Its been fun….

Man the last 6 weeks or so have flown by! The fishing was incredible some days….a grind others. For the last week or so the fishing fleet has noticed one thing, there are bunches of fish showing on the graph, but bites can be very hard to come by. We have been marking incredible numbers of fish and bait, but getting them to go has been a different story. Could possibly be due to the amount of bait around, maybe the fish are just stuffed and not hungry??? Possibly the inconsistent weather? Wind directions and water temps are changing daily. No matter…..we just are not getting the numbers of bites we should be. Maybe the eclipse or moon phase is playing a role?

Hopefully the fish cooperate for the final push of the fishing for me on the big water. River trips are filling in and it will be a nice change of pace to spend a few days on the river and then a few on the lake, mixing it up a bit.

Meat rigs and flashers and green crinkle files are the best om my boat, a few plug bites early and late like you would expect.

Just a few weeks left in my big water season…

Summer is flying by….and its been a busy one for us on the Hattrick. The fishing this year has been much improved most days, although there are still some tougher days in the mix, or days when the fish win more of the battles than us. Its now mid August and the big kings are still impressing us with the sizes of these fish. Fat chunky coho are also around…throw in some steelhead and lake trout and you have the recipe for some good fishing in Ludington.

The hot baits continue to be flashers with meat rigs baited up with the familiar bite herring strips. White flashers seem to be edging out some of the other colors right now. Although the stinger yellow bikini bottom e chip flasher with a green crinkle fly has been a daily staple on my boat. Plugs in green splatter back and double glow have been good early and late. Mag silver streak glo mixed veggies and hot lobster are also good.

We still have a few morning charters available, so give us a call if you would like to scrap with some very nice fish.

Heading into prime time!!

Its that time of year when the rules start to change for our King salmon as they begin to stage for their fall spawning run. Water temps mean a little less, and their appetites start to change as they become more aggressive at times and more moody at others. The best King bites are at first and last light, they can be short but sweet with multiple hookups and controlled or not so controlled chaos on the boat. The fish are running large and the waters are cool, making the fish hard to handle at the back of the boat at times. We are still seeing a good number of coho, steelhead and a few lake trout mixing in as well…..in short the fishing has been good and its time to lock in your charter to take advantage of this seasons prime fishing.

Hot baits have been black flashers with moo moo meat rigs first thing, then chrome based flashers with brighter colors with either meat rigs or green crinkle flies.

My best plug has been a ace high green splatter back, best spoons have been oranges up high, and glows or dolphin patterns deeper in the water column.

Give us a call or text to get more info or to lock in a charter with us.

The King has returned!!

Just in time for the big Ludington tournaments the KING has returned!!! The numbers started out slow last week but seemed to get better daily, with decent King salmon fishing now from Big Sable point south to Little Sable point. Steelhead, Coho’s and Lake Trout are also showing up in the catch. Basically the fishing is pretty good most days. The Kings are running on the large size as well…..we’ve recently boated a few over 23 pounds. if you’ve been waiting for the Salmon fishing to get better this summer, that time is now, dates are filling in so give us a call to get your shot at a big KING salmon.

Hot baits have been either flies or meat rigs behind flashers or spin doctors with a chrome base, UV tapes are helping as well. Bait your meat rigs with Familiar bite hatting strips for the most consistent roll.

Hot spoon colors have been oranges in the top 40′ blues and greens below that, moonshines deep down and early and late.

July already??

AM trips available on July 1 and 4 th….give us a call the weather looks awesome for the weekend.

June is just about over and some of the best fishing in our are will be happening very soon. June is generally a month where we can see some major peaks and valleys in the fishing, at times can be great…others the fish scatter and we have to hunt them down and try to stay on them or even stay ahead of them as the water temps change. July usually means consistent weather, light winds and stable water, this allows the thermocline to set up and stratify the water, warm water can help eliminate areas of the lake, as fish seek out cooler temps. The huge variable is that if the bait is in warm water, the fish will move into those areas to feed. Bring on July!!!

Hot baits have been

Various dodgers and spin n glo’s, and larger wobble glow’s, silver cowbells and spin n glo’s off downriggers on or near the bottom, for lake trout.

Meat rigs and flashers and green or mirage flies are taking Coho’s and the occasional King Salmon

Moonshine spoons on deep coppers have been the best for a mix of fish after the sun gets up.

Give us a call, the weather looks awesome this coming weekend…lets fish!

June fishing is about as expected….

As of late several wind/storm events have scattered the big numbers of salmon we had in May, its been more about covering ground and finding those smaller groups of fish that are finding baitfish over deeper water. This time of year the alewives are in the harbors spawning for the most part. It pays to cover water and watch the water temps, we’ve been targeting lake trout on a couple rods and running the rest of our rigs all over the water column. Running everything from meat rigs and flies on flashers and rotators, to spoons of all sizes on our coppers and riggers. Silver and chrome dodgers with spin n glows and small flies are taking most of our trout.

Give us a call to get a day or two on the water, there are plenty of fish out there to catch!

Mixed bag summer fishing!

The fishing in Ludington has been good to great on recent trips! We are catching a good mixed bag, Kings, Cohos, Steelhead and Lake trout have made the catch. We are primarily targeting Kings with meat rigs and glow spoons fished off riggers and deeper coppers. Short coppers fished closer to the surface with brighter spoons in oranges, yellows and greens have been the best for Steelhead and Cohos.

8-10″ Spindoctors with meat rigs fished of divers have been great, also taking a few on flashers and flies.

Stinger spoons in jordo,mixed veggies,helmut have also been good.

Give us a call to get on the water this summer.

The boat is in and ready to FISH!

The Hattrick was launched a few days ago, and is now prepped and ready to fish. Took a quick shakedown trip the other morning and had great action for the time we were on the water testing and tuning the boat and its gear. We got into a handful of kings and some nice lake trout. The fishing up and down the lake this spring has been way better than last season thus far, lets hope the fish stick around for a while.

Please give us a call if you are looking to get into the action…mid summer dates go fast and now is the time to lock in your days! Bring your family and friends out for a fun day on the water……kids are always welcome!!

Winter is grinding by….

Its almost march and my mind is wandering towards the fishing on the big lake this season. This very mild winter should help big time to make the fishing better in the coming months. Already hearing reports of great coho fishing as well as shoreline brown trout fishing in the southern parts of the lake.

There has been tons of media about the happenings on the lake and how it is going to be managed, the truths are that there are plenty of fish out there to catch and we will just need to adapt like we have the last few seasons towards our changing fishery. It is becoming more of a multi species lake with numbers of other species increasing while some may be slightly lesser..regardless there are fish to catch, and that’s what we will be doing starting in May.

Now is a great time to get your summer charters booked up, weekends typically fill fast, if you wait till the last minute your preferred date will likely be filled.

Just a quick update to let everyone know I am done on the big water for the season, I am now in full river guide mode. Many of you know that I run both river and lake trips year round. If you are looking for a great fishing trip this fall, winter or spring of 2017 please give us a call. We are guiding for King salmon and Steelhead until we return to the big water in May of 2017.

Give us a call to get a fun day on the west Michigan rivers booked for Salmon and steelhead 231-250-9745

I want to thank everyone that has fished with us in the past and even those that have inquired about a fishing trip with us, without your support we would not be able to do what we love to do.