The Ludington Area Charterboat Association attempts to summarize the fishing over the past several days, providing general information about the fishing; the general location of the best fishing areas and the best depths and bait types.
In general we do not identify specific bait companies or individual baits.
Fishing has been generally slow for the past week or so. On most days, it has been slow, with only a few fish. There is a lot of bait. Some say the most they have seen in recent years. Some fishers believe the enormous schools of young alewives has been satiating the fish to the point that they won’t take a bait. Over the past weekend, most of the fishing was concentrated in the area of Big Point. Salmon were hard to come by, but some were taken with meat rigs. Lake trout were being taken on or near the bottom from 60′ to 90′. Slow trolling w/ p-nuts type gear was common. There was no mention of Steelhead in any of the reports.
Most Captains are mentioning spoons in blue, green and mixed colors. The water is very clear at this time, so fishing far from the boat with divers and long lines has been successful. There were no reports from fishermen to the south or in deep water.
Please continue to monitor our Net alert on our home page for any changes in the locations of tribal trap nets in the Ludington area. The “Net Alert” will be updated as new information becomes available. Note: New information has been difficult to obtain this season to date. The Association is attempting to find the number and locations of currently deployed nets. Anecdotal information suggests that there are from 11 to 13 nets located from the 43° ’51′s to the 44° ’03′s. From south of the Consumers Pumped Storage Plant nearly to Big Point Sauble. Further anecdotal information seems to indicate that nets in the locations last identified in the fall of 2010 are still in place, but are not fishing. However, those net flag buoys are still in the same locations as last year. We are trying very hard to completely identify the new locations to the south. Please check back frequently. we expect to learn and post the location of all the nets soon.
For access to the Coastwatch Lake temperature contours in the Ludington area, choose our link to: www.coastwatch.msu.edu
A Coastwatch tip: If the current port map is not clear due to clouds, you may find a better recent image in the coastwatch archives accessed from the page bottom links.
Links from our site lead to local and marine weather reports. For current and future Great Lakes wind and wave conditions, try the link for the Great Lakes Environmental Research Labs: www.glerl.noaa.gov
New this year: The University of Michigan has placed a research buoy in the Ludington area. It is located at N 43°59.599′ W 86° 33.567′ in 90′. The buoy’s information includes wind, wave and temperature data, including temperature data from the surface to more than 70′ deep.
The information can currently be found on the internet at: http://uglos.engin.umich.edu/station_page.php?station=45024.. Scroll down the page past the buoy image for complete wind/wave/temperature data.
The buoy is located approximately 4 miles from the pier head on a bearing of 288°: N 43°59.599′ W 86° 33.567′ in 90′. It has a white light which flashes on a 5 second cycle. It is presents a very bright image on Radar. Please be careful to avoid boating and fishing in the immediate vicinity. Give it a wide berth w/ your divers and long lines.
Thank you for visiting the Ludington Area Charterboat Association website.
The Ludington Area Charterboat Association.
www.ludingtoncharterboats.org