Ludington Area Fishing Reports

We took part in the inaugural Fish On For Freedom event today in Ludington. It was put on to show  appreciation to veterans for their service to the country. We went north and set up in 110 feet of water on the bank. First rod in was a 7.5 color core with a regular size Blue Benny Fuzzy Bear Spoon. Before the board got into place it was dragging back with a Lake Trout on the other end. We took King on that same rod later in the morning. Second fish was a 17.6 lb. King on a 11′ white Paddle/Pickled Sunshine Action Fly 92 down on the chute rigger.  We took a good King on a 300 Copper with a 10″ Green Bikini Spin Doctor & a prototype Dreamweaver meat rig.  A 10″ White Crush Green Prism Spin Doctor & a homemade Pickled Sunshine Action Fly meat rig  went twice on a high wire diver out 170 the first time & 210 the second.  We missed a good fish on a 250 copper with a 10″ Chrome Kevorkian Spin Doctor/UV On Ice Big Water Rig. The rest of our Lakers came on a Tin Can Dodger/Green-Chartreuse Spin n Glo  bouncing bottom. Our crew of veterans, Bill Downing, John Rodgers, Joseph Tyron and Paul Kazmierski and first mate Austin Tomasek  did a great job and had a good time on the trip. The 17.6 lb. King landed by Joseph Tyron took the Big Fish Award and our team won First Place with a 3 fish total weight 42.35 lbs. It was a very well run event. Thank you to event organizers Brad Hackert, Adam Lamb, Shawn Pomorski, and Adam Knudsen. Job well done!

We had an afternoon trip today. Boats that fished this morning didn’t have much success fishing inside. They did a lot better when they ran offshore and fished the colder water out deep. So we ran out southwest of Ludington setting up in the 51’s south and 46’s west in 490 feet of water (fow). The surface temp was 52 degrees. We just got all our rods set when we hit our first fish, the nice King pictured left, 50 down on the chute rigger with an 11″ DW White Crush Paddle/Pickled Sunshine Action Fly. We kept it on a southwest troll turning in the 49’s and 48’s,  in 513 fow.. The surface temp dropped slowly on the way out and was 47.7 when we turned northeast. We took a pair of Lakers on the turn. One on a Yeck Pat’s Bait on a 1 color core and the other on a  SS Carmel Dolphin out 100 ft. on a Slide Diver. As soon as we got the 1 color back out it took a Steelhead. It ended up being our hot rod getting bit 4 times. We finished up on the northeast troll. We took a fish on a 3 color core with an SS Wrecking Ball, and a clean bird with a SS Goldie Locks. The chute rigger down 50 with the Paddle/Pickled Sunshine took another King. We ended up with 8 fish and a happy crew.