Delavan Lake Fishing 4/22/12 through 4/29/12
Only a few weeks to go until opening day and I can hardly wait. At least the bluegill bite has been good this week; it’s enough to tide me over until game fish season begins. Even though the spring was warm, the cold night time temps lately have caused the water temps to fluctuate between 46 and 49 degrees and the fish aren’t biting all that well.
Bluegill fishing has been good in 3-4 ft of water. Concentrate in the channels like Viewcrest and the Highlands. The best bait has been wax worms fished on an ice jig. The fish have been biting as soon as it hits the water if you have found an aggressive school. In the shallow waters there are a lot of small fish, so you need to spend some time sorting. This past Sunday, we caught 100 fish but had to sort out over ½ of them.
Crappies have been biting in the 6-8 ft depth range, 3-4 ft down. They are biting on plastics, purple or chartreuse are the best colors. You can also catch them on slip bobber rigged small minnows. Look for the fish in Viewcrest Channel or in the Highlands. You want start at the buoy line and move toward shore. I did try in Lake Lawn Lodge with limited success. The fish seem to be quite a bit smaller there.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050
Daily Reports
4/22/12 - Delavan Lake, 40 degrees, winds out of the E at 20 mph. Water temp 49 degrees. Caught 100 bluegills, kept 40. The best presentation was a bobber fished with a wax worm. Most of the fish were caught in 2-3 ft of water. The fish were in the boat channels.
4/21/12 - Lake Koshkonong, 35 degrees, winds E, water temp 46 degrees. Caught 1 walleye and 10 white bass. Fished by Newville. Most of the white bass were caught trolling in 5 ft of water. Chrome/blue were the best colors for the #5 shad rap crankbaits.