Delavan Lake Fishing Report 8/20/12 through 8/27/12
Fishing continues to be above average on Delavan Lake. The bass are hitting well and the bluegills are also a tremendous bite right now. The boat traffic is still pretty high, but with school starting in the next week or two it should decrease significantly.
Bluegills continue to bite in 30 ft of water suspended 10-15 ft down. The best location has been by Assembly Park or off the flat, west of Willow Point. The best bait is leaf worms fished on a split shot rig. Most of the fish are biting first thing in the morning.
Largemouth bass are being caught using two different methods. One is a split shot rig with a nightcrawler, the second is a Thill big fish slip bobber fished with a medium sucker. What I’ve been doing is positioning the boat in 15-20 ft of water, then casting my slip bobber into 6-8 ft of water. The key is finding sandy pockets in the weeds. The best locations are west of Willow Point and by Del Mar subdivision. Also, the fish can be caught while Wacky rigging Senkos in 6 ft of water, with Green pumpkin being the best color. It works best to keep the boat moving as the fish have been scattered.
Northern Pike action is still slow. If you catch one or two per trip, that would be considered success at this point. The fish I’ve been catching have been caught on Thill Big Fish slip bobbers in 8-9 ft of water. They have also been on the small side.
Walleye fishing has also been on the slow side. The active fish are being caught on leeches or nightcrawlers. The best depth has been 18-20 ft of water. Look for the fish by Willow Point or the Yacht Club. The most important factor is the time of day, with the majority of fish being taken at dusk or dawn.
Crappie action has been decent. The fish are suspended 8-10 ft down in 30 ft of water. The fish can be caught on purple and chartreuse plastics. Look for the fish by Belvidere Park and the Oriental boat house.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050
Daily Reports
8/19/12 Delavan Lake, 70 degrees and sunny, water temp 74 degrees, light winds out of the north. Caught 14 largemouth bass and one northern pike. The fish were caught on split shot rigged nightcrawlers or a slip bobber fished with a medium sucker. The best depth was 10-12 ft of water. The boat traffic was intense so every spot had people on it.
8/18/12 Lake Geneva, 70 degrees and sunny, water temp 73 degrees, winds light out of the SW. Caught 10 smallmouth and a bunch of rock bass. The fish were caught on a rock point in 20 ft of water. The best presentation was lindy rigging nightcrawlers. Once you found the active school, it was pretty much one after the other.
8/14/12 p.m. Delavan Lake, 75 degrees and sunny, water temp 75 degrees, winds SW at 10 mph. Caught 1 northern pike, 6 largemouth bass, one 19" walleye and many bluegills. The fish were on the weed line in 15-17 ft of water. All the fish were caught on split shot rigged nightcrawlers.
8/14/12 a.m. Lake Geneva, 70 degrees and sunny, water temp 75 degrees, winds SW at 10-15 mph. Caught 15 smallmouth bass, 2 largemouth and a bunch of rock bass. Tried a lot of spots for Carolina rigging, the fish were hitting short and we didn't catch many. We tried drop shotting and lindy rigging night crawlers in 25 ft of water and then we ended up with a whole bunch.