Ludington Fishing Report: The CROs Have Spoken: 10 Fish and 10/10 Everything!
There’s something to be said about days like today. It’s Monday and I was supposed to be at work work, probably daydreaming about the soup Tam is making for Soup Club tomorrow. Instead, I’m fishing. Fishing beats work work and daydreaming about soup. Barely.
The Yavellos are staying just south of Ludington in Shelby and agreed to give the morning troll a shot. My crew was Andy and Justy Yavello, along with their kids Cora, Ruby and Oliver. Take their initials and you get CRO, but apparently they’re really called “the Crows.” I kinda get it. After watching them eat, it somehow makes even more sense.
I was sad to see Surgeon Jenn leave yesterday around 7pm. She was definitely missed today in pretty much every way imaginable. We did manage to get some good mojo going before she left though. Meijer stop, dropped a broken rod off at Mac’s Rods, scored the free Tommy’s car wash and mounted a new phone holder to the rocket launcher. That should be enough mojo for one morning, right?
I had the alarm set for 3:50am with plans to run, then accidentally woke up at 3:25am. Might as well use it! Got the run in and felt great. Hit Wesco for ice and was down at the boat by 5:15am...just in time to get the text saying the Yavellos would arrive around 5:40am.
I know, I know. That’s not exactly prime early-morning salmon bite protocol. But I had mentally prepared for it. Remember, I only need one fish to avoid the skunk and some BoatMeal™. Everything after that is gravy.
We ran north into the 00s. What was weird was that I stayed along shore planning to cut west through all the boats working the bank...except there weren’t any boats working the bank. They were all deeper. I looked down at the Lowrance, saw 130 FOW and realized I hadn’t passed anybody. Okay then. I guess we’re setting up here.
It took us a while to get all the lines set because we kept getting bites! Apparently that’s not how you’re supposed to do it. Right, Logan? But when little Oliver wants to see a hog salmon, he doesn’t want to sit around in the pitch dark watching me carefully deploy 15 rods and then wait half an hour for the perfectly coordinated feeding frenzy. I aim to please!
The bite stayed steady all morning. Nothing fast and furious, just a fish here and another one there. It was pretty much exactly how I would’ve ordered the morning for this crew.
Could I have put more lures in the water? Yep. Could I have changed more stuff? Yep. Did I care? Nope.
When it was all over, the Yavellos had boated 9 kings and 1 steelhead on 16 bites. 10 fish!
More importantly, all three CROs gave the fishing adventure an official 10/10!
Then BoatMeal™ got a 10/10!
Then the After Fishing Mint™ got a 10/10!
Let me make sure I have this right...
10 fish.
10/10 fishing.
10/10 BoatMeal™.
10/10 After Fishing Mints™.
I’m not sure what the Yavellos’ grading scale looks like, but apparently Pull Hard absolutely crushed Monday. I’ll take that over a six-person limit every single time.
Hot Bites
Dreamweaver Spin Doctor 8 Inch / Dreamweaver Isotope | High Diver 175 back | 4 bites
Northeast Troller Standard Black Eye Peas | Out Down 60 down | 3 bites
ITO 12 Inch Diabolical Black War Frog | Chute Rigger 100 down | 2 bites
Prototype 8 Inch Chrome / Howie Green Crinkle | High Diver 150 back | 2 bites
Bechold 11 Inch Kevin's Girlfriend / Rapture Sweet Pea | Chute Rigger 139 down | 1 bite
Yeck Standard Fireball | Lead Core 5 Colors | 1 bite
Michigan Stinger Magnum Carmel Dolphin | Lead Core 5 Colors | 1 bite
Dreamweaver 4 Inch Soda | Lead Core 7 Colors | 1 bite
Northeast Troller Standard Glow Alewife | Out Down 75 down | 1 bite
What I Learned Today
I do appreciate the friendly early-morning marina talk. While waiting for the Yavellos this morning, a dude four or five slips down started backing out. Suddenly I hear a nice long horn blast. Apparently he didn’t look before backing out. Don’t worry, everything turned out perfectly. The boat coming down the channel kindly reminded the dude trying to get out to “wake the F up!” It worked. Sometimes a friendly marina reminder is all you need.
Oliver wears sunglasses in the morning darkness. Not just for a minute either. Straight through. Apparently the sunglasses rarely come off. They’re the big John Daly-style glasses Logan wears. I’m assuming Justy has the kid listening to Corey Hart too. Sunglasses at night, people.
BoatMeal™ was another smashing success. I asked yesterday whether I needed to bring some and was told they were all set, so I brought one for everybody to sample. Should’ve brought five. Undisputed 10/10 across the board. Thanks!
Surgeon Jenn’s help and company were dearly missed. I really like how well we work together on the boat without even having to talk about what needs to happen next. We talked about her quite a bit this morning. Yes, I’m absolutely shooting for brownie points with this bullet. Oh, and let’s just say I received zero compliments on my fish-cleaning table today.
Although the adult Yavellos complained quite a bit about their sore arms, those two are reeling machines. They just keep reeling. And reeling. And reeling. Fish coming toward the boat? Reel. Fish running away? Reel. Fish jumping? Reel. One hog slammed into the Tiara transom!
And finally, the After Fishing Mint™ was absolutely made for mornings like today. Technically, it was made for every morning, but whatever. The CROs gobbled them up and volunteered an unsolicited 10/10. Way better response than I got from the previous two days combined!
Now that this is posted, I need to go pick up my repaired rod tip from Mac’s and head back to Howell. I am genuinely looking forward to an 8:30pm bedtime followed by a 4:00am wake-up for Planet Fitness before work work.
UWGB summer classes are officially done too. Another A, if you were wondering. That means I should have a few extra afternoon hours available to buy more fishing stuff before the fall semester starts. Perfect.
Next weekend is another biggie…Matt Brown and crew will be taking over the condo. They’ve always been a big-fish crew, and I have a feeling when the Brown crew collides with the ridiculous salmon fishing we’ve had this year...All hell is going to break loose.
PS: I got another Thank You card - yep, homemade!
Continue Exploring with Pull Hard Fishing
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400 W. Filer St., C1, Ludington, MI 49431 | Phone: 248-534-9202 | PullHardFishing@outlook.com
