Lake Geneva 6/06/22 through 6/06/22
With a few days of warmer weather last week, fishing has improved greatly. Even though a cold front came through mid week, it didn’t affect the fishing much.
Smallmouth bass are in spawning and are post spawn. The fish can be located in the 10-12 ft spawning flats. Look for them by the Military Academy and Knollwood. For the spawning fish, they can be caught on white tubes or black and blue jigs. For the post spawn fish, I’ve been using small silver hair jigs. Swim them 2 ft above bottom. Last week I had several over 19 inches.
Largemouth bass are in the shallows. They are in 5-6 ft of water in and around the piers. The best location is in Geneva Bay from pier 5 through pier 20. They can be caught on green pumpkin Senkos or split shot rigging green pumpkin lizards. For live bait fishermen, the best action is on the split shot rigged nightcrawler.
Rock bass can be caught everywhere between 5 and 12 ft of water. They are being caught on split shot rigged nightcrawlers or small silver hair jigs. This is a good time of year to take a kid fishing. The action is almost non-stop. Most guide trips, I will use 8-10 dozen nightcrawlers. I found the most fish down by Belvidere Park in Fontana.
Bluegill fishing has been kind of slow. I’ve been sporadically fishing them in the 10-12 ft depth range. I think the majority of the fish are in shallower than I’m fishing. Good action can be found in and around the piers in 5-6 ft of water. Fish them with a slip bobber and a leaf worm.
Perch are in 10 ft of water. They are location is some of their standard areas such as Rainbow Point and Belvidere Park. They can be caught on small fat head minnows fished on a slip bobber. It remains a constant battle to catch the bigger fish. You will need to do a lot of sorting.
Northern Pike are still in the weed flats. They can be caught slip bobber fishing with golden shiners or by casting a white ½ oz spinner bait. Look for the fish in Williams Bay and by the Beach in Fontana. As a rule, the thermocline bite will start right around July 4th, depending on the water temperature.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050