• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Fish moving to deep water on Geneva Lake

Geneva Lake, Aug. 15 - 22, 2010

Fishing has been relatively slow on Geneva Lake. Most of the action is coming out of deep water (20-30 ft). Don't be afraid if you go out a little deeper, you will catch fish.

Northern Pike fishing has been hit or miss. Most of the fish are coming out of 30-35 ft of water. One day you will catch a bunch and the next day very few are found. The best location has been by Fontana Beach or the north side of the narrows. The best bait is medium suckers fished on a lindy rig 1 ft off bottom. The best leader length is approximately 24 inches.

Largemouth bass are positioned on the hard bottom. They can be found in the 24-28 ft depth range. You need to position yourself off of lake points. Good locations are by Conference Point or by the 700 club. Most of the fish are in the 13-20 inch range. Carolina rigging Zoom lizard has been producing most of the action.

Bluegills have been relatively active in the 18-20 ft depth range. Look for the fish by Elgin Club or by Linn Pier. Fish straight beneath the boat with a split shot rigged leaf worm for the best chance of success.

Walleyes continue to be good at night as long as there is wind. The best approach is trolling medium diving crank baits 12-14 ft down in 16-18 ft of water. The fish are being caught by Trinkes or in Williams Bay. Troll large Rapalas or Walleye bandits in chrome/blue or chrome/black.

Perch fishing has been all right in the 10-12 ft depth range. Look for the fish in 8-10 ft of water. You need to sort through a lot of fish before you find the keeper. Try for them by Knollwood or Rainbow point.

Lake Trout fishing has been good about 1/2 hour before sun up or 1/2 hour before sundown. The fish are being caught on nickel/blue or nickel/green spoons. The best depth is 75 ft down in the main lake basin.

Delavan Lake, Aug. 15 - 22, 2010

Fishing remains great on Delavan Lake. The boat traffic is still pretty extreme. If you want to park in the gravel lot at the launch, you will need to get there by 5 a.m. This is consistent, even on weekdays.

Bluegills are in the 18-24 ft depth range. They can be caught on leaf worms or red worms. The best location has been by Willow Point or by 3 flags. Most of the fish are in the 7-8 inch range. I've been fishing straight beneath the boat.

Crappie fishing has also been very good. The fish are in 10-12 ft of water. The fish are being caught on either Thill slip bobber rigs fished one ft above the weeds or casting small plastics. For the plastics chartreuse or purple are the best options. The best location has been by the Yacht Club or by Willow Point. Some of the crappies have been in excess of 12 inches.

Walleye fishing has been slow. The dog days of summer have hit these fish. The fish that are being caught are being caught on medium diving crank baits in 15-20 ft of water. The best location has been by the concrete point or by Willow Point. Some action is also available while lindy rigging or slip bobbering large leeches in 18-24 ft range in the same locations.

Largemouth bass can either be caught in the slop or on the deep weedlines. The deep weedline bite doesn't have the schooled up fish as good as in the past few weeks. You need to move around to find the aggressive fish. The best location has been by Willow Point or by the Yacht Club.

Northern Pike fishing has been up and down. The fish haven't been aggressively biting due to the numerous small bluegills on the weed line. Most of the fish are being caught on slip bobber rigged medium suckers. The best location has either been by Willow Point or by Belvidere Park. I've been using a large Thill slip bobber and a rather small sucker. Either I'm catching a largemouth bass or I'm catching a pike. The same presentation works for both.

Daily reports

Daily Reports 8/15/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 75 degrees, water temp 80 degrees. NW winds at 5 mph. Caught 100+ blugills, kept about 50. The bluegills were in 21 ft of water. The best approach was straight lining beneath the boat.

8/14/10 - Delavan Lake - 85 degrees, water temp 81 degrees. SW winds at 5 mph. Caught 6 largemouth, 3 northerns and about 40 bluegills. The fish were in 20-21 ft of water. They bit on leaf worms or nightcrawlers fished on a split shot rig. The northern pike came on medium suckers fished on a lindy rig. The fish were positioned 1 ft off bottom.

8/11/10 - Delavan Lake - 90 degrees and humid, water temp 81 degrees. SW winds at 5 mph. Caught 3 northern pike, 13 bass - 3 were legal, and 50 bluegill. Most of the fish were caught on the deep weedline in 20-21 ft of water. The pike and 2 of the bass were caught on medium suckers.

8/10/10 - Delavan Lake - 89 degrees and humid, water temp 81 degrees. SW winds at 5 mph. Caught 14 bass -3 were legal and 1 walleye. The bass were caught on nightcrawlers or slip bobber rigged suckers in 15-16 ft of water. The best location was by Browns Channel or by Willow Point.

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.