Delavan Lake Fishing Report 7/22/13 through 7/29/13
Fishing was excellent during our hot and humid week, by Sunday the temperatures cooled a bit but the fishing didn’t cool at all. Both the bluegills and largemouth bass remain in their mid summer patterns.
Bluegill fishing has been some of the finest in recent memory. The best depth is 12-15 ft of water. The fish can be easily caught either with slip bobbers or a split shot and a single hook fished with a small leaf worm. The overall size of the fish is averaging between 8 and 10 inches, which is substantially larger than recent years. The best location is west of the Yacht Club or by Belvidere condos.
Largemouth Bass are in their mid summer pattern. They are schooling in scattered weeds with hard sand bottom. Most of the fish are coming out of 15-18 ft of water. They can be caught on swim jigs or a split shot rigged nightcrawler. The schools are so large that once you find a bunch of fish, it’s easy to catch 10 to 20 in the same school. Look for the fish by Browns Channel or the buoy line on the west end of the lake.
Walleye fishing has been average. Most of the success is coming out of 20-25 ft of water. The most consistent bite is on lindy rigged leeches or small pink jigs tipped with a leech. The best location is the weedline west of willow point or by the island on the west end.
Smallmouth Bass are on the scattered rock and hard bottom areas. The best depth is 20-25 ft of water. The bass don’t school up like the largemouth, so it’s more of a sporadic one here and there bite. The best approach has been on leeches fished on a lindy rig.
Northern Pike action has been spotty. I’ve been catching a few here and there. The biggest problem I have is keeping the suckers alive. With the surface temperature being so warm and the temp at 25 ft being so cool, that it shocks the bait and kills the sucker in a relatively short period of time. The best location is by the gray condos in 18-22 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
Daily Reports
7/21/13 - Delavan Lake, sunny, 75 degrees, water temp 82 degrees, E wind at 5 mph. Caught 19 largemouth, 1 walleye and 1 smallmouth bass. The pan fish were very active as well. Split shot rigged nightcrawlers and the weedline are still producing.
7/19/13 - Delavan Lake, sunny, 92 degrees, water temp 85 degrees, winds 25 mph out of the west. Caught 22 largemouth and 1 smallmouth. All fish were caught on split shot rigged nightcrawlers, the weedline continued to offer a consistent bite.
7/18/13 - Delavan Lake, sunny, 90 degrees, water temp 86 degrees, winds calm. Caught 20 largemouth bass and 1 smallmouth. The fish were still schooled up on the weedlines with hard bottom. Again a split shot rigged nightcrawler did the trick.
7/17/13 - Delavan Lake, sunny, 94 degrees, water temp 86 degrees, SW winds at 5 mph. Caught 26 largemouth and 2 pike. Fish were on the weedline in 12-15 ft of water. All fish were caught on a split shot rigged nightcrawler.
7/16/13 - Delavan Lake, sunny, 90 degrees, water temp 85, winds calm. Caught 12 largemouth, 4 smallmouth, 2 walleye and 1 northern pike. We fished the weedline in 16 ft of water. All fish were caught on a split shot rigged nightcrawler.