Dave Duwe’s Delavan Lake Report 5/25/14
With the Memorial Day weekend, fishing traffic has been intense. The fishing has been improving daily, most of the lake fly hatch has subsided and the fish are again biting. The water temperature is rising and the bluegills are moving into the shallows.
Northern Pike have still been very active in the 6-10 ft depth range where there are weeds. The best location has been in Viewcrest Bay or in the Highlands bay. The best approach has been slip bobbered medium suckers. Another method is to free swim small suckers on a spinning rod with 20 lb fluorocarbon. You cast out your bait and let it do what it does. We caught several bass and northern using that method.
Largemouth bass are starting to spawn. They are in 2-4 ft of water. The best location has been by the golf course or back in Viewcrest and Highland Bays. The best approach has been green pumpkin Senkos or Zoom Flukes. The fish have been scattered so you need to keep moving for the most success.
Bluegills are starting to move into the shallows to prepare for spawn. The best location has been inside of Browns Channel or in front of Lake Lawn Lodge. In the next week the bluegill fishing should be fantastic. My best presentation is a small ice jig with a leaf worm. I position the bait about 4-5 inches above bottom or weed growth.
I tried crappie fishing last week in the normal locations and caught none. With the lack of weed growth this year the whole pattern has changed. I Walleye fishing has been slow. The best action has come off of the point that comes out of Township park in the evening. Success has come off of casting jig heads with twister tails or Rapala Husky jerks in chrome and blue.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050
Daily Reports
5/25/14 Lake Geneva, sunny, 70 degrees, light winds, water temp 60 degrees. Caught one 8 lb lake trout. Took my son and friends out for a day of fun fishing. We caught one lake trout on a green evil eye. It was caught in 114 ft of water, 108 ft down. Had several other hits, but couldn’t get them in the boat.
5/24/14 Lake Geneva, sunny, 65 degrees, light winds out of the west. Water temp 60 degrees. Caught 25 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth and a bunch of rock bass and bluegills. The largemouth bass were caught in Abbey Harbor and the rock bass and smallmouth were caught in the main lake by Belvidere Park The best bait was a split shot rigged nightcrawler. The best depth in the main lake was 12 ft of water.
5/23/14 Delavan Lake, sunny, 70 degrees, SE wind at 5 mph. Water temp 61 degrees. Caught and kept 22 bluegills, caught and released 2 largemouth and 4 northern pike. Pan fish were all caught in Lake Lawn marina and the pike were caught in Viewcrest on medium suckers fished underneath a slip bobber. The panfish were caught on leaf worms in about 1 ft of water. With the rising water temperature, the fish are preparing to spawn.
5/22/14 Lake Geneva, sunny, light west wind, 65 degrees, water temp 57 degrees. Caught 1 largemouth, 13 smallmouth – the largest at 5 lbs, and 1 16” crappie. All the fish were caught on a 1/16 oz white hair jig with a pink head. Fished most of the west end of the lake. The best depth was in 12-13 ft of water.
5/20/14 Delavan Lake, sunny, 65 degrees, W wind at 10 mph. Water temp 59 degrees. Caught 12 Northern Pike and 1 smallmouth. The best bite was in 7 ft of water using medium suckers fished beneath a slip bobber.
5/19/14 Delavan Lake, cloudy, 55 degrees, W wind at 20 mph. Water temp 56 degrees. Caught 1 largemouth at 4 lbs and 13 northern pike. The bite was slow due to the lake fly hatch. The fish were caught in 7 ft of water, about 3 ft down in Viewcrest bay. We used medium suckers fished beneath a Thill slip bobber.