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Delavan Lake remains Walworth County's hottest fishing destination

Delavan Lake, Aug. 1-7

As it turns out, you just can't beat Delavan Lake right now. There are multiple species that are active and when you have size and numbers you can't go wrong!

The Northern Pike are still being caught off the weedline in 19-20 ft of water. Suckers are the only bait to use. The size of the suckers doesn't matter as much as it has in the past weeks but I still prefer a medium sized bait. Because there are a lot of bluegills on the weedlines, fishing for pike has been a little slower as they are feeding heavily on the small bluegills. What I have been doing this week, I have been fishing slip bobbers with medium suckers. The straight line approach beneath the boat hasn't been as effective. Most of the fish I've been catching have been caught while casting the weedline about 12-15 ft down in 20 ft of water. Look for the fish near the Oriental Boat house, the Yacht Club Point and Belvidere Park.

Bluegill fishing has been simply fantastic. The biggest fish are in the 15-20 ft depth range. On Sunday, we launched at 6:30 a.m. and we had enough to clean by 8:00 a.m. Five of us caught 90 keepers and it took longer to clean them than to catch them. The best location was by Willow Point and Assembly Park. We caught our fish straight lining leaf worms beneath the boat.

Largemouth bass are still schooled up. They are in the scattered weeds with hard rock bottom. Look for the fish by 3 flags or by the Yacht Club. They can be caught on nightcrawlers fished on a split shot rig or by drop shotting 4 inch plastic Yum worms. I have also caught quite a few bigger fish by slip bobbering medium suckers in the 12-15 ft depth range.

Walleye remain a bit slow. I've been catching one here and there but there has been no real consistency. The fish I've been catching have been inter-mixed with the bass in 15-19 ft of water. I do believe that the bigger fish are suspending over the main lake basin, but I haven't had the opportunity to go look for them.

Crappies have been fantastic. They are in the 12-15 ft depth range. Look for the fish by Willow Point and east of Browns Channel. They are being caught on small plastics. Purple or chartreuse are the best colors. I haven't been fishing them too much because they are a bit too soft for a good fish fry. The bluegills are a better eating fish right now.

Geneva Lake, Aug. 1-10

It's a bit hard to find time to get out on Geneva these days. Delavan is just out producing Geneva at the moment, but that's not to say that Geneva doesn't have some excellent fishing right now too.

The Northern Pike are on the thermocline in 34-38 ft of water. Look for the fish in Fontana, Williams Bay or in the narrows. Medium suckers on a lindy rig are producing most of the action. A quality depth finder is crucial. You don't want to fish for them unless you see them on the screen.

Perch have been in the 12-15 ft depth range. They can be caught on small fat head minnows or on small leaf worms. The best location is by Knollwood or in front of Rainbow Point. You want to fish a Thill slip bobber with a #12 hook.

Bluegills can be found in the 18-24 ft depth range. They are being caught on small leaf worms or wax worms. The best location has been by Elgin Club or on the weedline by Trinkes. I've been slowly back trolling into the wind and keeping the boat in 19 ft of water. Some of the big gills have been in excess of 10 1/2 inches.

Lake Trout are being caught in the main lake basin 80-90 ft down in 106-110 ft of water. Nickle/blue or Nickle/green spoons are the only bait to try. The best time of day for the Lake Trout is dawn and dusk. Try for them about an hour before dawn and an hour before dusk. You need a good fish locator but if you find them, you can catch them.

Walleye Pike have been biting at night, but it still depends on the wind. If it's calm, don't even bother launching your boat. If it's windy, you need to troll medium diving crank baits in 15-16 ft of water. I prefer the Walleye Bandits in chrome/blue or chrome/black. I've been letting out 100 ft of line on 10 lb test behind the planer board. The best location has been by Geneva Bay or by Fontana.

Largemouth bass have been either deep or shallow. The shallow fish are in 10-12 ft of water are being caught on chrome/blue or chrome/black Chug Bugs. Look for the fish by Williams Bay or by Trinkers. The deep fish are being caught on Carolina rigged Zoom lizards in green pumpkin. Look for the fish by Linn Pier or by Colemans Point. I've been positioning the boat in 25 ft of water casting to the hard bottom on the points.

Daily reports

8/1/10- Delavan Lake - sunny, 82 degrees, water temp 78 degrees, light winds out of the west. Caught 200 bluegills, kept about 90. Fished with a bunch of friends that wanted fish fry. The best depth was 19-20 ft of water. Leaf worms with a single hook produced most of the fish. To catch our 90 keepers took about 1 1/2 hours. I figured out that I'm not a fan of cleaning fish!

7/31/10 - Delavan Lake - cloudy/misty, 75 degrees, water temp 79 degrees, light winds out of the west. Caught 2 walleyes and 13 bass - 2 were legal. We caught most of our fish on split shot rigged nightcrawlers. The slip bobber rig sucker has also been producing all this week.

7/30/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 80 degrees, water temp 81 degrees, W wind at 5 mph. Caught 12 largemouth bass - 7 were legal, 1 Northern Pike and a bunch of bluegills. Most of the fish were on nightcrawlers. We had great success on slip bobber rigged suckers too. We caught 1 Largemouth over 20" on a sucker.

7/29/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 85 degrees, water temp 81 degrees, N wind at 5 mph. Caught 1 17" smallmouth, 13 largemouth - 3 were legal, 3 northern pike, 1 walleye and 40 bluegills. Most of the fish came off of nightcrawlers. I did start fishing slip bobber rigged suckers and caught some of the nicer bass. The best location was by 3 flags and the Oriental boat house.

7/28/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 85 degrees, water temp 81 degrees, N wind at 10-15 mph. Caught 16 largemouth - 7 were legal, 2 Northern and 1 19" Walleye plus about 50 bluegills. Everything was caught on nightcrawlers except the pike which were caught on suckers.

7/27/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 86 degrees, water temp 81 degrees, SW wind at 10-15 mph. Caught 14 largemouth and 3 northerns. The northerns were caught on suckers, the bass were caught on nightcrawlers. The best depth was 18 ft of water.

7/26/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 85 degrees, water temp 80 degrees, W wind at 6-10 mph. Caught 2 walleyes, 7 northerns, 13 bass - 4 were legal. Caught the walleyes and bass on split shot rigged nightcrawlers. The Northerns came on suckers. The best location was by the Yacht Club or by Belvidere Park.

Dave Duwe has been a fishing guide on Delavan and Geneva lakes for nearly 20 years. Dave is a community blogger and is not a part of Walworth County Today staff. His opinion is not necessarily that of Walworth County Today staff or management.