A ugust is primetime for mature kings in Ludington. They stage in our region to run into the Pere Marquette River where they were born to spawn and die. During the beginning of August we are still fishing kings by temperature, they live in 40-46 degree water. Later in the month when the lake warms up they stage out of temperature as their eggs mature.
Starting early is the key for kings in the warmer, near-shore waters around Ludington. The fish often go on a feeding frenzy at the first hint of daylight. By eight am often they rest on the bottom and become difficult to catch. After the morning flurry you can either go in for breakfast or head to deeper, cooler water to fish two to three year-old kings, lake trout, and steelhead. The opposite can happen in the evenings with the best fishing being at last light.
Plugs and meat rigs become ultra-important in August. In warmer water, 55 to 60 degrees, kings need some extra aggravation and Dreamweaver’s Captains Choice Plugs are my favorite. The top producers for me are Natural Glow, Green Ladder-back, and Yellow and Green Spatter backs. I like to run plugs on my downriggers and leadcore and copper lines. My four wire divers will surely be loaded with Dreamweaver’s Spin doctors and meat rigs. My favorite colors are Showtime, Kevin’s Girlfriend, Mountain Dew, and Blue Sparkle. If I am fishing water less than 50 feet deep I normally do not use wire diver lines. I have had better luck using Torpedo divers in place of my low wire divers and I replace the high wires with slide divers. The reason being is that the lures are further back, away from the boat. Slow your troll down, as a rule in cold water we troll faster- around 2.8-3.1 as a speed over ground, for August kings try keeping it around 1.8-2.2.
Keep in the back of your mind some of the kings will run the river during the full moon in August despite warmer water temperatures. If we have the lake “turn over” during the full moon and have cool water near the pier-heads we will have a good number of them go up the river. The rest of the kings will be into the river during the full moon in September. Enjoy your time on the lake—we are fortunate to still have kings to fish for in our region. The reason for it is we are in a successful spawning area for Alewives for kings to eat and the Pere Marquette River has some of the best natural reproduction for kings in the Midwest.
Captain Sean McDonald