Ludington Fishing Report: 25 Fish! We Got the Limit...And Didn't Even Know It!
Today was meant to be a great day! No tournaments. No Big King Bonanza. No searching for a word I'm no longer allowed to use. Just a few fishing addicts looking to scratch an itch.
Our crew today was me, Euge, Sister Jenn, Tim and THE Nick. Yeah, with Nick and Tim on the same boat, you know there's going to be a mini Miller Lite vs. Budweiser battle. My job was simple. Keep a rod in their hands, thus keeping beer consumption to a minimum. Fishing saves lives, people.
We decided to push the leave-the-condo time from 4:40am all the way back to 5:00am. I know. Twenty minutes doesn't sound like much, but to some people it means the world. Nick needed every one of those minutes. Apparently he was up a little late at the new Andy's Bar.
Our plan was simple…Cruise the shoreline up to the bathhouse. Turn left. Cross the bank of boats. Get outside everybody and stay there all morning. Then start buzzing back toward Ludington in time to meet Surgeon Jenn at the dock by noon, clean fish and celebrate a five-man limit at Barnhart's before they close for the year.
Long story short...That's exactly what happened. We couldn't have scripted it much better. We ended up with 1 steelhead and 24 kings in five hours. That's 25 fish on 40 bites. Oh, and just in case anyone is keeping track...That was with NO LOGAN! All by ourselves! Look at us growing as fishermen.
Hot Bites:
Flasher/Fly | Bechold 11 Inch Kevin's Girlfriend / Rapture Sweet Pea | Chute Rigger 139 down | 9 bites
Flasher/Fly | Prototype 8 Inch White / Dreamweaver Little Boy Blue | High Diver 150 back | 7 bites
Meat Rig | Dreamweaver Spin Doctor 8 Inch / Dreamweaver Punisher | High Diver 150 back | 5 bites
Spoon | Northeast Troller Standard Black Eye Peas | Out Down 74 down | 4 bites
Plug | Luhr Jensen 5 Inch Chrome Red Head | Lead Core 7 Colors | 3 bites
Plug | Silver Horde 5 Inch Pink Lightning | Lead Core 10 Colors | 2 bites
Plug | Moonshine 4 Inch Green Ladderback | Copper 200 Feet | 2 bites
Flasher/Fly | Prototype 8 Inch Chrome / Howie Green Gold Crinkle | High Diver 150 back | 2 bites
Plug | Dreamweaver 4 Inch Wonderbread | Lead Core 10 Colors | 2 bites
Spoon | Silver Streak Magnum Glow Rasta Goose | Out Down 66 down | 1 bite
Plug | Silver Horde 5 Inch Seahawk | Copper 200 Feet | 1 bite
Spoon | Michigan Stinger Magnum Mod Coyote | Copper 200 Feet | 1 bite
Meat Rig | Bechold 8 Inch / Luhr Jensen Blue | Out Down 80 down | 1 bite
What I Learned Today:
Sometimes the fish apparently just don't hit as hard. At one point we were 16 for 17. Sixteen for freaking seventeen! We'd only missed one fish all morning. Then we went 0 for 7. That eventually turned into a pretty pathetic 9 for 23 finish. Hooks were sharp. Lines were tight. No major tangles. We just suddenly couldn't keep fish attached to the boat. Bad luck? Fish getting smarter? Hmm…
Apparently, they do not teach fish counting at Michigan Tech. Sister Jenn gave herself the very important task of counting fish once we thought we were somewhere around 20. Unfortunately, she did not use the Logan-approved fish-counting method, which is very scientific: remove ALL the fish from the boxes, count them one at a time as you shove them back in. Instead, we somehow ended up pulling lines and heading home believing we had 24 fish. Yep. One freaking fish short of our five-man limit. Oh well. Still a great morning. Then we got to the fish-cleaning station, started hanging fish on the hooks and...TWENTY-FIVE! WE HAD THE LIMIT! Good news: We got our five-man limit. Bad news: We completely robbed ourselves of the giant hug-fest and couple of tears that would've occurred on the water when magical fish #25 hit the deck. Boo!
We now think someone aboard may have accidentally buttered our lures. It's really the only logical explanation for losing all those fish during the final two hours. It would also explain what happened to Nick. At some point pulling lines, Nick had the irreplaceable and now somewhat Ludington-famous Budweiser Spoon in his hands. Then...Slip. Bloop. Gone. Straight to the bottom of Lake Michigan. Nooooooooo! After surviving all these years, catching fish and now becoming part of the Pull Hard lure arsenal... Gone. I will never forget you, Budweiser Spoon. I hope wherever you are down there, the water is cold and the kings are plentiful.
Do not ever go to Barnhart's if you're in a hurry or expecting service anywhere in the mediocre-to-excellent category. For years, that just hasn't been their thing. And I'm happy to report...Nothing has changed! I definitely like the remodel. Nice improvements for sure. Same food. Same service. But if you hit the timing right, like we did today, it's totally worth it based solely on the location. Twenty-five fish in the morning, Barnhart's afterward, sitting along the water? I'll take it.
Today's haul puts us at 102 bites through the first three days of the weekend, with one more morning to go. Our four-day Memorial Day stretch produced 123 bites. So math says we need 22 bites tomorrow to beat Memorial Day. And yes, since I was already looking at numbers, I know you're wondering...Actually, you probably weren't. But I was. We're now sitting at 733 fish on 1,055 bites for 2026. We've got tomorrow plus five more weekends before the marina closes and the boat gets pulled. Still some work to do!
We may have also set a new Pull Hard fish-cleaning personal best today. Surgeon Jenn made the one-hour drive up, donned the Grundéns apron and proceeded to help us slice and dice 25 hogs in 27 minutes. This isn't exactly 1982 Fred Trost speed or anything, but with me siding, Surgeon Jenn and Nick ribbing, and Tim feeding fish and bagging... I was impressed. That's basically a fish every 65 seconds. People helping people!
Tomorrow there will officially be no Jenns. Sister Jenn is sleeping in and Surgeon Jenn is on call for one more day. So we've got me, Euge, Tim and Logan for sure. Still waiting to hear from Nick.
The plan? Go back to the exact same spot. Do the exact same thing. Why complicate this shit? The only difference is we'll be pulling lines and running back in no later than 10:00am. Yep...UWGB homework will be calling. Apparently fishing addicts still have responsibilities.
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