Lake Geneva 8/17/08 through 8/24/08
This past week, the boat traffic on Lake Geneva has been immense, this is pretty normal for a week before a holiday and with the kids going back to school soon. After Labor Day, the traffic will slow down and some of the best fishing will occur.
Largemouth bass can be caught either flipping the piers or Carolina rigging on the deep weedlines. The best approach for flipping the piers, is a black and blue jig tipped with a craw. For the deep weedline fish, try a green pumpkin lizard. The best depth for the deep fish is 20-26 ft of water. The key to success is a hard bottom. Look for locations like the 700 club point or Black Point. You want the scattered weeds with the steep break. Some of the fish last week were coming out of 30 ft of water. They were chasing the minnow pods.
Lake Trout has been hit or miss. I trolled several times last week with no success. The floating weeds have been difficult to work around. You want to troll the main lake basin in 55-80 ft of water. Most of the fish that were caught last week were caught off of nickel/blue or nickel/green spoons.
Smallmouth bass have been hitting in 33-38 ft of water. The best approach is either nightcrawlers or small yellow perch fished off the lindy rig. Look for the fish to the west of conference point or by the Military Academy. Some of the fish have been in excess of 20 inches, however there are a lot of 14-15 inch fish as well.
Rock bass and bluegills are pretty much everywhere on the weedline in 15 ft of water. The best approach is split shotting nightcrawlers. The average size of the bluegills is about 8 inches and rock bass can exceed 1 ½ lbs.
Northern Pike fishing has been slower than recent years. You need to fish multiple spots to catch 4-5 fish per 4 hour trip. For some reason the fish aren’t biting as good as they have in the past. Lindy rigged suckers are the best approach. Look for them by the narrows near the red sailboat or by Linn Pier by Pier 666.
Walleye are being caught at night using large Rapalas fished in 15 ft of water. The best location is either Trinkes or Williams Bay.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050