Ludington Fishing Report: Saturday That Feels Like Sunday

10/4/20253 min read

Welcome to my Saturday that feels like a Sunday! That’s what happens when you fish Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday…my body’s confused, my brain’s confused, and the lake’s probably a little confused too.

As my faithful reader(s), you already know the crew plan was me, Surgeon Jenn, Charlie Daniels, Logan, and maybe Adam—with some questionable weather thrown in just to make things interesting. Then things fell apart faster than my attention span during online classes. Charlie had a Saturday appointment (who does that?). Logan was burning the candle at both ends (been there, dude – probably there now!). Adam was off duck hunting with his kid (solid dad move). That left… me and Jenn. Honestly, not a bad duo. Surgeon Jenn runs a tight ship, literally.

But there was one major problem…six lines. Yeah, only six. I’m a law-abiding fisherman, so I follow the MDNR 3-lines-per-person rule. Yesterday, we ran 15 lines, 17 lures, and got 13 bites. Not great, not terrible. So I did the math (maybe extra credit, UW-Green Bay professors?): If we had 6 lines, we needed 6 bites to be “even.” That’s the minimum goal…6 bites.

We didn’t leave until 6:45am, barely light out, and the wind wasn’t too bad. I motored north, following Logan’s plan (because the guy’s right 99.7% of the time): Start shallow on the shelf, work the skinny water, then slide out to the drop-off if nothing’s chewing. Six lines set in about a minute and a half. Nothing. A few marks near bottom, four rods working deep, and finally a rigger rod started bouncing. Slider bite! Fish on! …and off. Gone ten feet behind the boat. 0 for 1. Off to a blazing start. All good, it was smaller than that one Logan was holding yesterday.

Turned left, aimed deeper. The 3 color Chubster looked “heavy.” I reeled in to check it and sure enough, another mini-dink (sub-10 inches, not even a keeper). But hey, it was a fish and we weren’t skunked. Plus, the sunrise was top-shelf gorgeous, so I called that a win.

Side Quest: Chubster vs. Logan - If you’re new here, meet Chubster—the humble Yeck 3-color leadcore spoon that has, time and again, saved my bacon when the rods go cold. Now, Logan’s a fish whisperer. He can glance at a dipsy and say, “That’s set at 3.5, not 3.0.” And he’s always right. It’s weird. So yesterday, Chubster starts lighting up—twice! Boat mojo through the roof. Even Logan gave it a half-grin, maybe. Then he made the fatal mistake. He smirked and bad-mouthed Chubster and just like that, silence. Rods dead. Mojo flatlined. Moral of the story? Never, ever talk smack about Chubster. Anyway, nice to see the ol’ spoon get hit again today. That’s four trips in a row, buddy!

I was semi-mocking Logan’s paddle/fly system with a big-ass meat rig on one rigger and a spoon on the other. After watching a few fish swim up, look at it, and go “nah,” I was planning to swap to one of Logan’s paddle/fly combos. The meat rig was dragging another mini-dink. Pretty sure all three dink bites came from shallow water. Apparently, that’s where the kindergarten salmon hang out…Logan?

Final tally: 2 keeper kings, 1 keeper coho, 2 mini-dinks, and 1 lost mini-dink. So, 5 for 6 and met my “6-bites math goal,” so technically… success! (WTF, I have to put the word “keeper” in here…twice?)

Hot Bites:

ITO Meat Rig, 90’ rigger (probably was hit when set at 45’ down)
Chubster, 3-color leadcore
Mr. Chrome Mini Yeah Mon, free slider 50’ down
Mr. Chrome Mini Yeah Mon, free slider 117’ down
Moonshine Orange Hulk RV, 117’ down
DW “The Producer” (bold name), free slider 69’ down

What I Learned:

Always go to the pierheads to check waves in person—forecast said “yuck,” but the lake said “come on in.” It happens more times that you’d think.
Setting your “pull lines time" and then giving it four extra minutes can be the difference! Don’t work every time, but lots of smiles when it does...well 2 smiles!
Jenn’s officially graduated and can now set long lines and set and pull dipsys solo—see one, do one, teach one!
There’s a boat in the marina named Good Juju. Will we get in trouble for rubbing it for luck?
Mini-dinks = new boat mascot?

Time to load up the Ram and head back to Howell for some schoolwork, house catch-up, and to pay a little Helz respect. Wayne Brown said I could keep the Tiara in the slip past the 15th, but this salmon season needs to wrap up fast…One more weekend…Pray for calm seas, good company, and at least one more Chubster moment of glory.