Ludington Fishing Report: 29 for 41 and a Blu Moon Plea!
Well, this year’s mid-June is starting off a lot like last year, only with a slightly better weather twist. We rolled into Ludington Friday around mid-day and started the weekend the right way with a high-and-tight haircut at the family barber. You see, the weather forecast for Saturday looked absolutely terrible, so we signed up for the big 5K race instead. That's basically the same thing as fishing...right? When I run, I prefer to be as aerodynamic as possible. Historically, a fresh haircut gives me the edge I need to dominate my age group.
The plan after the race was to work some soup mojo into the weekend with a cherry-rhubarb soup I've been dreaming up. That required one trip to Meijer and two trips to the farmer's market because apparently planning ahead is not one of my strengths. We squeezed in a sourdough pizza Friday night with dukkah, caraway seeds and pistachios in the crust, picked up our running bib thingys, then drove to the beach for sunset. Totally lazy not riding bikes, but we ran out of time.
Saturday morning rolled around and I woke up at 6am. Remember, we like to have six kings in the boat by 6am. The lake was calm. The wind was calm. It absolutely could have been a fishing morning. Sorry Logan.
We seriously need to find an accurate marine forecast app. I'm pretty sure I've used every single one and they all suck. Sorry for the negativity, but somebody has to say it.
I started the day with a green juice, avocado and coconut water blend, then headed to the boat to mix up some epoxy patch stuff before making our way to Nader's to run. Now if you've been reading these reports for a while, you know I hate the actual act of running. What I enjoy is crossing the finish line and being done running.
My goals are always simple: Don't die. Don't walk. Finish under 30 minutes. I successfully accomplished Goal #1. I definitely failed Goal #2. Which automatically caused me to fail Goal #3 with a blistering time of 30:05. In fishing terms, I went 1 for 3. But when you win your age group, that one fish happened to weigh 25 pounds. Yes, I realize there were only two people in my age group. A win is a win people.
To wrap up Saturday, we met daughter Delaney and Katie at Blu Moon for dinner and great conversation. Quick public service announcement. If you're a fisherman and you're in Ludington, head to Blu Moon immediately. More on that later.
Sunday's mojo lined up about perfect. We had the Sunday Dream Team consisting of me, Surgeon Jenn, Charlie Daniels, Logan and, to surprise Logan, Todd Reed from Jackpot. Not the photographer.
We left the dock at 4:55am with little to no actual plan. Only a couple boats had fished Saturday. They went north, found fish and apparently found every small salmon in Lake Michigan.
Speaking of small fish, last Sunday's Facebook report generated some interesting comments. Apparently some folks were wondering where the mature fish were and suggested we were out there catching musky bait, maybe even shouldn't have posted anything. All good. Actually pretty funny. I suppose I could stop posting when we catch small fish and skunks and only post when we catch giants. Nah.
Back to Sunday…After a healthy amount of debate, we decided to head south. We set up just south of the projects in 80 FOW and started a southwest troll, gradually working deeper.
We started getting bites before a third of the rods were set…Then they just kept coming.
There was a nice mixed bag of medium kings, smaller kings and coho scattered throughout the area. We basically worked 100-140 FOW between the projects and Bass Lake all morning. The graph was loaded with marks the entire time.
Our biggest king weighed 14.8 pounds…We ended up throwing back five minis and keeping 24 fish consisting of 14 kings and 10 coho. Final score was 29 fish on 41 bites. Six hours of fishing. That's basically 7 BPH and 5 FPH. And yes, we round up…We're fishermen.
Hot Bites:
Moonshine Standard Raspberry Carbon | Lead Core 7 Colors | 4 bites
Dreamweaver 8" Blue Bubble Spindoctor / Dreamweaver Blue Bubble Fly | High Diver 175 back | 3 bites
Yeck 8" Frog Hoochie / KRW Sweet Pea Fly | Low Diver 140 back | 3 bites
Warrior Standard Blue Flu Deer Coyote | Out Down 65 down | 2 bites
Warrior Standard Blue Red Fludder | Slider 65 down | 4 bites
Moonshine Standard Non-Glow Green Slice | Out Down 84 down | 5 bites
Moonshine Standard Non-Glow Green Slice | Slider 84 down | 5 bites
Moonshine Mini Half Moon Hulk | Low Diver 150 back | 1 bite
Dreamweaver 8" Dragon Slayer Spindoctor / Howie Green Crinkle Fly | High Diver 180 back | 1 bite
Secret 8" Secret Flasher / Howie Bank Frog Fly | High Diver 200 back | 2 bites
Mr. Chrome Magnum Radio Active | Copper | 1 bite
Mr. Chrome Standard Yeah Mon | Copper | 1 bite
Silver Streak Standard Chubster Imitation | Slider 60 down | 2 bites
Dreamweaver 8" Black Slick Spindoctor / Dreamweaver Pickled Sunshine Fly | Low Diver 190 back | 1 bite
Dreamweaver 11" Black Slick Paddle / Dreamweaver Pickled Sunshine Fly | Chute Rigger 124 down | 1 bite
Michigan Stinger Standard Modified Coyote | Lead Core 7 Colors | 2 bites
Yeck Magnum Red Head Purple Dot | Lead Core 7 Colors | 1 bite
What I Learned:
I've officially decided Kaedin gets his inability to look at the camera from Charlie Daniels. Just saying.
We need to help out Blu Moon. They've been a Ludington staple for 19 years and one of our favorite restaurants. Yes El Rancho, I said ONE OF. Sounds like they've had to make some changes and we need their staples back. Yankee Pot Roast. Laotian Noodles. Rainbow Roll. All the things. If you're in Ludington, go spend a bunch of money there. Please.
Logan went 1 for 3 on the rod today. Same batting average as my running performance.
I've confirmed yet again that the boat is way more peaceful with the reel clickers turned off.
The bite log thingy continues to improve. My goal is to have a prototype by the end of July that I can actually talk to. Like Alexa or Siri, except for fishing. Right now the leading name candidate is "Logan."
The new Yeck colors on the mag spoons (like the long super big ones) catches the hogs - see picture for results!
Next weekend might actually be fish-free. First, there's always about a 25% chance the weather will ruin everything. Second, Surgeon Jenn is hosting a graduation party Saturday and that's way cooler than fishing. Third, it's Father's Day weekend and there's a small chance one or two daughters might want to hang out with their old man. We'll see what happens. I wouldn't bet against the fish quite yet.
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400 W. Filer St., C1, Ludington, MI 49431 | Phone: 248-534-9202 | PullHardFishing@outlook.com
