Largemouth bass fishing has been above average

Most of the fish are now shallow getting ready to spawn.  The best depth is 3-4 ft. around boat docks with a nice sand bottom.  A good location last week was in the Abbey Harbor flipping around the piers and boats and in Geneva Bay flipping docks as well.  Anything you prefer to flip seems to work fine, for live bait fishermen nightcrawlers are always a good bet.

With the warmer weather, fishing has improved dramatically.  The holiday weekend was completely crazy!  Boats everywhere.

The smallmouth bass are starting to spawn.  They are located anywhere between 8 and 12 ft. of water on the spawning flats, such as Maytag point, Elgin Club and Knollwood.  Some of the best success last week, was by sight fishermen fishing either tube baits (white is best) or smoke colored spider jigs.  Light line with spinning gear seemed to be the best approach.  The bass should be spawning for the next week or so.  The fish are really tight to their nests and won’t chase a live bait presentation dragged near them.  This will change in the next few days.  Leeches or nightcrawlers are the best live bait.

Rock Bass are literally everywhere.  The best depth is 9-12 ft. of water.  I’ve been catching most of them on the sandy flats.  This is the best time to take a kid fishing, if you want to catch a lot of fish.  Some of the rock bass I caught last week were over a pound.  Rock bass fishing will remain constant for the next month.  The best bait to use is nightcrawlers fished behind a small split shot, or a small pinkie jigs retrieved slowly back to the boat.

Bluegills are starting to show up in the shallows.  The best locations have been the shallow weeds in Geneva Bay and Trinkies.  Bobbers with small leaf worms seem to be producing most of the action.  The best depth is 5-6 ft. of water.  For shore fishermen, there has been good success off the piers in Williams Bay and the piers in Geneva.   Bluegill fishing should improve greatly as it gets closer to the time for them to spawn.