Ludington Fishing Report: When legends step aboard, hogs tremble.

9/28/20253 min read

Wow, what a weird but wonderful stretch during the week. Truck starter died and Watson in Ludington pulled off a miracle pit-stop repair job. Made it home in time for Soup Club Tuesday (priorities: salmon fishing = important, soup club = equally important). Piled on homework and work-work. Drove back to Ludington. Caught a sunset bike ride. Procrastinated. Procrastination note: I wasn’t stalling on soup recipes or classwork—I was counting fishing partners. In 2024, I thought I hit an unbreakable number at 66 people. As of yesterday, I’m at 68 for 2025!

The Morning Run (aka: “I Still Hate Running”): Woke up at 4am, laced up, and knocked out 3.1 miles. First full run in a while, no walking breaks—win! But at 35 minutes…uh, I have the last Ludington Run Club 5k in a month and need to trim off 5 minutes stat!

The crew today was : Me (professional donut-quitter), Kate, Petunia Josh (PJ, Kate’s husband, like a labrador-all fun high eager energy), Bob Womack (The legend himself, heard about him for years, never fished with him until today, knows Bob Louth, eats salmon for breakfast, probably tied flies with Jesus, happens to be PJ’s dad, and #69(yes, Bill & Ted’s favorite number)). Gosh, pressure was high!

Met at the dock at 6am. Early crew, yes—even PJ. Left at 6:05am. Motored north (same playbook as last weekend—between the blinky nets I couldn’t see and the bathhouse). Set in 130 FOW on a north troll.

First diver went in, then a rigger, then a 3 color and bam, fish on the diver! Within 5 minutes. Felt so good to not be skunked before sunrise. By the time the fog rolled in thick, we had 3–4 in the boat. Thank God for radar, cause visibility was garbage.

Bite was steady early, then tapered. Final tally: 5 kings + 5 coho on 16 bites. Josh may or may not have personally dropped 5–6 of them. (Okay, he did. Sorry man, facts are facts).

Hot Bites:

Black slick 8” SD + Pickled Sunshine fly, 175 back high diver.
White slick paddle + Pickled Sunshine fly, 75 down on chute.
Moonshine Do Dee K, 50 down rigger.
Copper Fireball, 5-color (3 bites).
Moonshine Raptor, 7-color (2 bites).
Chubster, 3-color (2 bites).
Silver Streak Michael Jackson, 45 down free slider (2 bites).
Red Tail meat, 150 back high diver (2 bites).
Moonshine mini orange/green Flounder, 7-color.
Moonshine Agent Orange RV, 10-color.

What I Learned Today:

Fish were puking tiny alewife. Bellies stuffed with mini bait. Spooning time? (No, not like that).
PJ has actually come a long way. Ran rods, taught Kate and Bob some stuff. “See one, do one, teach one.” Surgeon Jenn would approve.
Goodbye Wesco donuts. For real this time. RIP sugary crack. Do not bring them to my boat anymore-at least not for me!
The Chubster is back, baby. Nothing last weekend, 2 today. Don’t call it a comeback, Todd.
Bob Womack is a machine. No whining. No “my arms hurt.” Just calmly reeling hogs on long lines like its oatmeal time.
Pretty sure Ged (or someone in Polecat) blessed us. Rod popped with the Yeck Chubster exactly as they went by. Coincidence? Nope. Mojo transfer for sure.
Trade of the day today was a brand new only used once piss-jug to PJ for a pint of Bob’s fresh Indiana (I think) honey…good trade…tatanka!

Side Quests:

Post-trip walk (or hike?) down Sable with the Surgeon, eyeballing salmon. Still confused on the hike vs. walk thing.
Logged 32 Rancho toothpicks for tomorrow.
Big mojo tomorrow: THE Nick, Charlie Daniels, Big Fish Brad, and “Cousin Pat Avid Fisherman.” No clue who Cousin Pat is, but he’ll be #70. Last time Charlie brought a cousin, it was Parker, and that turned into blog history.

Today felt like a mix of pressure (new legend on board), chaos (fog, fog, fog), and gratitude (good crew, good mojo). Pretty fishy morning indeed.