Ludington 7/3

[In The Net]

We have been up in ludington for the week and wow it's amazing how much things change within a week. When we first got here, we went out Sunday and the Kings were on the bank so we caught a bunch of nice kings early in the morning but then they shut off so we had to go out to 300 fow and caught some steelhead. Tuesday was a little bit different so we went straight to 300 fow in that same spot and caught a bunch of steelhead. But then everything changed with a strong north blow wednesday. It flipped the water completely so now the water is ice cold on the bank. It's slowly warming up but the bank is essentially useless right now with how ice cold the water is. 40 degree water isn't the best temp for fish. So the bottom line is you have to go way out deep to find fish.

So more details on our trip this morning. We went 16 for 20 in deep water. One king, 11 steelhead and 4 BIG lake trout 530 fow to be exact. Lost another king and 3 more steelhead. we were in 55 west and 07-08 north. We found a quick temp break that went from 55 degrees to 49 degrees in about a half a mile. That is where the fish were. Big scum line and every time we went through it we hit fish.

What we hit fish on were:

1,2,3 colors with bright spoons (Orange and yellow spoons)

100 copper with mixed veggie

High divers with SS lemon ice and SS Orange ladderback spoon. 75-80 back

Down rigger with UV moonshine yellow and orange spoon.

Basically all fish were caught in the top 25 foot of water.

Hopefully this helps those of you heading out for this holiday weekend. My advice would be go to the coast watch surface temp site online and find a 2 mile stretch with a big temperature break. The steelhead should be in that break along with a mix of a few other fish. If you have any questions then just ask. Good luck!!!

[SeaCatMich]

Good job reacting to the changing conditions and reading the water. So many people are not willing to adjust their program and location and then complain when the fish are not where they were the day before.

I love fishing that deep water program out of Ludington to Onekema. You never know what is going to be on the line.

[The Fruit Bowl]

Wondering what sort of changes in lures, depth, speed, tactics you use when fishing way out there targeting steelhead? Do you use mainly spoons? Orange colors? Speed up to 3.5? Fish higher in the water column?

[In The Net]

We change a couple different things. When we are looking for steelhead we try to find a surface temperature of 52-55 degrees. Preferably a stretch of water that changes temperature really quick. We use all spoons and we fish the top of the water column. Our steelhead program is 1,2,3 colors on both sides. So 6 high lead cores. Then we usually put a 100 ft copper on both sides. So 8 high long lines. Then two down riggers about 20 down with sliders 8 feet above that. Then 2 or 3 high divers. When it comes to colors. We use a lot of orange and bright yellow. Basically and bright colored. Smaller spoons for the most part. Super slims or regular sized spoons. Not many mag spoons. We don't change our speed too much but we pay more attention to our speed on the surface rather than at the ball. Anywhere from 2.5-3.0 for our speed. So we fish high with bright spoons a little faster than normal.

[The Fruit Bowl]

Awesome thanks always wanted to try targeting steelies when kings weren't biting... Going to have to try that out.

[In The Net]

Just make sure you space out your boards. Not much of a depth difference between those high lead cores

[SeaCatMich]

The Steelhead out on the temp breaks/scum lines are usually pretty active. Have caught them running speeds up to 3.5 mph. Another great lure is a size 3 plug off any of the presentations that In The Net described. Oranges, chromes, lime greens, pinks are all good colors. An SWR on a rigger down 10-20' can be productive as well.