Delavan Lake 9/10/12 through 9/17/12
With the cooler weather, fishing has improved over the last week. The largemouth bass and walleyes have become more active. The fish are still relating to main lake weed points with rock.
The walleye are starting to become more active. They can be caught in 18-22 ft of water. The best bait is either leeches or small chubs fished on a lindy rig. The lindy rig I use is a #2 Octopus hook with an 18 inch leader and a ½ oz sinker. Once the water cools more, approximately another 5 degrees, I will switch over to fat head minnows for live bait and start casting crank baits again. The best location has been by Assembly Park or the old Marina half way down the lake.
Bass fishing has improved. The fish are starting to scatter throughout the weedline. You want to focus on the main lake points with some rock. The best depth has been 12-15 ft of water. Look for the fish by Belvidere condos, Assembly Park or by willow point. The best approach is either split shot rigged nightcrawlers or a Texas rigged green pumpkin Senko. Another pattern that has been producing some bigger fish for me is a Thill slip bobber fishing a medium sucker. I like to position the sucker about a foot and a half above the weeds.
Bluegill fishing has been good. The bluegills are in the 12-16 ft depth range. You want to fish a split shot rigged leaf worm about 6 inches off bottom. The best location has been by Assembly park or the Oriental boathouse. There are some fish suspending in 40 ft of water out in the main lake so a secondary pattern to try is using leaf worms straight beneath the boat about 10-20 ft down.
Northern Pike action has been some of the best of the year. The fish are starting to become catchable again, since they’ve been gone most of the summer. They really didn’t care for the hot weather and scattered and stayed deeper than the average anglers capability. Now they are biting on medium suckers in 20-25 ft of water. Fish the sucker on lindy rigs or Thill slip bobbers. The best location has been by the Yacht Club or Assembly Park point.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050
Daily Reports
9/9/12 Delavan Lake, sunny, N winds at 15-20 mph, air temp 65, water temp 74 degrees. Caught 12 largemouth bass, 2 walleyes and 1 smallmouth bass. The strong winds made fishing tough. The fish were still positioned on main lake weed points in 15-18 ft of water. The presentation was lindy rigs and split shot rigged nightcrawlers.
9/8/12 Lake Geneva, sunny, winds N at 15 mph, air temp 65, water temp 73 degrees. Caught 5 smallmouth, all were legal, 1 largemouth bass and a bunch of rock bass and bluegills. Started off early fishing lindy rigs in 20-25 ft of water. Move shallower and caught a lot more pan fish and rock bass. The wind made fishing my normal spots difficult. Fished mostly by Ulines creek.
9/4/12 Lake Geneva, sunny, calm, 90 degrees, water temp 75 degrees. Caught 1 northern pike, one 3 1/2 lb largemouth and 23 smallmouth bass, about 8 were legal. All fish were caught on lindy rigs. The best depth was 22-25 ft of water. I was fishing near the Military Academy. The boat traffic was almost non-existent.