Thumbin rides in Ludington

[EdB]

Fishing continues to be very strong in Ludington as long as you put the boat over the fish. With my boat down for another week, I fished on 3 different boats with my neighbors. Gotta thank my buddies Ron, Mark and Mark!

The fish thinned out on bank south of Big Point this weekend. We fished there Friday, made one pass down the bank and went 1 for 2 by sunup, not good. Turned it west and trolled out to the 42 line and went 1 for 2 on the out troll. Ended our day 2 for 4. It was slow for other boats fishing north.

Saturday, we turned left and ran 18 miles to the dunes north of Little Point. Made a troll down to the light and back toward Ludington and got our limit of 15 by 9AM. Fish were coming on half cores down to riggers 80 ft down. We fished 90 to 120 ft of water. Just red hot action before sunrise.

Sunday, we stayed closer to home and set up in 105 ft of water in the 53's south. Trolled southwest just outside the nets to the 49's working our way out to 140 ft of water. There was a nice surface break in the 49's and we finished our day working that east and west out to 170 ft of water. Got our limit of 10 and lost 4 by 8:30AM for my buddy Mark and I. It was more of a steady pic today, lots of steelhead being caught in that area, we got 4 steelies today.

We fished mostly moonshine spoons early and changed to more chromes after sunup. We ran spin doctors on the divers. Standouts this weekend were a mag moonshine carbon 14 and daisy cutter on riggers down 60 and 60. A MS crabface on a full core. A yeck jarid on a 200 ft copper. A mt dew/chrome blade spin doctor and blue fairways fly on a hi diver out 120 to 150ft. A glow frog spin doctor and green glow squid was real good in the first hour each day.

The Offshore Classic this weekend was a big success. There was an increase in boat numbers. There were more boats bringing their 10 or 12 fish than ever before and it came down to catching larger fish in the both the Pro and Am divisions. Some real nice boxes up and down the leaderboard. Big fish was 24 lbs with a few kings in the 20 lb class. Congrats to Polecat and Flys Down for their wins in pro and am. My boat is due out of the shop next weekend after some fiberglass repairs are done. Good luck fishing!

[Paulywood]

Thanks for the report Ed. I will be heading to Ludington the first weekend of August and I'm looking forward to it.

[EdB]

We'll be there Fri Sat and Sunday that weekend so maybe we'll see you around Nick.

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

Ed, many thanks for your report, and, you might have mentioned that the Big Fish was a 24# Brownie, not a salmonoid. That in itself is pretty incredible to me anyhow. Big congrats go to the locals that fished their hearts out, and finally, won our local tourney too, like Doug from Polecat, many tries at winning, and now, brought our trophy back home where it belongs. Actually, the local boats won pro, amateur, and big fish divisions all this weekend, quite a difference over the last 11 years when only one local won the pro division. Happy, happy we are in Ludville.

[Paulywood]

We'll be there sunday night and monday morning, Ed. We are staying at Thompson Marina.

[EdB]

We are headed home Sunday afternoon so we'll miss you Nick. My cell is 231-233-4471, give me a call on your way up and I'll let you know how we did and where. My cell does not work good inside my place. If you get voice mail, I'll call you back when I get a cell connection.

[fishsniffer]

thanks ed

[Paulywood]

thanks ed

Yeah, what Don said.