Ludington Fishing Report: Euge Returns, Kings Lose Their Minds in a 31-for-34 Beatdown

5/22/20263 min read

Memorial Day weekend is officially underway and it’s shaping up to be an interesting one in Ludington. Forecast says great weather Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Perfect fishing weather. Maybe a little chilly for normal humans, but luckily most fishermen are not normal humans.

We rolled into town yesterday evening, got the boat ready, organized the good stuff, and put together what looked like a pretty dangerous crew for the morning. Today’s lineup was:

Me, Logan, Charlie Daniels, Kaedin, Daughter Riley, dad’s huge return to salmon fishing…Euge. Originally the trip was supposed to be me, Charlie Daniels, Kaedin and Logan. Then Riley jumped in last minute. And then Euge made his long-awaited comeback appearance. He hasn’t salmon fished in almost two years because of some nasty health issues, so honestly everybody was hoping his return would somehow bring us good luck. Spoiler alert…It absolutely did.

Got to the boat at 4:50am. Logan was already there of course, building what can only be described as another Super Logan Fish Summoning Program. The dude treats rod setup like a NASA launch sequence.

We shoved off around 5:10am and headed south toward the same water that’s been giving up limits lately, where me and Surgeon Jenn started Sunday, about two miles north of the Consumer’s projects in 50 feet of water. Basically the same line we’ve been pounding for the last month.

Immediately noticed two things: The wind was not light. The waves were definitely not calm. At least it was east wind though, which always feels way less offensive in tight.

Started on an south troll. Worked down toward Bass Lake. Turned around and worked back north. Simple program…and it took forever to get all the rods set. I’m pretty sure we spent like an hour and a half just getting lines organized because every time we’d almost finish setting up…another rod would fire.

Once the first bite hit they just never stopped coming. Absolute madness. I think at one point we had six fish on simultaneously. And somehow the crew absolutely operated. Everybody stayed calm, well maybe not Kaedin. Everybody moved. Nobody panicked. Total ShitStorm™ teamwork.

By the time the smoke cleared, we had boated: 31 fish. Which officially became the all-time fish record for any crew I’ve personally ever been involved with…and the craziest part wasn’t even the total. It was the ratio. 31 fish boated on 34 bites. THIRTY ONE FOR THIRTY FOUR. That’s absurd. Our catch ended up being: 25 kings. 6 lake trout. One little mini king released.Just complete chaos from start to finish.

Hot bites included:

Stinger Blue Veggies RV (used and abused) on 3 color – 2 bites
Moonshine standard Flounder Pounder RV on 5 color – 2 bites
Stinger Pink Panties on 5 color – 3 bites
Mr. Chrome mini Mr Chrome on 7 color
Stinger Modified Coyote on 200 copper - 2 bites
High wire 8” white slick, pickle went once at 85, once at 95, and once at 105 – 3 bites
Out down hot tamales hovering bottom took a trout
Mr. Chrome Hulk 8” paddle with fly on chute rigger 50 foot down – 4 bites
Charlie Special Money Shot Fly on High back 77 – 5 bites
New Yeck Yellow Tail on out down, down 45
New Silver Streak on out down slider
Moonshine Mag Agent Orange RV on out down, down 45
Moonshine bad toad RV on 200 copper
Moonshine mini half moon JJ mac on 7 color
Yeck Gold Fireball on 5 color – 2 bites
Mr Chrome mini Wild Fire on 3 color – 4 bites

Basically everything had a chance to get assaulted...again!

What I Learned Today:

BoatMeal™ still needs work. I made breakfast for Euge, Riley, Logan and myself. Results were mixed. Too dry for Euge. Not enough sweet stuff for Logan. Perfect for Riley. So apparently BoatMeal™ is basically the Goldilocks of breakfast systems.
You know you’re sitting on a stupid hot bite when a salmon legend fishing on a very cool boat north of Big Point literally pulls lines and resets outside of you. That definitely caught my attention.
There were a couple moments where the boat just completely clicked. Pure organized chaos. Rods firing. People moving and jumping net handles. Fish sliding into the net. No confusion. Honestly really cool to watch.
I timed fish cleaning for the first time ever. Kaedin predicted we’d be done by 11:30am. First cut started at 11:09am. Last bag zipped shut at 12:19pm. That’s 70 minutes for 30 fish. Just over two minutes per fish. Surgeon Jenn officially has a benchmark now.
I’m beginning to believe the combination of Logan’s fish luck plus Euge returning to Lake Michigan somehow wound those fish completely sideways. We probably need more testing to confirm the science. But early results are promising.

Now it’s time to go spend money at Captain Chuck’s II because apparently we all enjoy financially irresponsible fishing decisions. Then the farmer’s market. Then Sister Jenn and Tim are rolling into town. Which means the evening plan is likely to involve strategy meetings, sourdough pizza, more fishing lies, and figuring out how many fish we can realistically catch tomorrow.

Ludington Fishing Report: Euge Returns, Kings Lose Their Minds in a 31-for-34 Beatdown

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