Ludington Fishing Report: The Hammer Hunt Is Over...Long Live the Hogs!
Today is both a happy day and a sad day…Sad because it's the last day of the Big King Bonanza and I'm going to miss it until next April. Happy because it's the last day of the Big King Bonanza and I no longer have to sweat every freaking troll wondering how we're going to catch a hammer. Actually, I've decided that term is overused anyway. This will officially be the last Pull Hard blog where I use the word "hammer." From this point forward...They're all hogs!
Our crew today was exactly as expected: me, Logan, Sister Jenn, Euge and Tim. And for once, we actually stuck to the plan! We buzzed out toward the bathhouse, found the outside edge of the pack and started trolling north. Interestingly enough, there weren't nearly as many boats out as I expected. Thank you, Mother Nature...again. The pack was also deeper than I expected.
Too many people read yesterday's blog and knew exactly where we were setting up? Nah. I doubt that! Although we did meet a dude in the fish cleaning cage that said he read yesterday’s blog and went to our spot – he only had one fish though, must have been him!
Our wish list for the morning was pretty simple. One final hammer, preferably 27 pounds or better, and our five heaviest fish weighing somewhere around 90 pounds.
No reason to build any suspense here…Our biggest fish weighed 16.6 pounds…Our best five weighed 69.50 pounds. We won exactly $0.00. So there you go.
As has become tradition lately, we got all the lines set and...Nothing, again. The screen was loaded with fish…still nothing.
We did get a couple decent downpours and some pretty heavy east wind, neither of which I was expecting. How windy was it? So windy I couldn't figure out how to keep the freaking boat straight. So windy that fishing pop-up tournament guru Jackpot Todd actually called me to ask if I'd figured out a way to keep the freaking boat straight. Nope!
Once the sky finally started to lighten up a little, the fish decided to participate. We had a few really nice flurries that eventually yielded 1 coho, 1 lake trout and 13 kings on 28 bites. Fifteen fish. Twenty-eight bites. Yep...We missed 13. And according to Logan, a few of the ones we lost were the right fish we needed. Of course they were, Logan.
Bottom line? We need to work smarter AND harder out there.
Hot Bites
Flasher/Fly | Bechold 11 Inch Kevin's Girlfriend / Rapture Sweet Pea | Chute Rigger 139 down | 5 bites
Flasher/Fly | Pro Troll 8 Inch Green / Dreamweaver Pickled Sunshine | Out Down 150 down | 4 bites
Spoon | Silver Streak Magnum Glow Rasta Goose | Out Down 94 down | 3 bites
Flasher/Fly | Prototype 8 Inch Chrome / Howie Green Gold Crinkle | High Diver 130 back | 3 bites
Plug | Silver Horde 5 Inch White Lightning | Copper 400 Feet | 2 bites
Meat Rig | Dreamweaver Spin Doctor 8 Inch / Dreamweaver Punisher | High Diver 320 back | 2 bites
Spoon | Dreamweaver Magnum Rasta Goose | Slider 94 down | 1 bite
Spoon | Dreamweaver Magnum Rasta Goose | Lead Core 10 Colors | 1 bite
Flasher/Fly | Prototype 8 Inch Chrome / Dreamweaver Little Boy Blue | Low Diver 175 back | 1 bite
Plug | Silver Horde 5 Inch Pink Lightning | Lead Core 10 Colors | 1 bite
Plug | Dreamweaver 4 Inch Wonder Bread | Lead Core 7 Colors | 1 bite
Plug | Silver Horde 5 Inch Sea Hawk | Copper 300 Feet | 1 bite
Plug | Dreamweaver 4 Inch Soda | Out Down 100 down | 1 bite
Spoon | Dreamweaver Mini SS Wonder Veggie | Slider 100 down | 1 bite
Flasher/Fly | Dreamweaver Spin Doctor 8 Inch Chrome / Dreamweaver Christmas Tree Vegan Rig | Copper 300 Feet | 1 bite
What I Learned Today
Travis from Get Some was nice enough to give me a mag Silver Streak Glow Rasta Goose yesterday…or so I thought. I put that bad boy on my starboard rigger at 94 down this morning and it took four bites (above says 3 bites, but it was really 4. I didn’t want to add too many more to my side and damage Logan’s ego). Come to find out, Travis was using me! He knew I had the Lucky Ludington Fishing Coin.He knew I had Logan. He apparently wanted me to use all that combined mojo to properly break in his spoon. Then, at the fish cleaning station, he handed me a brand-new glow Rasta Goose and took the properly broken-in one back! I can't even argue with the logic. Well played, Get Some boys. I bend the knee.
I kinda joked around about tangles yesterday. Fishing karma apparently reads the blog. Today we had three massive tangles that required cutting stuff. Yep…They were that bad. Surgeon Jenn wasn't there to witness them, but I don't think even she could've performed the surgery necessary to save some of the shit we created this morning. Lesson learned. I will never joke about tangles again!
Once again, everyone seemed to genuinely love Logan's Pop-Up Tournament. Fourteen of the 16 boats weighed fish. And yes, I'm going to assume the other two got skunked. Why else wouldn't you weigh? I've got five more Saturdays left in Ludington this season, Logan buddy. I'd absolutely do this again. Seriously, did you see all the smiling faces you created today? That's pretty damn cool.
Tim and I created some excellent fishing and Looper mojo in the cage. Two Looper chicks (separate boats) asked about the fish, which I generally interpret as, "We would like some of that fish." So I asked. They bit. And both walked away with a king fillet for their journey. Giving fresh salmon to complete strangers? Good juju. Tomorrow morning should be fantastic!
After the last hour of tangles, Logan finally reached his breaking point. He literally put himself in a timeout…Sat down…Chilled…Thought about it all...Then declared he was taking tomorrow off from fishing. Probably for the best, buddy, although if you change your mind we will make room!
So tomorrow is definitely me, Sister Jenn, Euge and Tim. Thinking Nick will probably be joining us too.
We need to be back in time to hit Captain Chuck's at noon for the Big King Bonanza awards. We won absolutely nothing. But that's okay. I still want to be there to support Logan and Scott and wrap up another great Big King Bonanza season.
No check. No trophy. No Happy Gilmore check. No giant king…but a ridiculous number of fish, a ridiculous number of new fishing buddies, THE COIN, BoatMeals™, After Fishing Mints™, a whole bunch of ShitShows™, and a hell of a lot of fun chasing the stupid thing…I'll take it. See you in April, Big King Bonanza.
And goodbye, hammer. From now on...HOGS!
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