Happy 4th of July!  

Fishing on the lake continues to be excellent!

The weather has finally warmed the water and turned on most of the game fish.  The lake continues to be very busy and most anglers have been successful.

Walleye Pike is the hottest species right now.  Most of the success is coming from leeches either fished on a light lindy rig or small jig.  The best depth of water has been the 18-20 ft. range. By far the best spot has been by the Yacht club or by the Village Supper club.  Another very productive method for me has been casting medium diving crank baits down the weed line.  Fire tiger has been the best pattern.

Bluegills are still being caught.   Most of the big bluegills I caught last week were in 15 ft. of water.  I got most of these while trying for Walleyes.  The deeper bluegills have been in the 15-20 ft. range.  Assembly Park or in front of the Delavan Lake Marina on the north shore seemed the most productive spots to me.   Now that hellgrammites are available they are the bait of choice.  You can fish them either with a slip bobber or straight line beneath the boat both are effective.  Some of the fish are still in the 4-6 ft depth range.  Their concentration is lower than last week.

Largemouth bass fishing continues to be excellent.  On bright sunny days the slop bite seems to be the best presentation.  The other alternative is casting shoreline structure with top water lures, like a chug bug or a Pop/R.  The best color has been chrome and black or chrome and blue.  Last week, I caught several nice large mouths on the outside of the weed lines drifting live night crawlers.  The best depth was 15-16 feet of water; the bass were associating with weeds on the break.

Northern pike are on the weed lines.  They are starting to move into the deeper water.  By the end of this week they should be easily caught by lindy rigs.  The best depth to catch them now is in the 12-15 ft. range.  The easiest way is to cast large deep diving crank bait.  I like the large perch colored Wally Diver.  I fish all my crank baits on single strand stainless steel.  The leader length is only 4-6 inches.  The small leader has saved a lot of my baits from being bitten off.  The best location has been by the gray condos and by the Yacht Club fished to the west.

Good luck and I hope to see you on the water.  Have a safe and enjoyable 4^th of July.  For guide parties please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063.