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Fishing on Geneva Lake picking up

Geneva Lake, Aug. 8 -15, 2010

Fishing on Lake Geneva is really pretty good right now. With heavy boat traffic on Delavan Lake, it may just be the better choice.

Smallmouth bass are in the 22-25 ft depth range. The best approach is lindy rigging live nightcrawlers or drop shotting 4 inch green finesse worms. What you want to look for, are the small points in the lake such as Linn Pier or Black Point. You need to use your locator to find the groups of fish. Don't bother if you don't see them. They are pretty spread out this time of year and will only be where the bait fish are.

Bluegills are in deep water, in 18-20 ft. They can be caught by Elgin Club or in Williams Bay around Cedar Point. The best approach is fishing straight beneath the boat with a leaf worm or a red worm. Some of the bluegills have been 10-11 inches in size. You need to move around to catch the bigger fish. Smaller fish can be caught in the 8-10 ft range, but the monsters are down deep.

Northern Pike are on the thermocline in 35-40 ft of water. The best location is by Fontana Beach or on the north shore of the narrows. You want to lindy rig medium suckers on a 24 inch snell. Like the smallmouth bass you want to see the fish on the fish locator before you start fishing in a location.

Yellow perch are starting to move shallow, in 12 ft of water. Look for the hard bottom and the scattered weeds. Good locations to check are by Knollwood or Rainbow Point. Fishing them on a small Thill slip bobber tipped with a small fat head minnow is always the best approach. You will need to sort through a lot of fish because the bigger fish can be elusive.

Lake Trout are being caught in the main lake basin. 65 or 75 ft down in 108-120 ft of water is where they are positioned. The best time to catch them is 5 a.m. until about 6 a.m. After that, the fish will move to the bottom and it's tough when they get that deep. Chrome/Blue or Chrome/green spoons have been the most productive.

Walleyes continue to bite on windy nights. The best locations have been by Trinkes or Williams Bay. The best approach has been Walleye Bandits or Rapalas fished behind Off-Shore planer boards. You want to fish half way down in 16 ft of water. Don't bother for them if the wind isn't there.

Delavan Lake, Aug. 8-15, 2010

Fishing remains very good. The only problem is the extensive boat traffic. Even during the week, there are between 100-200 boats fishing. To avoid most of the boat traffic, you need to try and get out when the weather looks questionable.

Largemouth bass are still loosely schooled up. They are not as tight as they were 2 weeks ago. However if you catch one, you should be able to catch 2 or 3. Look for the fish on the deep weedline in 16-18 ft of water. A good approach is swimming an All Terrain swim jig in black/blue or green pumpkin. Another approach to catching the largemouth bass is in the scum layer near the boat channel or in Viewcrest or Highlands Bay. The best lure I've found is the Money Hound or Money Frog. The fish are in 3-4 ft of water under the duck weed.

Bluegills can be caught in the 20-22 ft range. They are actively being caught on red worms or leaf worms. You can either fish for them on a slip bobber or a split shot rig right beneath the boat. The best location has been by Willow Point or by Assembly Park.

Northern Pike has been a little slow. The best action has been on slip-bobbers just off the weed edge. I will use Thill bobbers with a #1 hook positioned 13 feet down in 17-18 ft of water. In weeks past, the poles positioned right underneath the boat have been producing most of the action, however, with all the bluegills in the deeper water; that bite has slowed.

Walleye pike have been biting while trolling medium diving crankbaits in perch pattern or crappie pattern. Look for the fish by 3 flags or by Willow Point. With all of the forage in the 20-24 ft range it has been very hard to catch many fish.

Crappies are in the shallow weeds in 12-15 ft of water. They can be caught on small plastics or slip bobbering medium fat head minnows. The best location is by Browns Channel or just west of Willow Point. If you are going to fish for crappies, you need to bring a cooler of ice so you can ice them down immediately as they are already soft.

Daily reports

8/8/10 - Delavan Lake - cloudy with rain, 75 degrees, winds were out of the west at 10 mph. Water temp 79 degrees. Caught 15 largemouth - 3 legal, 1 walleye - 22 inches, and 10-12 bluegills. All the fish were caught on nightcrawlers fished on a split shot rig in 16-18 ft of water. The best location was by 3 flags.

8/7/10 - Delavan Lake - cloudy, 75 degrees, water temp 80 degrees. Winds SW at 10 mph. Caught 9 largemouth -2 were legal, and a few bluegills. This was cold front conditions so fishing was a bit tough. We managed to get the 9 fish before the rain drops hit.

8/5/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 80 degrees, water temp 80 degrees. Winds out of the west at 5 mph. Caught between 100 and 200 bluegills. We kept 40. Most of the fish were caught in 18-20 ft of water be Willow Point. Fished red worms beneath the boat.

8/4/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 86 degrees, water temp 80 degrees. N Wind at 5 mph. Caught 6 northern pike, 8 largemouth -2 were legal, and 30 bluegills. All the fish were caught in 18-20 ft of water. Finally the pike are biting on lindy rigged suckers underneath the boat. Most of the Pike were on the small side. The best location was by Willow Point or by the Yacht Club.

8/3/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 86 degrees, water temp 80 degrees. Winds SE at 5 mph. Caught 3 northern pike and 12 largemouth, 2 legal. Fished off the deep weedlines. Nightcrawlers and suckers produced most of the action. The best depth was 18-19 ft of water.

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!

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.