Ludington Fishing Report – Bread, Banter & Big Kings?

7/3/20253 min read

2:30 PM Thursday, and I’m finally sitting down for the first time in 18 hours. It all started yesterday at 4:00 PM when I clocked out, picked up the dog (he is perfectly named “Dipsy”), and hit the road for Ludington. Rolled into town at 8:30 PM and immediately started multitasking: Threw in a loaf of sourdough, ran to the boat to dig out rods, took out the bread, threw in another loaf (double carb = more fish, it’s science?), Wesco run for ice, Miller Lite, and donuts (a perfect balance), back to the boat to set the super sweet opening lineup, bread out, bed by 10:35 PM

3:30 AM Thursday – alarm hits, I ran 1.5 miles, signed up for tomorrow’s 1-mile 4th of July parade jog (curious, does that mean I don’t run in the morning), ate some eggs and headed to the dock. Joining me today is my sister Jennifer (fireball enthusiast making a rare appearance), Tim (fish-loser-then-redeemer), local dude Charlie Daniels (yes, that’s his real name and no, he doesn’t play the fiddle – well, maybe he does – I’ve never asked)

5:02 AM – shoved off and started solving life’s problems on the taxi ride to the pierheads. Topics included Ludington real estate motel schemes, midlife grad school plans, and…wait…suddenly…pierheads! Oh crap! Where are we fishing again? With zero plan but full confidence, we split the difference and went kinda north/kinda straight out, setting up just south of the Billion Boat Bank and a tad north the lit up net markers – in 110 FOW and went on a north troll.

Marks everywhere. Let’s go! No repeat of last Sunday’s 1 fish shit troll!
We had 12 rods– 4 dipsies, 2 riggers, 6 long lines. Halfway through setup, the John King Green Bubble BTI Meat Rig goes off, 175' back…lost it! Oh well – lets set the rest of the rods and enjoy the classic sunrise over the state park…Then a rigger went and Charlie was on the rod…classic “we got one! …no wait… yes?...he’s off…no wait…” scenario. Charlie reels like a man who’s definitely been here before and lands a nice king. Skunk = gone. Morning = made.

Then… Yeck Fireball 5-color goes off. The same spoon that’s been ice-cold all season? Yup. Tim declared it Fireball Shot O’Clock (he does this often and claims it works 60% of the time 100% of the time) and Jennifer backed it up by boating a nice steelhead. Three shots of Fireball followed because it’s now tradition. (And because no one wanted to jinx it again.)

The bite was dead…Then came the XM Radio Experiment: Outlaw Country? Big miss. Zero fish. Zero recognizable songs. 100% Jennifer confusion. Flipped to Classic Vinyl just as the Grateful Dead played (not a Dead-head, nor fan at all, but a fish fan and if the fish like it – all is good) and bam – Showtime 10” Spinny Meat rig goes off on a high diver. Tim’s back in action. And when I say “action,” I mean he had the fish on… then cracked a Miller Lite mid-battle (really?)… and the fish bailed. Rod in left hand, Miller Lite in the right!

Don’t worry, he got redemption. Same setup goes off again and he lands our heaviest salmon of the year: 20.20 lbs. We ran it to Chuck’s for official weigh-in…entered that hog in the Big King Bonanza and the Ultimate Salmon Derby. Fingers crossed the fish has a fat sister out there tomorrow.

Final fish count: 6 kings (including a 20.20 lb stud, and a couple high teens), 2 steelhead, 1 coho, 1 lake trout (10 fish on 13 bites)

Hot Bites:

Showtime 10" Spindoctor meat rig on high diver, 120 back – 6 bites
John King Green Bubble BTI meat rig, 175 back on mag diver – 1 bite
Yeck Fireball on 5 color – 2 bites and 6 Fireball shots
Mr. Chrome Radioactive Mag Spoon on 200 copper – 1 bite
Mr. Chrome Aurora Mag Spoon on 300 copper – 2 bites
Dreamweaver Mag Rhinestone Cowboy, 96’ down – 1 bite
(For the Yeck Chubster fans out there – Chubster was out on its favorite 3 color rod all morning – nothing…weird…hmm…)

What I Learned Today:

Opening a Miller Lite mid-fight might cost you a fish… but does it also summon another one later. Science unclear, but something works 60% of the time 100% of the time
Long sleeve performance shirts actually are cooler than short sleeve T-shirts. Who knew?
Outlaw Country XM may actually repel fish. Probably should be banned…at least suspended for a bit.
Jennifer prefers to hold the diver rod in her hands while trolling vs. the rod holder…she’s old school and likes to feel the bite!
Tim and Charlie are not to be left alone with a reel unless you enjoy mystery button-pushing and sudden backlashes with wire divers.

Tomorrow’s looking good weather-wise, and Nick & Alison are joining us. Tim and Nick on the same boat again? That’s like Pauly D and The Situation in the same hot tub…GTL?