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Steady fishing on Walworth County lakes

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Geneva Lake, July 18-25, 2011

Lake Geneva fishing is still going steady. There are several active species and some numbers on the panfish as well. The mid summer traffic is heavy but there's always room to fish on Geneva.

Bluegill fishing has been good in 16-18 ft of water. Look for the fish by Elgin Club or by Covenant Harbor. The best approach is split shot rigging leaf worms straight beneath the boat. I prefer to drift and once I find a school, I will anchor on them. This time of year, I catch my biggest bluegills of the year in the deeper water. You need to move until you find an active school.

Largemouth bass are being caught in 14-16 ft of water. The best approach is drop shotting small finesse worms in green pumpkin or watermelon seed. The best location is on the weedline in Trinkes or by Linn Pier. Another approach this time of year is dragging a 3/4 oz football head jig along bottom with an Arkie Crawlin' Grub in root beer red flake. You can also catch largemouth bass on top water lures by the old Military Academy or in Williams Bay. Any top water lure in chrome/blue or chrome/black will do the trick.

Lake Trout fishing has been excellent. The fish are in 108-110 ft of water approximately 75-90 ft down in the main lake basin. They can be caught on Dodgers and Flies. Use a silver Dodger and a green fly. Some success has also been coming off of nickel/green or nickel/blue spoons fished on down riggers. The best time to fish is the first two hours of sunlight or the last two hours of sunlight in the evening.

Rock bass continue to be the most active fish in the lake. They can be caught in 12-15 ft of water. The best location is by Belvidere Park or by Knollwood. The rock bass can't resist a split shot rigged nightcrawler.

Walleye fishing has been good after midnight. The key to walleye fishing is to fish an evening when there is some winds. If there isn't any wind, they don't seem to bite as well. Look for the fish in Williams Bay or by the beach in Fontana. You can catch them one of two ways. Lindy rigging Jumbo leeches or trolling medium diving crankbaits.

Delavan Lake, July 18-25, 2011

Fishing overall on Delavan remains very consistent. There are many anglers trying to test their talents on the wary fish. The last week, the boat launch has been the busiest I've seen it all year. There is no good time to go to avoid the traffic so patience is a must.

Yellow Perch have been biting in front of Township Park in 12-14 ft of water. Locate yourself in front of the beach area for the best success. The best presentation has been using Thill slip bobbers tipped with a leaf worm or a hellgrammite. Most of the fish have been positioned a foot off bottom. The other method for using the leaf worms is fishing a split shot rig straight beneath the boat.

Northern Pike fishing has been up and down. Earlier in the week you could catch as many pike as you had suckers. It did slow as the week went on however. The best success has come off of medium suckers fished on a lindy rig. The tight schools have dispersed so it's been kind of hit or miss as you troll down the weedline. The best location has been west of Willow Point in 20 ft of water.

Largemouth bass remain on the deep weedline. They can be caught on nightcrawlers fished on a split shot rig or drop shotting 4 inch finesse worms. They haven't been schooled as heavy as they were in past years. The key is to keep your boat moving to find the active fish. In years past you could sit on a school for 4 hours and catch them non-stop but that isn't the case this year yet. The best location is by the Island or by the Village Supper Club.

Bluegills remain on the weedline in 15-20 ft of water. They can be caught on Thill slip bobbers with leaf worms or small panfish leeches. You need to keep moving to find the larger fish. My best success has been by Willow Point or by the Oriental boathouse or by the Assembly Park weedline. Bluegill fishing has not been as good as last week, however if you keep moving you should catch a nice limit.

Walleyes have remained consistent. The best action has been coming after dark. However, I've been catching fish during the daylight too. I've been averaging a legal fish every other trip. My best success has come off of leeches or nightcrawlers. I've been using lindy rigs with an 1/8 oz sinker or a split shot rigged nightcrawler.

Good luck and I hope to see you on the water. For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 608-883-2050

Daily Report

7/17/11 - Delavan Lake, 89 degrees, winds SW at 10 mph. Water temp 77 degrees.

7/16/11- p.m. - Delavan lake, 89 degrees, winds SW at 10 mph. Water temp 77 degrees. Caught 3 largemouth, 3 northern pike and 1 legal walleye. Fishing in the afternoon was really tough. The boat traffic and the high pressure seemed to turn the fish off. The good thing about this trip was that the fish were very big. Two of the largemouth were over 18 inches and the pike was almost 31 inches. The northern pike came on lindy rigged medium suckers.

7/16/11 -a.m. - Delavan Lake, 85 degrees, winds calm and the water temp was 77 degrees. Caught 13 largemouth bass and 3 northern pike and 1 walleye. Fished all over the lake, the lake was extremely busy and hard to find places to fish. Caught most of the fish on a split shot rigged nightcrawler. Caught some of the bigger largemouth bass on Thill slip bobbers and medium suckers.

7/15/11 - Delavan Lake, 80 degrees, winds light out of the north. Water temp 78 degrees. Caught 12 bass and 2 northern pike. The best fishing was west of the Yacht Club in 15-20 ft of water. All our fish were caught on nightcrawlers fished on a split shot rig. The sucker fishing today was very slow.

7/13/11 - Delavan Lake, 85 degrees, SW winds at 10 mph. Water temp 77 degrees. Caught 8 largemouth - 3 were legal, 4 northern pike and 1 walleye. We were fishing the deep weedlines in 15-20 ft of water. The best approach was split shot rigging nightcrawlers. We also caught quite a few fish on Thill slip bobbers with suckers in the weedline.

Dave Duwe has been a fishing guide on Delavan and Geneva lakes for nearly 20 years. Dave is a community blogger and is not a part of Walworth County Today staff. His opinion is not necessarily that of Walworth County Today staff or management.