Lake Geneva Fishing Report 9/3/17 through 9/11/17
The cool August days have now turned into cool September days. Fishing on Geneva has been a bit more challenging than normal. Some days the fishing patterns are easily identified but with any weather or wind change the bite shuts down.
Largemouth bass are in substantially more shallow water than is typical for this time of year. The best depth has been 8-10 ft of water. The best locations are by Geneva Bay, South Shore Club and Colemans Point. Most of the success I’ve been having is coming off of 4 inch finesse worms made by Chompers. I’ve been drop shotting them and positioning the sinker about 18 inches below the hook. They can be caught on nightcrawlers as well but the rock bass and bluegills tend to take the bait before you hook up with the bass.
Bluegill fishing remains steady in 18-20 ft of water. The best location has been by Gage Marine, Elgin Club and Lake Geneva Yacht Club. I’ve been using a split shot hook and leaf worm combo fished about 1 foot off bottom. As the water continues to cool, the bluegills will migrate shallow.
The smallmouth bass bite has been like a mythical creature. I haven’t seen one in 3-4 trips out. I believe they are in deeper water than I’ve been fishing. I’ve been marking them in 20-25 ft of water but when I try for them with a lindy rigged nightcrawler I’ve had very limited success.
Walleye fishing has been excellent on the nights when there is some wind. Trolling large Rapalas in the 12-15 ft depth range have been working well. Abbey Springs and Maytag Point are both great locations.
With the cooling water temperatures, the rock bass are again moving into the shallow waters. They can be caught on split shot rigged nightcrawlers throughout the lake. The biggest concentration has been by South Shore Club.
Like the smallmouth bass I haven’t had much success with Northern Pike either. I’ve fished in Williams Bay and Fontana beach without success. As the water cools the thermocline will break and they will move shallow. I suspect that will happen within the next week. At that point try for them with slip bobbers and golden shiners in the shallow weed flats.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063