Dave Duwe Lake Geneva Fishing Report 7/28/14 through 8/4/14
This past week seemed to be slow with summer vacationers, making Lake Geneva very pleasant to fish with very little boat traffic. Due to the weather being cooler than normal, the fishing is good with the exception of the northern pike.
Northern Pike fishing has been slow due to the fact that the pike have not made it down to the thermocline. If it has been formed it is very week. The fish I’ve been catching have been in the 18-20 ft weeds. Look for the fish in Williams Bay and by the beach in Fontana. The best approach is lindy rigged medium suckers fished 1-2 ft off bottom. In the coming weeks, if the water warms, fishing should improve in the deeper water making the concentrated and easier to catch.
Smallmouth bass fishing has been better than normal. The fish are in 22-25 ft of water and actively feeding. Look for the fish in Fontana, the Military Academy and by Gage Marine. They can be caught on lindy rigged nightcrawlers or lindy rigged small suckers. The suckers I position 1 foot off bottom with about a 24 inch leader. The bigger fish haven’t really started hitting yet, the average size has been in the 14-16 inch range. Some days when you find the big pods of bait fish, it’s pretty easy to catch 15-25 fish in a couple of hours.
Largemouth bass are on the deep weedlines in 22-25 ft of water. They can be caught either pitching jigs or Carolina rigging Zoom green pumpkin lizards. The best location is by Trinkes or just west of Linn Pier. The best locations in the weeds have a hard gravel bottom. This time of year the largemouth bass will school up on the hard rock bottoms with the scattered weeds. Another option for the largemouth bass is lindy rigged nightcrawlers slowly back trolled along the weedline.
Lake Trout action has been excellent. They are in the main lake basin anywhere between 85 and 95 ft down and watch for them to move slightly deeper. Last week there were some reported catches of 20 lb fish. As always, try for them with blue/green or blue/chrome spoons.
Walleye fishing has been okay but a little slow due to the lower than average air temperatures. The best time is still midnight to 4 a.m. Use large Rapala’s fished in 15 ft of water. Try Abbey Springs and Maytag Point for the best success.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050