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.
Several LACA Captains post individual fishing reports which indicate the specific baits they have been using. Please check the LACA website for individual Captain fishing reports.
Fishing was much better this week, bordering on Very Good! and getting better every day. Some Captains are reporting excellent catches, some near limits. Fishermen from the boat ramps are finding more fish, also. As is often the case, early morning and late evening are the best bite times.
There was exceptional fishing in deep water early in the week before the big North on Wednesday. No one fished Wednesday. Thursday found a big cold water upwelling at Big and Little Sauble Points. But excellent fishing still existed in deep water. On Friday, good catches started coming again from the more near shore areas. A very good fishery exists today (Friday, Aug 12) at the pierheads, with some fish now in PM Lake and in the river. This will likely continue until the water warms back up. At this time of the season, it is useful to check the Coastwatch site for water temperature information.
Spoons were good this week, especially glowing spoons, also some medium or large rotators and paddles with flies. Meat rigs are also being mentioned frequently. Most fishermen are concentrating on King salmon,however, a few lakers were reported, and there were some Steelhead in the reports, especially early in the week.
We leaving up the photo of the big fish from last week because we are continuing to see more big fish every day. At least one 30+ pound fish was weighed in today, with many more in the 27 – 29 lb range. We haven’s seen so many large fish for 3 or 4 years.
A 32 pound fish was weighed in on last week:
Photo courtesy of the Ludington Daily News
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. The current Alert has 11 nets located from the 43° ’50′s to the 43° ’59′s, from south of the Consumers Pumped Storage Plant to near the bathhouse area. Many of the nets in the locations last identified in the fall of 2010 are still in place. These net flag buoys are still in the same locations as last year. Please check back frequently. Net location data is updated whenever possible.
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
Special Note: Unfortunately, the new U of M buoy has had problems and has been removed for repair. It is hoped that it will back in the water soon.
Thank you for visiting the Ludington Area Charterboat Association website.
The Ludington Area Charterboat Association.
www.ludingtoncharterboats.org
