Lake Geneva Fishing Report 6/24/13 through 7/1/13
Overall fishing remains very good. With the warmer weather the water temperature has been getting warmer as well. The largemouth bass are becoming very active with the Jumbo bluegills.
Largemouth bass have been actively feeding. They can be caught in Williams Bay or in Trinkes. They are biting on wacky rigged green pumpkin worms or small French fry worms. Some of my best success last week was also on split shot rigged nightcrawlers. You want to work a depth of 12-14 ft of water. The water temperature has increased so much that they’ve moved deep so you want to focus on 5-15 ft of water for now.
Rock bass have switched to nightcrawlers or small hair jigs. They can be caught pretty much everywhere in the lake. My best success has been in 12-14 ft of water. Lately, the fish have been fighting more than normal, so they have been quite fun to catch for my clients. With the warmer water temperature, we haven’t been keeping any. The best eating rock bass come from very cold water.
Walleye fishing has been improving. The best location has been in Williams Bay, Abbey Springs or in Trinkes Bay. It is again turned into a night bite. The fish are in 15 ft of water. You want to be trolling deep diving crank baits about 100 ft behind the boat, trolling at 1.5 mph. The best colors are chrome/blue, chrome/black and perch colored. As always, the stick baits out produce the short wobbly ones.
Smallmouth bass have completed their spawn. They are still near their spawning flats. The best location is by Elgin club or by the Military Academy. They are aggressively hitting hair jigs with a pink head and white tail. I prefer the 1/8 oz model. With the excessive minnows in the lake, you want to cast out and swim it back to the boat. Constantly move the jig as a swimming minnow.
Yellow Perch have been biting in the 12 ft depth range. The best location has been west of Linn Pier. You want to use small leaf worms or small fat head minnows fished on a split shot rig.
Bluegills are mixed in with the largemouth bass in the 12-15 ft depth range. Last week, I caught several in excess of 11 inches. They are hitting nightcrawlers fished on a split shot rig. The best location has been by Trinkes or by the Elgin Club.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050
Daily Reports
6/22/13 - Lake Geneva, rainy with thunderstorms then to sun, Fished from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. Caught 3 smallmouth, 12 largemouth bass and a boat load of rock bass and bluegills. The fish were biting on split shot rigged nightcrawlers. The best location was by Trinkes or West of Linn Pier.
6/21/13 - Lake Geneva, cloudy, 70 degrees, water temp 70 degrees. E winds at 10 mph. Caught 4 largemouth, 3 smallmouth and many rock bass and bluegills. The best location was by Trinkes in 12 ft of water. We were drifting split shot rigged nightcrawlers with great success. Fishing in Trinkes is usually a bluegill or largemouth bass bite, very few rock bass.
6/19/13 - Lake Geneva, sunny, 75 degrees, water temp 70 degrees, E winds at 10 mph. Caught 3 largemouth, all legal and 6 smallmouth bass. The best approach was a split shot rigged nightcrawler fished from Knollwood to Cedar Point. The best location was right in front of Cisco Beach. The best depth was 12-14 ft.
6/18/13 - Lake Geneva, sunny, 65 degrees, water temp 69 degrees, E winds at 10 mph. Caught 3 legal smallmouth and a bunch of bluegills, perch and rock bass. Fishing was tougher today than the past few. Fished by Knollwood and by the old Military Academy.
6/17/13 - p.m. - Delavan Lake, sunny, 75 degrees, water temp 72 degrees. Light winds out of the east. Caught 15 largemouth bass and a bunch of bluegills. Tried for northern pike, but the bait was too small. Talking to others 6-8 inch suckers were the key for northern. For the bass and bluegills, the best bait was nightcrawlers fished on a split shot rig west of the yacht club.
6/17/13 - a.m. - Lake Geneva, sunny 70 degrees, water temp 70 degrees. E wind at 10 mph. Caught 5 smallmouth, 4 were legal and 3 largemouth in addition to a plethora of rock bass and blue gills. The best depth was 12-15 ft of water. Fished in front of Knollwood and Holiday Camp. We used white hair jigs or split shot rigged nightcrawlers.