Weather Good? Check! Fishing Still Good? Check! Lake in Transition? YES!!
This sums up last weekends fishing out of Ludington. Captain Mark took Silver Addiction out for a Friday Evening Trip and found the morning information to be less than stellar. Most boats that went North found the fishing tough. Therefore, when in doubt go straight out. Silver Addiction ran out to the 56N & 33W Lines and set up on a SW troll. Current was tough and the temperature was getting colder, so a change in direction was warranted. The NE troll turned out to be the ticket, as the fish were found in 57.30N and the 35W area. SOG was 2.6 and matched at the ball. Saturday proved to be different as the water had really moved. Captain Craig had seen on the Surface Temp Maps that the water had moved out between 48 to 50N and 43 to 44W. As we ran out the temperature proceeded to decrease from 64 on the surface to 39 on the surface. The key was to keep the boat and baits in the 42 to 46 degree surface temperature. The currents of course were ripping with the south troll being the direction of choice. Trolling from the 48's to the 50's with SOG at 3.2 to 3.4 was key to obtain a down speed of 2.6 to 2.8. Friday evenings trip produced 11 bites and 8 fish in 3 hours. Saturdays trip had a longer run time but produced 27 bites and 14 fish in a 6 hour dock to dock trip. Steelhead put on a great show, but the three lakers caught all went double digits. Captain Craig did manage to find a Skamania, which is proof as always, that the temp breaks hold all kinds of great sport fish.