Ludington Fishing Report: 8 Fish On 13 Bites...The Budweiser Spoon Deserved a Löwenbräu!
Another memorable troll out of Ludington this morning…
Yesterday turned into one of those days that's hard not to smile through. A bunch of smelly fishermen somehow managed to make a bunch of strangers in Ludington smile…Mission accomplished.
After our successful investment at the Hamlin Grocery duck machine, Logan and the Gustafsons walked out with sore hands from high-fiving, ear-to-ear smiles and a bag full of lucky ducks.
Logan rode shotgun with the duck inventory while Eric handled the starboard side deliveries and Dan worked port. We slowly cruised parking lots looking for Jeep Wranglers. Eric was the MVP…The dude had zero fear…Didn't matter if people were sitting inside the Jeep or standing five feet away. Eric would hop out, hang a duck on the door handle like he'd been training for this his whole life and jump back in the truck before anyone knew what happened.
I still like imagining people walking back to their Jeep saying, "Look honey! Some nice fishermen left us a duck!" You're welcome.
We made another appearance at the Concert in the Park. Nothing quite matched last week's people-watching extravaganza, but it was worth the trip.
Then it was bedtime…A 4:20am boat time means a 3:40am alarm, and that gets here in a hurry.
Today's non-charter, fun-fishing crew was the same as yesterday. Just in case you forgot...Gunner, Logan, Dan, me and Eric (Youngest to oldest…Coincidentally, also the official duck claw game order).
Today's plan was completely different…We ran about two miles south and set up in 45 feet of water on a north troll. Logan immediately hid my downrigger rods. Apparently we're not allowed to set them first anymore because, according to him, we don't want to catch fish before all the rods are in the water. I've apparently been doing this wrong for...my entire life.
His master plan was to get all the rods fishing before the first bite. Then, once they started, we'd have seven...eight...maybe even ten fish on at once.He was so confident in the feeding frenzy that he basically asked permission to go pee beforehand. Kind of reminded me of Red asking permission in The Shawshank Redemption.
Unfortunately...The fish never read Logan's script. We picked away at them instead. By the time the shallow-water experiment wrapped up, we were sitting on three fish for eight bites.
There were rumors of better fishing north, so at 6:45am we pulled lines and made the run.
The calm water we'd been enjoying quickly turned into...Not calm. We set up just north of the bathhouse in 170 feet and pointed south. Boat control basically sucked. We bounced around anyway, made the best of it and pulled lines at 10:00am.
Final tally...Eight fish on thirteen bites. Not the feeding frenzy we drew up on the whiteboard...but another fun morning on Lake Michigan.
Hot Bites:
Moonshine 4" Black Green Silver on 2 colors of lead core led the way with 2 bites.
Moonshine 5" Mongolian Beef on 5 colors of lead core took 2 bites.
Moonshine Mini Non-Glow Green Slice on the slider 40 down took 2 bites.
Moonshine 5" JJ Mac on 3 colors of lead core took 1 bite.
Yeck Standard Goldilocks on 5 colors of lead core took 1 bite.
Northport Nailer Standard Budweiser spoon on 7 colors of lead core took 1 bite.
ITO 12" Diabolical Black War Frog meat rig on the out-down rigger 33 down took 1 bite.
Prototype 8" White Poison Frog flasher paired with a Dreamweaver Little Boy Blue fly on a high diver 175 back took 1 bite.
Michigan Stinger Standard Modified Coyote on 7 colors of lead core took 1 bite.
Tomik 4" Wonderbread plug on 2 colors of lead core took 1 bite.
What I Learned Today
I really appreciated Logan showing me his shallow-water program. Even though we weren't exactly at the pierheads, it all felt pretty similar to me. Funny enough, Logan texted me afterward apologizing because he didn't think he was on his A-game. Buddy...I still learned a ton.
Moonshine plugs still catch fish. I've always thought they looked awesome, and now I'm even happier I've been hanging onto the handful I own.
The old Budweiser spoon officially earned its place back in the rotation. I spotted it in an old salvage tackle box this week and immediately thought, "Yep...you're fishing." One bite later, I felt pretty smart. Nick would've appreciated that one. Logan wasn't surprised in the least.
Dan looked up whether Jennifer Aniston really uses salmon milt as a skin treatment. Turns out...It's true. Which explains why Big Fish Brad has looked so youthful all these years. Rumor has it missing angler Curtis may also be on the program. We miss you, Curtis. Ten CC's all the way, buddy.
This week should be another fun one…Charlie Daniels returns from his world tour tomorrow and will be joining me, Logan, Surgeon Jenn and Logan's teacher buddy on Friday. Don't tell Charlie yet...He doesn't know.
Surgeon Jenn will finally be done with another marathon hospital call week and should be more than ready to decompress on some salmon.
Next weekend Riley and her crew are coming up.
And somewhere in between all the trolling...There's apparently a big party in Norton Shores.
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