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Full Swing

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          The Geneva Summertime Pattern is in full swing. Look for fish to be extremely deep. Even mammoth Gills are deep in 40 feet! Fish where structure meets the thermocline. The thermocline is between 32 to 36 feet. You will find big fish just below the thermocline coming up to feed. A great strategy is to fish near steep drop-offs and let your bait fall through a variety of depths as you work it slowly back to the boat. The submerged islands in the Narrows are always a great bet for this type of fishing. The Narrows funnels incredible numbers of fish through a small area and can be compared to a river with its heavy current and fish traffic.
          Smallmouth Bass (Smallies) are in the 30 to 40 foot depths. Use crawlers, leeches, and golden roaches. Hook crawlers once through the dark end. Leeches get hooked through their sucker. Golden Roaches are hooked in one eye and out the other. Use 4-LB test line, a small number 6 light wire bronze Aberdeen hook and a wingless split-shot (the Standard Geneva Rig). The most productive areas are in front of the old Military Academy, the submerged humps in the Narrows, and the north shore between Cisco Bay and the Narrows.
          Northern Pike (Snakes) are bothersome in the 35 to 50 foot depths. Use suckers on slip-egg-sinker rigs made with 25LB test P-Line leaders. Best bet at a monster Snake is just east of Black Point.
          Mammoth Bluegills (Spinners) are pesky in the Narrows. Fish the 25 to 40 foot depths. Use # 8 hooks tipped with crawler chunks and weighted with split-shot.
          Buckets (Largemouth Bass) are deep in the 17 to 30 foot depths. Drift crawlers along the Flats and in Williams Bay. Use the Lake Geneva standard rigging. Good luck fishing through all the little Dummyboys (Perch) and Spinners who seem to be bent on getting all the attention when fishing at any depth less than 25 feet. Oh yeah, Rambos (Rock Bass) – ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
          Walleye can be enticed with a crawler on a harness with a spinner at night in the 15 to 25 foot depths near Fontana's north shore, the east shore of Williams Bay, and the west-side shore of Conference Point. Use the smallest split shot to keep your rig up high as you long-line drift through key areas. Daylight walleye fishing is best just below the thermocline. Use crawlers in the Narrows and in Cisco Bay.

          Fishing Tip of the Week;
Scenario;
High winds and heavy boat traffic are making bite detection difficult. You have spotted walleye; however, they are not active due to the buzzing boats above and the previous night's storm. You opt to back-troll into the chop; however, still no walleye in the boat. You have tried crawlers, leeches, and minnows with no success.

Solution;
The walleye are awake and traumatized. Just as people eat when stressed, so do walleye! No matter what anyone tells you, monster walleye are not in the habit of fasting every time a storm blows through or when boat traffic gets heavy. Big walleye are big for a reason - they eat often. They will accept a crawler in almost any circumstance if presented correctly. Putting your lively crawler in plain view, as close to their mouths for as long as possible will increase your odds dramatically. Because bite detection is difficult, use only one pole and pay the closest attention to it. A high quality rod can mean the difference between a monster and being skunked. To cover more ground in search of active fish and because back-trolling into the chop did not work, we opted to drift with the current using a windsock to slow our drift. This helped present our baits into the walleyes' mouths as the walleye faced the current. By leaving our bails open and our finger on the line, we are able to feel hits much better. As we detect a hit, our finger releases the line allowing the walleye to eat the crawler. It does not take long for a big walleye to swallow a crawler. Pick up the slack and as soon as you feel the fish, set the hook hard.


Tight lines,
Dave Warwak