Lake Geneva Fishing Report 8/4/13 through 8/12/13
Fishing remains excellent on Lake Geneva. The real cool weather of the recent weeks, has kept the morning boat traffic low, which makes fishing very enjoyable. Everything is biting very well except the Northern Pike. In recent weeks, there have been reports of musky being caught. The biggest fish I heard about was 40 inches. Most of the reports I’ve heard were about fish in the 32-34 inch range.
Bluegill fishing has been excellent. The bigger fish are in the 18-22 ft depth range. My best luck has come near the Yacht Club or by the west end of Elgin Club. The best approach is straight lining a leaf worm beneath the boat and lightly trolling or drifting into the wind. Most of the bluegills I’m catching are nice eaters, over 8 inches.
Smallmouth bass fishing has been fantastic. The best depth is anywhere between 21 and 33 ft of water. The bigger fish I’ve been catching have been in the deeper water. You can either catch them while drop shotting small plastic worms or on a lindy rigged nightcrawler. This time of year, the fish are really schooled up so a good Hummingbird locator is essential to find the active schools. This past week, I started to catch a few on lindy rigged yellow perch caught in the lake. This pattern should continue throughout August and into September.
Largemouth bass are on the deep weedlines. The best locations remain in Trinkes, Geneva Bay or in Williams Bay. I will position the boat in 25 ft. and cast back to the weedline. The best location to catch the fish is where you can find hard bottom with the weeds. Dragging heavy football head jigs or Carolina rigging a Zoom 6 inch green pumpkin lizard are producing most fish. I have been catching an occasional largemouth, while fishing for the smallmouth and those fish have been biting on lindy rigged nightcrawlers.
Lake Trout action has been seeing a lot of pressure. There have been 2-3 boats trolling the main lake basin every day. Most of the fish are coming from 75 ft down in whatever depth you are in. Purple flies fished behind a silver Dodger have been producing the most.
Walleye Pike fishing has been very good at night. The best bite is from midnight to 2 a.m. on nights where there is some wind. Trolling large Rapalas has been working well. Look for them in Abbey Springs and Williams Bay.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050
Daily Reports
8/1/13 - Delavan Lake, 72 degrees, sunny, W winds at 10 mph. Water temp 76 degrees. Caught 19 largemouth and 1 smallmouth. The average size of the fish today was 17 inches, which is substantially higher than recent trips out. The bigger fish were caught on slip bobbered medium suckers in 13-15 ft of water.
7/31/13 - Lake Geneva, 65 degrees, heavy fog and mist. Light wind out of the SW. Water temp 73 degrees. Caught 15 smallmouth and 4 largemouth. 3 of the largemouth were over 16 inches and 5 of the smallies were legal. Fished by Yerkes Observatory and in Fontana. The best depth was 22 to 24 ft of water. With the crummy weather, boat traffic was light.
7/30/13 - Lake Geneva, 65 degrees, winds N at 10 mph. Water temp 73 degrees. Had a full day trip. Caught over 20 smallmouth bass with a couple in the 19 inch range. The fish are located anywhere between 21 and 33 ft of water. The biggest fish were in the deeper water. Lindy rigging nightcrawlers on 8 lb test was the best bet.
7/29/13 - Delavan Lake, 62 degrees, winds E at 10mph. Water temp 76 degrees. Caught 18 largemouth bass, 2 northern pike and a bunch of bluegills. The bigger fish today were caught on a Thill Big Fish slip bobber with medium suckers. I caught most of the fish in less than 13 ft of water.