Memorial Weekend at Ludington

DATE:             5/27 and 28/12

LOCATION:    Ludington

With:              Self, Numenon

TIME:             Both mornings

HOURS:          About 9 (great lakes trout and salmon, drum and pike combined)

WEATHER/CONDITIONS:  Post thunderstorm; windy; wicked thunderstorm; and then more wind and hot

Woke up at 3:30 AM and checked the radar; nothing on the screen and forecast seas of <1 foot.  Set off for Ludington and enjoyed the electric light show as I approached Muskegon and turned north along the lake.  By the time I got to Ludington, it seemed as though the storms had passed, and so I launched in pursuit of Great Lakes salmon and trout.  (One of the ideas of the trip had been to escape the seasonal transitional doldrums of our more southern ports on Lake Michigan.)  Winds were brisk from the SE, and not really expected to abate over the weekend, so I figured I’d fish south of port with the wind at my back for an easy return.  Once out of port, however, it seemed like an ill proposition to go offshore in any direction; and so I hugged shore and hoped for a brown trout or drop-back steelhead in shallow water.  Water temps were about 55 F, and so I’m not sure I’d have escaped the doldrums, anyway.

Near the Pump and Store Project, I glanced to the northern horizon and noticed an unsettling blackness beyond port, with some occasional lightening.  I raced back to port and was the first boat back; but just barely had the boat back on the trailer when this roll cloud passed through; it was accompanied by some gusty winds, thunder, and followed with a torrential, but brief, thunderstorm:

Ludington roll cloud.

So it was time for breakfast with all my new friends at McDonald’s; when an old vet offered me a seat, how could I say “No thanks” on Memorial Day Weekend?  Mel was full of good fishing advice; ‘gills in 8 feet of water (“not along shore!”) on Hamlin Lake, and walleye in the harbor at night (“why do they feed at night?”)

Fresh off my pike success on Reeds Lake, I figured I’d try Pere Marquette Lake for the first time.  Most of the lake seems to be 30+ foot basin, fringed by a short sand bank, a strip of weeds, and a steep drop.  The eastern end of the lake was quite a bit shallower than depicted on my plotter, so I learned to take care wherever water was advertised as less than 10 feet deep; and industrial “pilings” stretch into the lake at various points.  It seemed a bit like Manistee Lake, and so was familiar enough, but my initial strategy was to troll cranks along the edge, with a couple of baits in the basin.  In fact, my initial spread replicated my typical Reeds Lake approach to pike.

There were a lot of marks to keep me entertained, and there seemed to be a lot of bait (alewives, as expected?), so success seemed possible, but I started fairly slowly.  The first fish hit a chartreuse and white Flicker Shad (back 100’), and it turned out to be a Freshwater Drum of almost 20 inches:

Beaten drum.

This fish reminded me of Lake Erie, and so I put out a dipsey diver with a small scorpion-style orange/copper confusion spoon.  The diver was set at 45 feetback, at a setting of 3, so I expected a swim depth of about 15 feet, but I noticed that it had a great variance of depth based on speed; perhaps more so than at greater (normal) set-back distances.  Soon after deployment, a 24”, 8 or 9 pound drum ate this spoon and pulled some serious drag to validate the morning’s efforts.  It helped me forget the drive by miss on the secret weapon rig over the basin and the missed Great Lakes opportunities of the day.

Lake Erie adaptation.

There’s nothing like the forced transition from “Great Lakes Trout and Salmon Fishing” at a storied port such as Ludington (with so many associated fond memories) to “Trolling in an Industrialized Drowned River Mouth for Whatever Bites” to remind one of the world-class quality of the fishing we have on Lake Michigan.  And while Ludington’s Pere Marquette Lake lacks a certain charm, it’s upper end is relatively undeveloped (at least on one side), and with abundant bait and suspended marks, it kept me more than interested for a couple of mornings.  It’s always nice to try a new lake or new techniques and have some success; and truthfully, the fishing was probably better than a Canadian drive-to resort on any given day.  While I was thinking “pike”, I was amenable to “anything”, and the drum I encountered all took drag, all were stubborn fighters, and all were generally welcomed aboard.  I’ll continue to be haunted by Sunday’s fish that grabbed my Lake Erie-inspired dipsey/spoon combo with one of the most thunderous and violent hits ever aboard Numenon.  Like most haunting fish, it got away without so much as a flash of identification.  Probabilistically, it was a drum; but possibly, it was a pike, muskie, flathead, or sturgeon…(virtually anything else is possible in our drowned river mouths)…any of which would have enhanced my season.

Long ago I received a gift book, “Fishing for Buffalo” by  Rob Buffler and Tom Dickson.

The point of their writing is that “trash” fish can be worthy of our attention and efforts, and their pursuit is as legitimate as game fishing. I’ve occasionally embraced their philosophy, and if I’m smart, I’ll continue to do so.   Chapter 4 addresses the freshwater drum, and can be summarized in this statement from the book:

“The drum is a better walleye…They fight harder, taste better and are easier to catch.”

But perhaps the best fishing memory of the weekend was Amy’s explanation to Katie that “a 5-pound smallmouth bass fights like a 30-pound salmon.”  And while I understand her proposition, I especially appreciate her authority on the subject, what with her having never caught a 30-pound salmon.  (I’ll give her one 5-pound smallmouth.)  Unencumbered by fact, she simply shared what she believed; all during a weekend that she lovingly engineered for her family.  Fishing was different and pleasant, we shared several meals, we re-discovered Ludington State Park, and Ollie spent his first night in a hotel!  She made this happen, and I’m glad, so I’ll let her piscatorial editorializing pass.  In the meantime, I do feel confident that I can say “a 9-pound drum fights better than anything else I encountered this weekend, and better than most of the fish I’ll encounter this season.”  So why would I not want to fish for them?