Ludington Fishing Report: Fish, Gears & Beers, and Soup!

8/31/20252 min read

This Labor Day Sunday doesn’t mess around—it’s basically like the Olympics of my personal schedule. Fish? Check. Ride 30 miles on a bike for charity? Check. Make cabbage soup for Soup Club on Tuesday? Of course (you don’t just whip up proper soup, people—it needs two days to find its flavor). And prep for Labor Day itself? Double check.

Yesterday’s prep involved a trip to El Rancho. Sure, we ate there (always delicious)—but the main mission was snagging those El Rancho toothpicks, because they’re dynamite in a meat rig. Then a drive-by Stearns Beach to see if volleyball was on (spoiler: no), but we got distracted anyway by ducking jeeps with Hamlin Grocery ducks. Instant smiles everywhere. Tim—our OG “mother ducker”—was born for this role. We got the opening lineup set, ice from Wesco and was in bed early…dreaming of...fishing with tomorrow’s team: Me (of course), Tim, THE Nick, Charlie Daniels, Kaedin and totally confirmed, Parker! Yep THE Parker is in!

Let’s fast forward to this morning: I parked the truck at 4:57am, and Nick was already wiping down glass on the boat – much appreciated, need to see man. Charlie was there with a gob of donuts – ugh!, Kaedin too—but no Parker! Again! Apparently, the dude skipped fishing to cut grass. On a Sunday? A holiday weekend Sunday? While we’re done fishing before 9:00am? Dude…

We shoved off at 5:07am, weaved through boat traffic, and set up in 120 FOW near the bath house on a north troll. Perfect weather, but zero action until all lines were in. Déjà vu from yesterday. Picked away at 8 fish on 10 bites—5 steelhead, 3 kings. Not barnburner fishing, but hey, not skunked either and my mind was thinking about a bike ride!

Pulled lines at 9:00am, hustled back, cleaned fish, cleaned me, and off to Ludington Bay Brewery for the 30-mile charity ride. My gear was dialed: new Shimano clip shoes (these are for bicycles fishing people), padded shorts (to save the ass), and fingerless Billy Idol gloves because, ahh, I used to like Billy Idol? Rode with Ryan (kinda retired biking machine) and Ted (THE Ted from Ludington Bay Brewery) - both great dudes. Twenty-two miles to Starving Artist Brewery—where everyone else got free beer and I had 2 bananas and water—then 8 miles back to Lud Bay. Tim, Jennifer, Nick, and Alison were waiting at the finish line. Great ride, numb butt, full heart.

Hot Bites

Charlie Special + Money Shot fly, low diver 110 back (2 bites)
Yeck Chubster 3 color (2 bites—welcome back, old friend)
Blue Slice meat rig, low diver 100 back
Moonshine Raspberry Carbon Plug, 10 color
Yeck Fireball 5 color (1 for 1, clutch fireball shot, no motorcycle ride, Nick!)
Moonshine Mag Blue Knight RV USA, rigger 60 down
5” White plug/red head, 7 color
Mr. Chrome Mag Yeah Mon, 7 color

What I Learned Today

Tim makes a great rod holder substitute for the chute rigger. Didn’t get bit, but he looked sharp.
Rancho toothpicks: 1 bite? Still scratching my head.
Charlie Daniels = mechanical wizard. Dude rebuilt my washdown nozzle when he saw a drip.
I might actually be a soup prodigy. Knife skills and flavor blending are perfect! A glorified saucier (yep, just like Chef from Apocalypse Now).
Biking 30 miles isn’t torture when you’ve got numb buns, good conversation, great views, and a good cause. Felt great, met cool people, raised money for Lakeshore Food Club.

Now it’s soup-finishing, tomorrow’s lineup-prepping, and countdown-to-September-trolling time. Only 45 more days until the marina closes—tick, tick, tick…