Ludington Fishing Report: August Gustafson Games

Ahhh August in Ludington. When the lake is glassy, the salmon are sassy, and my credit card is one Captain Chucks purchase away from spontaneous combustion.

Friday was full-on mojo maintenance mode. Started with a run past Loomis Street and spotted a boat already with a limit at 5:50am — which is offensive and inspiring all at once. Knocked out a little work to pay for lures I haven’t even bought yet, dropped the new bike off for tire love, and did everything short of rotating the Earth’s axis to get us fish-ready (sourdough, farmer’s market, blueberries, fishhawk repair, concert chairs, Meijer, bike ride, blah blah blah!

By late afternoon, the opening cast wandered in. This weekend’s crew: Eric – Milford legend, 1985 grad, the Al Bundy of Redskin High School Hockey. Curtis – A man shrouded in mystery. Has a Spotify playlist full of 10cc. Not joking. Dan – A proud NA beer drinker. Gunner – 7 feet of fish-whispering, net-reaching, board-yanking excellence.

We hit El Rancho for the pre-game meal, loaded up on tacos and pocketed some of their elite wooden toothpicks — tribute to the meat rig (don’t sue me John King) gods.

Saturday Morning: Alarm goes off at 3:30am. Because why not? Gotta run right?
Whole crew is dialed in and at the dock early. Except Nick, who barely made the 5:03am push off — but made it, so props. The pier head line of boats ridiculous, boats literally everywhere. We saw a gap straight out and took it. Lines in around 65 FOW at the dumping grounds. First ten minutes = nothing. Fish laughed at us, again. We got everything set without a sniff — always a red flag. WTF?

Finally, the low diver with meat rig fires and Gunner Polish-jigs that beast straight to the net like a 7 foot tall Parker . But the bite was slow, and we were chasing currents more than fish. So, we bailed and pointed south.

Round Two: New setup: 130 FOW between Bass Lake and Pentwater — just us and 500 of our closest friends. Fish marks were solid. The bite? Sporadic, but promising. 12 total bites, 8 fish landed — 6 kings, 2 cohos, and a masterclass on late-morning line-pulling action.

Highlights included: Eric landing a meat diver fish while we were pulling lines. Gunner reeling in a 10-color while pulling lines, just to get hammered by a monster king that launched the board out of sight. Had to clear the whole spread and chase the fish — dramatic hour to get the fish to the net. Three high fives from me to Gunner – bad ass!

Hot Bites:

• Yeck Blue Dolphin, 10 color – 2 bites

• Mr. Chrome Hailstorm Mag Glow, 200 copper – 2 bites

• Yeck Chubster, 3 color – 1 bite

• DW Mag Rhinestone Cowboy, 60’ rigger – 1 bite

• Black slick/green tape/red-head meat rig, 90’ low diver – 1 bite

• Mr. Chrome Fin Frog, 7 color – 1 bite

• Mystery Spoon, 7 color – 1 bite (line broke...RIP spoon, we hardly knew ya)

• Copper Fireball, 5 color – 1 bite and an honorary toast with Kessler’s + Fireball

• Moonshine Happy Meal, 10 color – 1 bite

• DW Orange Slice Mag, 200 copper – 1 bite

• DW Blue Slice meat rig, 150’ high diver – 1 bite

What I Learned:

• No donuts = fewer fish. Farmer’s market fruit is great...for yoga. Donuts back in play tomorrow.

• Music matters. Yacht Rock still reigns, but a mid-morning bat flyby took us straight to Ozzy’s Boneyard. Thought we were summoning something magical and 17 rods gonna get hit at once. Nada!

• Cookies > lures. Curtis unleashed Margo’s homemade “Monster Cookies” and boom, rod fires with the opening of the bag. Coincidence? I think not.

• Curtis declined a rod handoff mid-bite. That’s a violation. Nick doesn’t just hand over rods — he curates them. You take the curated rod.

• Real estate vs. fishing? No contest. Agent ghosted, blog wins.

Tomorrow’s Plan: Same crew, same energy, more donuts, less feelings. Gonna go back south early and try to recreate last Sunday’s 12-bite first hour. Fingers crossed, Fireball chilled, and Margo’s cookies secured.