the Budweiser Spoon sleeps with the fishes…”
Josh and Kate said they liked the BoatMeal™, although Surgeon Jenn didn’t even make them a full batch and they didn’t finish it. Hmm…What I did learn is that Alabama Luke snatched the BoatMeal™ away from Josh as he was getting ready to dump it, loaded it up with Habanero Harman’s sauce and peanuts, and seemed genuinely satisfied. Waste not, want not, people!
Surgeon Jenn and I busted hump to get 22 bites and 12 hogs, then Josh ends up giving two nice fillets away to some out-of-towners when they asked if we caught the fish today while we were cleaning them. For those unfamiliar, “Did you catch those fish today?” is universal tourist language for “Can I have some fish?” Josh reads the blogs and guaranteed us this would create good juju for next weekend. Thanks, man!
Josh also brought a slightly bigger cooler today. Yesterday we caught 9 fish. Today we caught 12. I’d really like to see what happens if he brings a LARGE cooler next time. I’m thinking there’s something there.
I’ve included a picture of the bait we’ve been finding in our fish. Very small. Like WTF small! I’m thinking we may need to crack out the walleye spoons.

So that’s a wrap on another great weekend. I’m off to drop Surgeon Jenn in Norton Shores, then buzz home and get ready for work work and school school.

Four trolling opportunities left in the Tiara for 2026…I’m not ready for this to end. I'll be back Friday!