Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:
7-3-09
With the northwest wind of the past week the waters off the point are VERY chilly. The surface temp cooled down from 71 on the surface to 46 degrees.The fish left with the warm water. The fish are scattered right now. We are catching salmon at the pierheads and from the project north to the brine well. We are starting out in 60' of water and trolling out or running out to the 3800#s There are a lot of temp breaks from the 3300#s out to the 3800#s. We are trolling the breaks and taking Steelhead, Kings and Lake Trout. On our trip today we caught a 14# Steelhead on a Yeck Fireball on a half-core. We are catching the salmon and Steelies mostly on spoons on the riggers, divers, cores and coppers. Red Dolphins,Pro King Green Gloes, Mixed Veggies, Fireballs and Dancing Anchovy are all producing right now.
Capt. Jon Kolehouse of Hat Trick Charters reports from Ludington:
6-27-09
The fishing Friday and Saturday was very typical of June in my boat. It is important to get and early start and make the best of the quick morning bite, because soon as the sun gets up and the bait spreads out the fish also scatter, making it more of a hunting game. We managed 11 fish on friday and 10 on Saturday
.
I fished North both days and found the best action from the 01's to the point early, then put it on a SW troll after the bite slowed down looking for a few more fish. Most or our big fish came on either meat rigs with white blades or green flies behind white blades. Spoons seem to be taking more of the trout and smaller kings.
hot spoons... flintstone coyote,DW SS in lemon ice,stinger D.O.C. SOG,green dolphin, Mooonshine blue jackel,Yeck froggy.
Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:
6-26-09
The big salmon are getting harder to find but we are catching a lot of fish in the 2 to 8 pound range right now. We are catching them in from 60' (early), and out to 200 feet of water. A few Lake Trout and an occasional Steelhead are being caught also. We are catching them on the point. On the point we are running the bank for the first 2 hours and then working the deeper waters for the rest of the trip. We are catching the salmon mostly on spoons on the riggers, divers, cores and coppers. Green Dolphins,Pro King Green Black Ladderback, Mixed Veggies, Red Lazers and Mongolian Beef are all producing right now.
Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:
6-19-09
The salmon are still here in Ludington. The early bird gets the fish, We are using the moonshines and the superglos early and are doing very well right off the bat. We are catching them in from 60' early out to 200 feet of water. A few Lake Trout and an occasional Steelhead are being caught also. We are catching them straight out and down towards the Consumers Project, and now on the point again. The water on the point has warmed back up to 51 degrees and the fish are back on the bank. We are catchin the salmon on spoons on the riggers and divers and mostly spoons on the cores and coppers. Green Dolphins, Green Gloes, Watermelons, Red Lazers and Carbon 14s are all producing right now.
Capt. Jon Kolehouse of Hat Trick Charters reports from Ludington:
6-15-09
The weekend fishing was kinda hit and miss..from other reports. The South wind should really help set things up for the next few days. I fished North at point and found the best fishing just south of the point, but it didnt last long, the best bite was from about 5:40 am till about 8 am. A pretty short window. The water we started in pushed north and things really warmed up on top.
Hot spoons were... SOG,moonshine-moonshine,purlpe kevorkian,NBK and yeck wart frog
Tuxedo meat rig deep took only one fish. Blue spindoctor with a blue ice fly also took a nice fish.
Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:
Saturday, June, 13, 2009
The salmon are still here in Ludington. The early bird gets the fish, We are using the moonshines and the superglos early and are doing very well right off the bat. We are catching them in from 60' early out to 200 feet of water. A few Lake Trout and an occasional Steelhead are being caught also. We are catching them straight out and down towards the Consumers Project, and now on the point again. The water on the point has warmed back up to 51 degrees and the fish are back on the bank. We are catchin the salmon on spoons on the riggers and divers and mostly spoons on the cores and coppers. Green Dolphins, Green Gloes, Watermelons, Red Lazers and Carbon 14s are all producing right now.
Capt. Jon Kolehouse of Hat Trick Charters reports from Ludington:
May 31 2009
The fishing the last several days has stabilized. Although the water still seems cool..the fish are here ! Look for warmer temps and you will find both bait and hungry salmon. Hopefully we get a few days with constant winds and warmer temps and things will really take off. The fish this weekend seemed to be in the upper 50'. Lots of bait in the fish Saturday, nothing in the fish on Sunday.
Hot setups the last couple days have been meat rigs with big flashers on low wires and full cores. Fishcatchers in white and black with slick glow tape with green flies in the am. As for spoons... dolphins,mixed vegies,DOC,and a few custom taped stingers.
Capt. Jon Kolehouse of Hat Trick Charters reports from Ludington:
May 26 2009
The fishing has cooled a bit with the 4 days of north---to east winds we had in ludington over the weekend. But is still pretty good all things considered, the size of the fish is still there as well as a good mix of salmon,steelhead and lake trout.
Hot setups have been brighter spoons (oranges,greens,yellows) on various leadcores. White flashers with green or mirage flies on low divers, spoons on high divers and a mix on the riggers.
The water is cool from the top to the bottom, you may take one fish 90' down and the next may be on a 3 color leadcore. So it pays to cover all the water under the boat.
August 26, 2008
Captain George Freeman of Free Style Charters reports from Ludington
Fished north off the bank today on Lake Michigan. The Kings were biting in the dark and the early bite was good. Most of our action was on the riggers & divers. We didn't do much on our cores until later in the morning. They seemed to want spoons & flashers today and plugs were no big deal. We had our riggers set at 60, 70 & 100. Our divers all had Spin Doctors and Green Mirage Strong Fly's or Pickled Sunshine Action Fly's.
August 13, 2008
Captain George Freeman of Free Style Charters reports from Ludington
We fished north of Ludington today on Lake Michigan. The surface temp was 56 degrees. We started in 100 feet of water and worked on & off the bank. The morning bite lasted longer for us today. We were running plugs on our cores and out downs. The riggers were set at 35 & 45 feet and they both went early. Our 3,5 & 8 color cores were going in the dark. Our low wire divers both went a couple of times. We had a Glow Frog Spin Doctor/Green Mirage Strong Fly on one & a Glow Blade White Crush/Green Mirage Strong Fly on the other. When we got to the net at the point we took it out deeper and we hit fish out to 200 feet. The fish out there were mostly three year olds. Our hot bait today was a Green Black Ladder Back Dreamweaver Plug on a 8 color core.
August 13 -2008-Captain Gary Miserlian of Decoy Charters reports from Onekema
Larger Kings are being taken in in 20 -37' FOW of temps 47-48 degrees using mostly Stinger magnum spoons or plugs.
August 11, 2008 Captain Paul of Riverside Charters reports from Manistee, Michigan
The fish are in the harbor and along the shoreline. 48 degree surface water at this time. Still getting fish out in the deeper water like 150ft. Fish are everywhere. Same program flashers and flies. I think you could catch them on anything right now. Been limiting out twice a day. Some fish also coming on Silver Horde's, all GLOW.
August 10/2008-Captain George Freeman of Free Style Charters reports from Ludington
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| 8-9-08 |
Big waves from the west made for some tough trolling on Lake Michigan today. We were going to fish the skinny water we fished in yesterday, but the water was 60 degrees from top to bottom in 40 feet of water north of the harbor. We ended up setting up in 140 feet of water in the high 01's off the bank. the water was warm. We had 54 degrees down 90 feet. It was getting daylight so we just started fishing. The first rod to go was a low wire diver out 150' with a White Crush Spin Doctor/Green Mirage Strong Fly. While we were fighting that fish the port out down went with a glow plug at 60 feet. Then the half core went with another glow plug. The fish were in the warm water and we were off to a good start. We continued going north around the net in the high 03's. We then took it in and fished between 140 to 100 feet of water down to the 06's. The action was never red hot except when we first set up. We only had two rigger bites all day. Most of our acton was on our cores and one high wire diver out 185 with a Dark Green Slick Spin Doctor/Pickled Sunshine Action Fly.
August 8/2008-Captain George Freeman of Free Style Charters reports from Ludington, :
The Northwest wind turned the water over north of Ludington. It started getting colder in the 00's. Quite a few boats were fishing the pier heads. There was some bait and fish there. Not much action off the bank. The water was cold. We fished the skinny water south of the bath house to the mouth of the Lincoln River in 40 to 60 feet of water. Plugs on the 2, 3 , & 5 color cores took most of our fish. Only one rigger bite and two diver bites.
Captain Drew Morris of Margie J Sport Fishing Charters reports from Muskegon:
The fishing has been outstanding in Muskegon with limit catches being common. The northwest blow we had a couple of weeks ago brought the cold water with it. For a few days we were even fishing in between the arms. That has ended but the cold water remains close to shore. We are also getting some big salmon. We caught a 24 pounder a couple of days ago and I have heard of several being caught over the weekend that were 20+ pounds. These fish still have a few weeks to put on some pounds so I bet we will see some in the 25+ pound range during the salmon run. We have getting a few beautiful steelhead mixed in with the salmon. They have been sharing the same water column as the kings. The best depths have been 40-70 fow with a few being taken in 110-140. The fish have been running anywhere from 35 down to the bottom. Leadcore and copper lines have been doing great. Cores have been working from 7-15 colors and 150-300 feet of copper. Dipseys 60-125 back set on 3 have been producing with flasher and fly combos, UV blade w/ Pickle Sunshine fly, white blade with Rapture Oceanic fly, and white blade with Duck Head fly. Spoons and J-Plugs have been doing great. As of late, you can run any color you want as long has green in it. Green Bubble, Green Circus Freak, Green Apple, Green Dolphin, Mixed Veggies and Green Glo Dolphin Stingers to name a few. The only exceptions have been the Pearl J-Plug which has been catching quite a few fish for us.
Check your equipment. There are some big salmon out there.