Lake Geneva Fishing Report 5/8/16 through 5/15/16
As difficult as Lake Geneva is on a typical opening day, the cool spring and cold front that greeted Opening day made Geneva even more difficult. It takes a consistent warming spring and nice sunny days to heat up a body of water the size of Lake Geneva. Fishing stays on the difficult side until the water temps increase.
I’ve found schools of perch in 25-27 ft of water. It appeared that they were still spawning. The fish I caught had many of the males still milking. The schools were located by the Driehaus estate and the South Shore Club. They were readily hitting ice jigs tipped with a wax worm fished on a split shot rig.
The bluegills are in 3-4 ft of water. The best location has been in Geneva Bay or outside Trinkes Harbor. I’ve haven’t found many really nice sized fish but there have been loads of 6-7 inch fish. The best approach is a Thill slip bobber rig fished with a leaf worm.
Largemouth bass fishing has been very slow. The only success has been coming in Abbey Harbor while fishing a watermelon seed Senko or a nightcrawler on a small split shot rig to avoid the weeds. Concentrate on the outwash of the moored boats, these provide a great ambush point for the largemouth bass.
Smallmouth bass have been spotty. They’ve been following the schools of small perch and minnow pods. I’ve caught some in 6 ft of water and some in 27 ft of water. The most consistent pattern is fishing for suspended fish 8-12 ft down in 15 ft of water. The smallmouth are pre-spawn and will be found scattered throughout the water column. I use a small white hair jig or a silver jig slowly swam back to the boat. The best location has been by the Dreihaus Estate and Elgin Club.
Crappies have been biting if it’s been cloudy out. When the sun is out and coupled with the ultra clear water forces the crappies tight to the weed growth. The best location has been by Covenant Harbor, Maytag Point and the east side of Williams Bay. The best success has been on chartreuse nail tails or smoke colored small twister tails. I’ve been finding them in 9-10 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