Blog Numeral Cinco: The Perfect Storm Sportfishing
Logan
6/28/20264 min read
Thursday through Sunday (6/25-6/28)
The Manistee Pro Am
Wow! This time of year always has the potential to be busy. This time leading up to the 4th of July, and I feel like this year has been exceptionally busy, even by Ludington Summer standards. First off, my family will be in town all week and we have a really cool addition to that. My brother in law is bringing over some relatives from Poland for a couple of weeks to get a taste of Michigan in the Summer. Which is really cool and we are excited to see them all up here starting on Thursday
In addition to that, our Ludington Tournament Team Sorry Kids Charters is getting a new vessel and word has it they were going to be inbound very soon...
A couple of weeks ago, my buddy Ted and his friend Mike had invited me to fish the Manistee Pro/Am on Mike's boat this weekend and both dudes are absolutely phenomenal human beings who put up with my antics and somehow tolerate me, so how could I turn this opportunity down!?!
The plan was simple, Mike and myself would fish the boat up from Ludington on Thursday afternoon and add another Pre fishing outing on Friday morning. Saturday and Sunday Ted and his buddy Sump would join the outfit and we would fish the Am division
The problem was the Pre fishing aspect. Having only two people trying to figure out a program severely limits you because you can only run six lines and I don't really want to reel in any fish. My joy comes from getting bites and watching newbies reel in fish, so unless it's Tournament Time, I'm totally content with setting lures and running a program without actually ever having to reel in a fish
Chef Jason from the Blu Moon had asked me awhile back if he could possibly get a time to fish with him and an associate or two, and this turned out to be that occasion!
good for us because it gives us the opportunity to run a full spread and good for them as it gave them the time to experience the spectacular fishery us regulars so often take for granted...
So on Thursday a little after 1, we departed Ludington en route to Manistee with the goal being to establish somewhat of a tentative gameplan for the weekend provided we could hook a few nicer fish. The problem was, it is currently June in Ludington which means big Kings can be hard to come by. I was pleasantly surprised when my 350 Copper took a nice fifteen pound King shortly after the set North of Big Point Sable. I was even more optimistic after the chute rigger took a nice fish shortly thereafter..., and I was absolutely ecstatic when we ended the evening 13 for 16 with 2 17 pound Kings, a 16 Pound King, and another 6 Kings between 12 and 15 pounds!
Friday morning was a different story. We decided to fish Lake Trout as insurance in case the big kings left, and our trout fishing was absolutely horrendous. We did scrape out four in about 5 hours of fishing plus a two year old salmon, but the lack of reliable pre fishing for them made us a little apprehensive
Saturday morning, shotgun start at 6 AM and we run down South to get back on our line from Thursday and the set goes flawlessly. We have all nine lines set and about five minutes later, the chute rigger goes off with a nice king. Then, an unforeseen mechanical failure ruins the best 2 hours in the morning to fish. We did land the King on the Chute rigger which was a nice one (15.85 pounds) and we grind out two more steelhead before we have to pull lines and run in to Manistee Harbor before the 1:00 cutoff time. We weigh 27 pounds on three fish for 57 points and the 15.85 Pound King in to 333. After day one we sit at 22nd place in the Am division out of 38 boats. Disappointing to say the least
Sitting back in my apartment on Saturday night I pick up my cell phone and text our four person Tournament Group Chat
"If we do not weigh at least 50 pounds on 5 fish tomorrow, I am going to punish myself by watching an entire World Cup Soccer match uninterrupted from start to finish..., and, I have no intention of watching a World Cup Soccer Match"
The tone was set! The fish Gods had pissed me off and we were out for a Sunday morning revenge tour! And let me tell you people, this morning we got after it!
When all was said and done we caught eleven Kings with our nicest five weighing in at 63.45 Pounds combined weight. Had we of fished Pro, our ten fish box would have weighed about 98 pounds which would have been good enough for Second biggest day two score. Among our five weighers were a 17.95 Pound King and a 14.85 pound king, which combined with our 15.85 pound king from Saturday gave us a combined 333 score of 48.65 Pounds. Good enough for fifth place overall in 333
Our day two box was the third largest in the AM division out of 38 boats and moved us from 22nd Place after day one to 12th place overall!
Couldn't have asked for a better time with better people and am beyond grateful that I don't have to waste over two hours of my life watching a Soccer match!!
