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Largemouth biting in Geneva Bay

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Geneva Lake, June 12-19, 2011

With a few days of warmer weather last week, fishing has improved greatly. Even though a cold front came through midweek, it didn't affect the fishing much.

Smallmouth bass are in spawning and are post spawn. The fish can be located in the 10-12 ft spawning flats. Look for them by the Military Academy and Knollwood. For the spawning fish, they can be caught on white tubes or black and blue jigs. For the post spawn fish, I've been using small silver hair jigs. Swim them 2 ft above bottom. Last week I had several over 19 inches.

Largemouth bass are in the shallows. They are in 5-6 ft of water in and around the piers. The best location is in Geneva Bay from pier 5 through pier 20. They can be caught on green pumpkin Senkos or split shot rigging green pumpkin lizards. For live bait fishermen, the best action is on the split shot rigged nightcrawler.

Rock bass can be caught everywhere between 5 and 12 ft of water. They are being caught on split shot rigged nightcrawlers or small silver hair jigs. This is a good time of year to take a kid fishing. The action is almost non-stop. Most guide trips, I will use 8-10 dozen nightcrawlers. I found the most fish down by Belvidere Park in Fontana.

Bluegill fishing has been kind of slow. I've been sporadically fishing them in the 10-12 ft depth range. I think the majority of the fish are in shallower than I'm fishing. Good action can be found in and around the piers in 5-6 ft of water. Fish them with a slip bobber and a leaf worm.

Perch are in 10 ft of water. They are location is some of their standard areas such as Rainbow Point and Belvidere Park. They can be caught on small fat head minnows fished on a slip bobber. It remains a constant battle to catch the bigger fish. You will need to do a lot of sorting.

Northern Pike are still in the weed flats. They can be caught slip bobber fishing with golden shiners or by casting a white 1/2 oz spinner bait. Look for the fish in Williams Bay and by the Beach in Fontana. As a rule, the thermocline bite will start right around July 4th, depending on the water temperature.

Delavan Lake, June 12-19, 2011

This past week, we had August weather with 90 degree temps and high winds followed rapidly with October weather low 60's and cold water. The good news is that it didn't hurt fishing much.

The largemouth bass are finishing spawning and are still cruising the shallows. In the next week or so, they will be moving to the deep weedline. As of 6/12/11 the fish are in 4-5 ft of water. They can be caught on green pumpkin or watermelon Senkos. The best location is by the golf course or by Viewcrest bay.

The bluegills are in medium depth weeds in the 10-12 ft range. They can be caught slip bobbering leaf worms or by using wax worms on an ice fishing jig. The best location I've found was by the Marina or over by Del Mar. You want to position the bait 1 ft off the weeds. I never anchor, I slowly move around with the electric trolling motor to find the active fish. Some of the bluegills last week were over 10 inches long.

Crappie fishing has been fantastic. They are mixed in with the bluegills in 10-12 ft of water. The way to catch them is a 1-2 punch. The first method is small plastics fished on a 1/32 oz jig. The best color is purple or chartreuse. The second method is slip bobber rigging small fat head minnows 2-3 ft above the weeds. The best location has been by Willow Point or by Browns Channel.

Northern Pike fishing has started to improve. They are moving out of the shallows and are positioning on the deep weedlines. The best success is coming in 18-20 ft of water. I've been lindy rigging them with medium suckers bought at Lakeside bait and tackle right across from the boat launch. The best location has been from the Marina to Willow Point.

Walleye are still not biting very well. The fish that are being caught are in the shallow weeds mixed in with the crappies. With this warmer weather this bite should improve greatly. Don't be afraid to use leeches on small weed jigs fished in 15-16 ft of water.

Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050

Daily Reports

6/12/11 - Lake Geneva, sunny, light winds out of the East, 65 degrees, water temp 63 degrees. Caught 7 smallmouth bass, 5 were legal, and a bunch of rock bass, bluegills and perch. The best bait was a white hair jig in 12-13 ft of water. There are still some bass spawning however, a lot of the fish were actively feeding up so they were getting the hair jig about 2 ft off bottom. The nightcrawlers caught all of the rock bass.

6/11/11 - Delavan Lake, sunny, N winds at 10 mph. 50 degrees, water temp 68 degrees. Caught a mix of bluegills and crappies in 10-12 ft of water. The blugills were caught slip bobbering Thill slip bobbers and the crappies were caught on purple plastics. The best location was by Del Mar and by the Marina.

6/08/11- Delavan Lake, cloudy, W winds at 15-20 mph. 70 degrees, water temp 71 degrees. Caugth 1 northern Pike and 20-30 crappies. Had a hard time lindy rigging the suckers due to the heavy winds. Fished them in 18-20 ft of water. The crappies were right on the weedline in 10-12 ft of water. Purple plastics produced most of the fish.

6/7/11 - Delavan Lake, p.m., sunny SW winds at 15-20 mph. 95 degrees, water temp 71 degrees. Caught 13 largemouth bass, lost about 6 others. I had a hard time hooking the fish. We were fishing post spawn fish by Lake Lawn Lodge and in Viewcrest Bay. The best depth was 3-4 ft of water. Best bait was Texas rigged Senko's

6/7/11 - Lake Geneva, a.m., sunny SW winds at 10-15 mph. 90 degrees, water temp 63 degrees. Today was a continuation of yesterdays rock bass harvest. No one can say I don't do my share to remove Rock Bass from Lake Geneva! In two days, I cleaned about 80 fish.

6/6/11 - Lake Geneva, p.m., sunny, SW winds at 15-20 mph. 90 degrees, water temp 63 degrees. Caught 2 smallmouth bass and about 75 rock bass. This trip was to put meat in my customers freezer. Most of the fish were caught in Belvidere Park in 8-10 ft of water. The best bait was split shot rigged nightcrawlers.

6/6/11 - Lake Geneva, a.m., sunny, light winds out of the east at 5 mph. 70 degrees, water temp 61 degrees. Caught 1 legal largemouth, 3 smallmouth bass and a load of rock bass. The best depth was 10-12 ft of water. Fished by Colemans point and Belvidere Park. The best bait was a white hair jig or the Klozar minnow fished on a fly rod.

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.