Lake Geneva 7/5/21 through 7/12/21
Fishing continues to be excellent. The bass bite is very steady and other species are now starting to turn on! The only problem has been excessive boat traffic with the holiday weekend but we’ve come to expect that.
The largemouth bass I’ve been catching are in medium depth weeds in 12-14 ft of water. The best presentation has been an Arkie Finesse jig with a green pumpkin Yum Houdini worm. The bass have been biting on the fall and on the initial shake of the rod. I vibrate the rod 5-6 times as soon as the jig hits the bottom and then check the weight and usually the fish is on the bait. During some guide parties the jigs have been out performing nightcrawlers. The best location has been Trinkes or in Williams Bay.
Smallmouth bass fishing has been slow for me. They started to move deep and I haven’t been catching many. I would look for them on the drop off near the spawing flats. The Military Academy and Rainbow Point are good locations to start with. I would use Lindy rigged nightcrawlers and start in 18-24 ft of water.
Lake Trout are biting in the main lake basin. I’ve been fishing 100-120 ft of water catching suspended fish at first light. The bait of choice are nickel and blue spoons. The fish have been suspended 85-95 ft down. The average weight thus far has been around 10 lbs.
The big bluegills are still aggressively hitting. The best depth is 17-19 ft of water. Most of my success is coming off of leaf worms or ½ nightcrawlers. I’ve been straight lining the worms underneath the boat with a small hook and split shot. The best location has been Elgin Club and Maytag Point.
Some Walleyes are being caught at night while trolling crank baits. Use Bandit shallow Walleye crankbaits or Rapala’s fished on planer boards. There has been a lack of floating weeds on the lake so trolling has been fairly easy. The best locations are Abbey Springs or Fontana Beach.
Northern Pike will be picking up in about 10 days once the Thermocline starts. I’ll be starting to try for them the 2nd week of July.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050