Ludington Fishing Report: 22 Fish, Three ShitShows™ & a Deadwell Full of Limits!
Welp, Ludington has now officially started putting a dent in my fall walleye program, just like it does to my spring walleye program.
I think Logan fished like four times during the week and knocked the snot out of the fish. This dude fishes a lot, and when I'm getting text messages from him saying he's never seen fishing this good, ahh...how can I pass that up?
We were keeping an eye on the weather, which could completely botch the weekend fishing. I'd hate to tow the walleye boat all the way up and then be stuck with bad weather. It looked like we had one window of okay waves this morning, so I hauled the boat west, grabbed Surgeon Jenn, and headed north to Ludington.
We stopped at the Tiara because we needed some 5-color and 7-color rods to accompany the 1, 2 and 3 colors. Grabbed a select few spoons and five flasher/fly combinations, and the Tundra was ready for some trolling!
We launched the boat around 6:30am at Loomis, got some spoons on and left the dock at 7am. We ran north in the dark and set up in 80 FOW in the double zeros.
We got two slide divers out along with seven leadcore rods and nothing. No bites.
Then...the first of three ShitShows™ went down! We wrapped that one up with seven fish in the livewell and I don't know how many bites.
About 1.5 miles south of Big Point, the bites stopped and then kinda started again about 1.5 miles north of the point. Logan wanted to go deeper, but we mistakenly wound up in 90 FOW and had fish marks. In 135 FOW, we had nothing, so I got Logan to agree to go shallower.
When we got into 75 FOW, we hit ShitShow™ number two, followed by ShitShow™ number three! It turned out to be another spectacular morning. Another morning where we were throwing fish back!
We ended up with 10 steelhead and 12 kings, so 22 fish boated on 32 bites! And just like that, the fall walleye program can wait a little longer.
Hot Bites:
Spoon | Michigan Stinger Standard RV Mixed Veggies | Lead Core 3 Colors | 5 bites
Flasher/Fly | Dreamweaver Spin Doctor 8 Inch Blue Bubble Dreamweaver Blue Bubble | High Diver 180 back | 2 bites
Spoon | Silver Streak Mini Imitation Chubster | Lead Core 1 Color | 2 bites
Spoon | Yeck Standard Goldilocks | Lead Core 3 Colors | 2 bites
Spoon | Michigan Stinger Magnum Orange Pink | Lead Core 2 Colors | 2 bites
Spoon | Yeck Mini Copper Mixed Veggie Kinda | Lead Core 2 Colors | 2 bites
Spoon | Michigan Stinger Standard KC1 | Lead Core 3 Colors | 2 bites
Spoon | Yeck Standard Double Orange Crush | Lead Core 5 Colors | 2 bites
Spoon | Moonshine Mini Green Slice Non Glow | High Diver 150 back | 2 bites
Flasher/Fly | Prototype 8 Inch Green Blue Rapture Sweet Pea | High Diver 150 back | 1 bite
Spoon | Silver Streak Magnum Glow Goose | Lead Core 7 Colors | 1 bite
Spoon | Mr. Chrome Standard Warden Chrome Dart | Lead Core 5 Colors | 1 bite
Spoon | Mr. Chrome Standard Trooper Chrome Dart | Lead Core 3 Colors | 1 bite
Spoon | Silver Streak Mini Blue Freakin Veggies | Lead Core 1 Color | 1 bite
Spoon | Yeck Standard Rasta Goose | Lead Core 2 Colors | 1 bite
Spoon | Yeck Standard Gold Rasta Goose | Lead Core 2 Colors | 1 bite
Spoon | Moonshine Mini Green Non Glow Hulk | Lead Core 5 Colors | 1 bite
Spoon | Dreamweaver Mini SS Wonder Veggies | Lead Core 7 Colors | 1 bite
Flasher/Fly | Dreamweaver Paddle 8 Inch Chrome Closer Prototype Pickled Pepper Vegan Rig | High Diver 130 back | 1 bite
Spoon | Michigan Stinger Magnum Carmel Dolphin | Lead Core 7 Colors | 1 bite
What I Learned Today:
Driving the walleye boat in 1-3 foot waves in the dark with no radar and being so close to the water sucks! I'm so glad there were only a handful of other boats out. I don't know how people do that in August. No thanks!
It's official that my "livewell" is really a "deadwell." Not sure why, but walleye die in it, bass die in it, and now salmon and steelhead die in it. I will not be using this boat in the Bassmaster Classic anytime soon.
We knew the wind was supposed to kick up sometime between 10-11am. No worries. The waves were supposed to be out of the SSE, so we could buzz the shoreline at 45 MPH all the way in! Nope. SW waves and strong winds killed that plan and gave us a 16 MPH ride back to port. I got to keep turning around to see if Surgeon Jenn was still in the boat while listening to Logan ask, "Are we there yet?" Forty-five minutes of this!
Big peaks and valleys for Logan in the fall! From "too slow, Jeff" whining to a record number of Ric Flair "WOOOOOs!" Thank God there were way more peaks!
This was the first steelhead limit I've ever been involved in. Feels good to be typing "LIMIT" again. It's been a bit!
This was also my first slide diver bite I've been involved in. My verdict? They're still a pain in the ass, and I like the wire divers better. Don't tell Logan that, though!
That's a wrap for today. The boat is ready to go for the morning. The plan tomorrow is to troll PM Lake. Maybe get a bite. We're ready for Lake Michigan, though, just in case the weatherman (or woman, or "they/them") is wrong again and it's nice. In the meantime, Surgeon Jenn and I, well, really her, are searing stuff in cast iron for a nice sweet potato and bulgur chili for dinner.
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