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A good week ahead for fishing on Geneva and Delavan lake

Geneva Lake, July 25 to Aug. 1, 2010

Fishing on Geneva remains very consistent. There are fish to be caught every time out. The best bite is the Northern Pike and Walleyes after dark.

Northern Pike fishing has been excellent. Most of the fish are being caught in 30-32 ft of water. The best location is in Fontana or the north shore in the narrows. The best presentation is lindy rigged medium suckers right on bottom. Most of the fish can be seen using your electronics. I typically will not fish a spot unless I see active fish.

Lake Trout are being caught on the main lake basin. They are in 108-120 ft of water, 70-80 ft down. Nickel/blue and nickel/green spoons have been the best presentation. I have been doing a big circle from Conference and Cedar Point. The best bite still remains 1/2 hour before sun up and 1/2 hour before sun down.

Perch have been very aggressive. They have been in the 10-12 ft depth range. They can be caught on 1/2 nightcrawlers or fat head minnows. The best location has been by Rainbow Point or Knollwood. The biggest issue as always is the size, you need to sort through a lot of small fish to get to the keepers.

Rock Bass have moved deeper. They are in the 14-18 ft depth range. They can be caught on split shot rigged nightcrawlers. The best location has been by Elgin Club or by Maytag Point. With the water temperature being so warm, their meat is getting soft. I wouldn't recommend keeping them this time of year.

Walleye Pike fishing has been good at night if there is some wind. Without wind Lake Geneva is a dead sea for Walleye. The best location has been by Fontana Beach or Abbey Springs. Work a depth of 16-18 ft of water with medium diving crank baits. I prefer chrome/black Walleye Bandits.

Largemouth Bass can be caught in the shallows or on the deep weedline. The shallow fish can be caught on split shot rigged nightcrawlers or on top water lures. The best location has been Trinkes Bay or by Linn Pier. I've been working a depth of 10-12 ft. Some of the largemouth are starting to school on the hard rock bottom in 18-25 ft of water. They can be caught Carolina rigging Arkie Crawlin' grubs or drop shotting 4 inch finesse worms. In either case, green pumpkin is the only color to tie on.

Delavan Lake, July 25 to Aug. 1, 2010

Fishing remains fantastic. The fish are in their mid summer pattern and they have schooled up and can be caught if you find the schools.

Northern Pike fishing has been relatively slow this week. I think most of the problem is that the bluegills have slid off the weedline and are in 18-24 ft of water. The few pike I've been catching have been in 22-24 ft of water. The pike are getting filled up on the small bluegills. Either that or the anglers are so good there aren't any left. The best locations that I've found have been by Willow Point or by Belvidere Park.

Bluegills are literally everywhere on the lake. If you find a weed line, you will find the bluegills. Unlike prior weeks, the bluegills schools are all integrated with different size fish. You can fish a school and catch big ones, even though there are small ones present. The biggest fish I've caught have been by Willow Point or Belvidere Park. The best depth has been 20 ft of water. I've been casting the split shot rigged leaf worm and catching all I care to catch.

Largemouth bass are schooled up really heavy right now. They can be caught on jigs and split shot rigged nightcrawlers. The key is finding areas with rock and weed. They are schooling up very heavy. At certain times last week, I fished for four hours with a guide party and never left the first location. The key is to stay in a location where the fish are feeding, if you catch one, you should catch many.

Walleye Pike have been a bit slow. The only fish I've heard about have come from trolling crank baits in 20 ft of water, right off the weedline. The best location is by Delavan Lake Marina or by Belvidere Park. You want a crank bait that dives 16-18 ft and then troll it at 1 1/2 - 2 mph. The best color has been pearl.

Crappies have again been biting over the medium depth weeds in 12-15 ft of water. They can be caught by the Oriental boat house or by Assembly Park. The best approach is small plastics, try purple or chartreuse. The fish have been on the smaller side, the average size has been about 8-9 inches.

Daily reports

7/24/10 - Lake Geneva - Cloudy and Rainy, water temp 81 degrees, winds out of the SW at 10 mph. Caught 13 northern pike and 6 bass. The pike were caught in 32-33 ft of water. The best location was in Fontana. Some of the bass were caught on top water lures, the rest on split shot rigged nightcrawlers near Belvidere Park. We've had some crazy weather, it was great that I was able to get out because it was productive.

7/23/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, water temp 82 degrees, air temp 85 degrees, winds light out of the SW at 5 mph. Caught 23 bass and a bunch of bluegills. All the fish were caught in 15-18 ft of water. The best approach was split shot rigged nightcrawlers. The best location was by the gray condos.

7/22/10 - Delavan Lake - cloudy, big threats of Thunderstorms, water temp 81 degrees, air temp 85 degrees, winds SW at 25-30 mph. Most people wouldn't have fished in these conditions. The tornado storms were going off as we came off the lake and T-storms were in the area. We fished for 3 hours before we were chased off. We ended up with 17 largemout - 5 were legal. I had everything I could do to keep the boat in the right spot while back trolling into the wind.

7/21/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 85 degrees and humid, water temp 81 degrees. Winds light out of the SW. Caught 29 bass- 3 were legal, and 1 northern pike. Fished in 15-20 ft of water. All fish were caught on split shot rigged nightcrawlers.

7/20/10 - Delavan Lake - sunny, 90 degrees and humid, water temp 82 degrees. Winds light out of the SE. Caught 12 bass and a bunch of bluegills. I had a couple of young anglers aboard. Once we figured out where the fish were, we caught a bunch. The best depth was on the weed line in 15-18 ft of water.

7/18/10 - Lake Geneva - sunny, 90 degrees and humid, water temp 81 degrees. W winds at 10-15 mph. Caught 6 largemouth, plus some bluegills, rock bass and perch. Fished 10-12 ft of water with nightcrawlers and top water lures. The fish were caught in Trinkes and by Colemans Point. All 6 of the bass were legal.

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.