Lake Geneva Fishing Report 7/16/12 through 7/23/12
Lake Geneva fishing has been great even considering the hot weather. Both smallmouth and largemouth can be readily caught in relatively shallow water. Lake Trout fishing has been phenomenal. You want to fish first light or in dusk conditions.
Lake Trout fishing has been great in the main lake basin in 106-112 ft of water. The fish are being caught 85-90 feet down. The key is getting your spoons free of weeds and trolling between 1.8 and 2.0 mph. I’ve been catching most of the fish on nickel/blue spoons.
Due to the time of year, the largemouth bass are schooled up on main lake points. Look for the fish on Black Point, Conference Point and Colemans Point. The fish are in 12-15 ft of water, they are very active. You can either Carolina rig or fish a split shot rigged nightcrawler. People that are Carolina rigging should use a 24 inch leader and Zoom lizard in green pumpkin. For those fishing with nightcrawlers, use a split shot rig and a 20 inch leader.
Perch fishing has been very good. The problem is that you need to sort through a lot of small ones to catch a good limit. The best locations have been Rainbow Point and Belvidere Park. The best presentation has been a split shot rigged leaf worm or small fat head minnow. Most of the fish are 4-6 inches but if you are patient you will get your limit of 10-12 inch fish.
Smallmouth bass are starting to move deep. They can be caught on either a split shot rigged nightcrawler or Carolina rigging a green pumpkin Lizard. The best location has been by Elgin Club or Black Point. You want to keep your leader length at about 20 inches for the best success. In the next couple of weeks, the fish will be moving into 25-28 ft of water. At that point, you want to lindy rig a nightcrawlers or yellow perch caught from the lake.
Northern Pike have been positioned on the thermocline. They are located in about 30 ft of water. You can catch them lindy rigging suckers or chubs about 6 inches off bottom. The fish have been most aggressive in Fontana or on the north shore of the narrows.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050