Delavan Lake

[Justinm]

Fished Delavan yesterday for the first time and I had a great time! Caught lots of largemouths a nice smallie and saw some pike. Cant wait to go back!

Justin

[Finseeker]

Fished Saturday May 13th in the morning. Bass fishing was a slow go and there was a tournament going on, switched gears and went after some pike.

Finished 4 for 7 on the pike ( 1 legal), 1.sm, and 1 crappie. Not bad considering the weather.

[Justinm]

thanks for the post and awesome pics! My fishing goal for 2006 is a 40 inch pike. Have you ever caught one that big out of this lake?

Justin

[YLAB]

I saw 4 northern over 40 inches this winter come through the ice - all on Lake Mendota. You should try there, Morris.

[Justinm]

YLAB,

Is this shawn? If it is you should call me sometime! 920-319-0439

[Finseeker]

Fished Monday night. Caught 6 pike (1 legal and 1 bass, legal). Fish came in 9-15 fow on live bait.

[YLAB]

Justin- I will call you later tonight. Those are some crazy fish in those pictures - I really like the carp and catfish .

[Justinm]

call me asap we should fish tonmorrow morning I have a spot for some big muskies we can catch from shore right by my house! sorry to hijack the thread

[Eric Haataja]

I've done several trips out on Delavan the past 2 weeks and the fishing has been pretty decent. Caught some dandy perch and bass yesterday, I'm mostly fishing the shallow south and north bays in 3-6 feet of water throwing senko's or sticko's. Happened to come across a school of jumbo perch up shallow that bit well. I also saw a fair amount of bass spawning up shallow and lots of gills spawning. I'll post some pics soon!!!!

Nice fish Steve!

[Finseeker]

Fished Friday night dragging suckers in 10-14' of water on the north and south shores. Was using 5-7" suckers and the pike were punching holes in my bait and not taking the minnow.

Would have downsized but only had a few small baits. Eventually caught this legal sized pike on a #2 circle hook, 17lb flourocarbon leader and a 3/4 oz. egg weight in 12 fow.


Steve Everetts
Finseekers Guide Service
www.finseekers.com
(847) 707-1827

[Eric Haataja]

A few pictures of clients recent catches.

[Eric Haataja]

My biggest Delavan muskie to date caught this past week bass fishing fish was released and just over 48 inches.

[Eric Haataja]

Sensei Justin Morris of the 3rd Heaven Martial Arts school with his giant smallie!

[Finseeker]

Fished Saturday and Monday. Saturday was much slower than I expected, lots of sun, heat, and pleasure boaters. Picked up a few decent pike and 1 L.M. Lindy rigging the north and south shores in 16-20 fow.


Fished Monday A.M and had 9 or 10 bites in 4 hours. Caught a few more nice pike and 1 s.m. Had at least 3 bite offs and a couple that fell off on the way to the net.

Steve Everetts
Finseekers Guide Service
(847) 707-1827
www.finseekers.com

[Finseeker]

Did a 4 hour trip last night. Caught 2 legal Smallmouth Bass, 1 big Largemouth busted off boatside. (customers Zebco was not up to the challenge) 1 big perch and 3 small pike.

Bass were in 20-22 fow and the pike were 16-20 fow. Water temp 73 degrees.


Finseekers Guide Service
(847) 707-1827
www.finseekers.com

[Finseeker]

Fished Delavan this morning for 4 hours for pike. Pike are on the deep bite 20 plus feet. Boated 9 fish lindy rigging suckers. Use the biggest you can get. Even smaller fish were hitting 9+" suckers. No bass today and nothing on leeches.


Steve Everetts
Finseekers Guide Service
(847) 707-1827
www.finseekers.com

[Eric Haataja]

Did 2 more guide trips another trip mostly for bass and we caught anywhere from 20-40 bass each time out with a few in the 18-21 inch class. Lots of post spawn males still sitting on beds and the bigger post spawn females are setting up in the weed pockets and on some main lake points. Sticko's and 1/2 Chomper spider grubs jigs worked best.

Eric Haataja

[Finseeker]

Fished Delavan 3 times in the last 5 days or so. Several bass in 4-6 fow on plastics and live bait. Small Walleyes in 13-15 fow on leeches and pike in 20-24 fow on large suckers.

[Eric Haataja]

A few client catches from some recent trips.

[Finseeker]

Fished last night 6-10 pm. Customer lost 3 bass half way to the boat and 3 pike. We boated 1 pike, 2 walleye, 1 l.m., 2 bullheads. Walleyes came on crawlers and leeches in 16 fow on the north shore. Pike came 20-28 fow on large suckers.

The walleye caught were Eric's personal walleye and therefore were released unharmed after the picture. F.Y.I - I didn't catch them in your spot!! LOL.

Was out on Saturday last weekend and caught 7 pike. 1 walleye, 4 gills, and a few bass. No monsters.

Steve Everetts
Finseekers Guide Service
www.finseekers.com

[Eric Haataja]

Nice fish steve!

A few more bass from delavan on the deep weeds the big girls are showing up eating chompers, cranks and dead sticking sticko's they are also hitting the minnows and live bait rigs...Soons the speed trolling should be in full gear.

Eric

[Eric Haataja]

Forgot about this giant client caught and released.

[Finseeker]

Fished several days for pike over the last week or so. Even had twin legals on at the same time. I had to net them both at the same time. Anywhere from 22-30 fow using 7-12" suckers lindy riged with home made stinger hooks and circles or Kahles on the front hook.

Also caught several small bass, a few huge panfish and some small eyes.

Steve Everetts
Finseekers Guide Service

[Finseeker]

More pics from Saturday, this pike was 38" the guy who caught it Carl is a very large man and unfortunately doesn't scale the picture very well. This was Carl's biggest to date.

Couple of cool release photos as well

Steve Everetts
Finseekers Guide Service

[Finseeker]

Some more pics from the last week or so.

[Finseeker]

More pics including some cool release pictures

[BigMusky]

Went out Friday and the Pike were hot on Northwest shoreline hitting suckers in 20-30FOW, 4 fish over 30 inches.

[Pike One]

First report on this site....

Out Saturday morning with the wife, and again Saturday evening with my 5 year old daughter.

In the am, my wife caught a 39.5"er on a medium sucker in 25 feet of water.

I caught a 21" bass in the evening, also on a sucker.

[Eric Haataja]

The fishing continues to be good, I've been fishing Ockachee more this year simply because of all the big fish it has been producing, however Delavan is still producing some nice big bass and pike for me as well, the speed trolling bit has picked up with cranks as long as the weeds are not bad, thewalleye's and panfish ares till on the weed edges along with pike and bass. For consistent action this is still one of my favorite lakes. Dragging suckers is also very productive in the 15-25 foot ranges with circle or octupus hooks.

Eric Haataja

Big Fish Guide Service

P.S. nice fish Pike one

[Eric Haataja]

The last 2 trips on Delavan have been very good for pike, bass, and some eyes. The pike are going nuts caught them on blugills on the deep weed just about anywhere, had double and triples on at one time, and have caught some big fish as well. Ran out of bait and we speed trolled for a while as well and caught some really nice fish in the 20-30 foot depths just off of the breaks where all the baitfish is present. Get out there... I'll be back out there tomorrow.

Eric

[Finseeker]

Did a short quicky last night. Caught some nice eyes on leeches and a handful of so so pike. Will be out 2 more times this weekend.

Nice Fish Eric!!!

[Eric Haataja]

The last few trips have either been really good or just so so. The big bass are still mostly on the deep weeds but some days they do not want to feed agressively which is typical. However if you are there when they are feeding fishing can be explosive. For artificals try a jig pig combo or a big tube along with a Carolina Rig with a chomper has worked well, and cranks have still also caught me nice fish. You can also drag blugills shiners, chubs or suckers and catch bass, pike and occasional eyes. Smaller eyes and bass tend to hit crawlers plus all the pesky panfish.

I've also been trolling and the trolling bite is going very good with deep diving cranks in the 20 - 30 foot range I like to use a bait that will "catch all" by that I mean a bait pike, bass and walleyes will hit such as a DT 16. Wire rods have taken most of my fish. Following the contour is VERY critical as well!

Also caught a few nice eyes trolling wire!

Best of luck !

Eric Haataja

[Ben Kueng]

Nice fish guys!

can anyone tell me if tigers are present in Delavan?

Thanks

Ben
www.benkueng.com

[Eric Haataja]

Ben there's not a lot of ski's in the lake and I'm pretty sure no Tiger's at all. It's a great lake for just about everything else though!

Eric

[Ben Kueng]

Thanks for the info Eric! Was thinking about heading out for some big pike and maybe a bonus ski..

Ben

[Eric Haataja]

Caught some dandy pike speed trolling with wire line. The wire seemed to out fish the mono or no stretch lines I've tried. Deep diving cranks such as DT 16 in the blugill and firetuger are the ticket, but more importantly staying right on the break in 18-25 feet of water is how we did best. The sucker fishing was still good but I like to mix it up from time to time, and live bait dies easy when it's 84 degree's on the surface. Some nice gills on the weed edges and out in 25 feet of water suspended and near the bottom.

Also caught some big bass on the deep weeds while trolling.


Eric Haataja

[Eric Haataja]

Fished Saturday and the bite was a little tougher than normal we caught about 8 bass and a few pie and some eyes. The best baits for eyes were cranks trolling or casting, it was all too later before we finally found the bass apttern, they were tight in the weeds so we threw texas rigged worms and stuck some decent fish. The pike bite was pretty slow caught a handful of smaller pike 24-30 inchers. Here is a picture of a nice eyes from Sat caught and released.

Eric Haataja

[Finseeker]

Got out for a few hours with my wife last week. She boated 2 walleye and 2 pike. I boated 1 largemouth. All in all it was slow and spotty.

[Pike One]

Hi Eric,

When you talk about wire line, do you mean lead core, or is it really just wire? Also, when fishing with bluegills, do you still use circle hooks?

I am taking vacation all next week, and plan to fish Delavan every day if possible. Wife and kids will be gone, so it's "me" time next week :)

I am trying to become more versatile when it comes to pike and bass, and trolling is one of the things I am going to focus on next week. Will be doing some night fishing for the walleye's as well, trolling cranks.

Fish reports:
Out last Friday.....boated 13 pike, 1 21" walleye on a sucker (pleasant surprise for me) and 1 bass.

Out on Sunday in the rain....boated 6 pike, lost more than 6. They weren't very aggressive at all.

24 feet was the magic number for me. I drifted the south shore on Friday. The north shore around the marina did the trick for us on Sunday.

All fish were caught on suckers, and all are still swimming.

[Finseeker]

Did a little trolling last night with my dad. We fished for 2.5 hours. Spent the first hour trying to run 2 lead cores and 2 flat lines. After snagging every possible floating weed and using every curse word in the book, took a step back and went with only two rods.

Switched to the side of the lake that the wind was coming from and had less weeds and finally got some bites. The Pike came on a Perch colored Walleye Diver and the bass came on a Bluegill colored DT 16

[RJN]

Pike One.
I think he might mean wire bottom bouncers, but not a 100% sure..
Good luck on your trip next week.

[Eric Haataja]

When I say wire line I'm refering to wire line, kinda like the same wire line used on the big pond for a dipsey rod. Now it's not absolutely neccesary to have wire, but I have been trolling 2 rods one with wire and one with power pro and the wire has been catching more fish. It also cuts threw almost any floating weeds. There a couple different types of wire such as braided, regular straight wire, and copper wire.

I use lead core when there is not a lot of floating weeds (this varies from day to day based on wind) and when I want to troll stick baits or small cranks down deeper. A snap weight would also work.

Yes I use circle hooks when fishing lve bait including blugills.

Best of luck and enjoy your vacation.

Eric Haataja

[RJN]

Eric, do you use the braided wire? I hear that stainless or copper wire can really get ugly. kinks, cutting hands, wd-40 to keep wire from rusting, must have steady tension on wire at all times, special guides on pole, etc....
It must really catch fish with all that going on.
Is this something I should look into, or will lead core take care of things?
Are your clients able to handle the wire, or do you keep that pole close at hand?
Thanks in advance.

[Finseeker]

Fished this morning; trolling produced one pike in about 24 fow on a medium sized Walleye Diver (pink&blue) switched to dragging suckers and casting leeches, crawlers. Caught 1 real nice pike on the suckers, 7 l.m (nothing near legal)and about a dozen and a half nice gills.

The best gill bite was right on the weed edge 16-18 fow. The south shore was a little better.
The bass were also very tight to the weeds. Not getting the usual deep suspended fish I am used to this time of year.

Also, a few pics from the last few trips. Check out the walleye hitting the musky crank

Steve Everetts
Finseekers Guide Service
www.finseekers.com
(847) 707-1827

[Eric Haataja]

Fished Delavan last week and the bit was o.k. fished the weed edges for pike and did sos so, and did better for bass drop shotting in the weeds, also caught some crappie on the weed edges suspended. Heading back out tomorrow. Pike hit minnows and cranks on the weed edges all over, storms were rolling threw so we got on and off the lake a few times which generally does not help!

Eric Haataja

[Finseeker]

Fished the last 3 days on Delavan. Bass are starting to school up in the weeds and the gills are still all over.

Saturday caught 1 19" L.M, 1 walleye, and 36 keeper gills

Sunday caught 8 L.M no legals, 1 walleye and several gills

Monday caught 9 l.m, 3 walleye, 1 pike and over 40 gills

The bass were best on nightcrawlers in 10-14 fow. a few came deep 22 fow on suckers. The gills were anywhere from 14-30 fow. The better fish came in 26 fow on the south shore

[Eric Haataja]

Did awesome on Delavan a few days this past week for some big pike! Had a client get our 3 rd pike this year over 40 inches. He aslo caught a huge bass in the 6-7 lb class bass came drop shotting on the weed edges the pike came casting cranks and spinners. The big fish are showing up!

[Eric Haataja]

Did really well casting spinner baits over weeds today, the best 2 colors where gold blades with Chartruse skirt and silver blades with white and chartruse skirt. Caught a few on the deep weeds but did much better up in the weeds. Also caught some bass drop shotting. This bite should only get better over the next 3 weeks.

Eric Haataja

[Pike One]

eric, you are killing me.....

i havent been out in 5 weeks, due to work and a 6 month old. i probably wont get out again until october 21st....yes, i have to plan out that far ahead these days. hopefully will have some decent weather on that day.

has anyone hung out any LARGE suckers yet? fall last year was fantastic for me with large bucktails. here is one from october '05.

finseeker, where have you been? figured i would see you on here, posting some big gator pics.

cant wait to get back out on the water.

[Finseeker]

Pike One-
I haven't had any big gators in over a month. I have been mostly bass and salmon fishing. I have trips all weekend, weather permitting. Look forward to seeing you out there in October!

Steve

[Finseeker]

Fished yesterday with clients. We started off with 5 hits in the first hour and then went the next 6 with maybe another 10-12 bites. Finished the day with 4 Pike (2 legal, 1 37") 4 l.m (1 legal), 1 walleye, 1 smallmouth, and a handful of gills.

We caught fish on spinnerbaits (Booyah white, and Chartruese 3/8 oz), crawlers, suckers, and D.T 16's in Fire Tiger Pattern.

We worked the 20 foot depths and casted to the wind blown shore.

[BigMusky]

Fished yesterday from 7-10:30am and there was nothing going on over the shallow weeds.. tried spinnerbaits and swimbaits. Gave up and went Salmon fishing because they always bite...see report, I was wrong. What a horrible fishing day. I dont know how soon i will be back here with 10.25 lauch fee.. yikes!

[Finseeker]

Was out on Saturday and struggled. We went 2 for 5 on the suckers and nothing on the crawlers.

[Finseeker]

Fished Saturday morning and went 5 for 9 on Pike and Bass using suckers.

Afternoon trip produced 0 for 5

Monday afternoon produced 5 for 9 using medium suckers in 20 fow. Missed 2 other fish on spinnerbaits.

Finseekers Guide Service
(847) 707-1827

[Eric Haataja]

What an eventfull day yesterday was................. I was supposed to film a show with John Gellispe way up north for smallies, pike and eyes, but the cameraman missplaced his camera (Long story) so we turn around and head to delavan to film and we bring John's back up camera. Fishing started off pretty good, some decent pike action a few eyes and then the micraphones broke so we could not film anymore, we fun fished and caught some fish. but it sucked that we were not able to film. Just one of those days that goes wrong sometimes....

The best pattern was casting over the tops of the weeks with cranks and spinners.

We landed a few pike in the 30-35 inch range and a few smaller.

Eric Haataja

[Eric Haataja]

Delavan has been producing some really nice eyes casting up near the shorelines at night with some nice fish in the 3-6 lb class being taken I've even heard of a 29 1/2 incher taken this fall, it's crazy but I guess it's all still open to fish.

Eric

[Cbangler]

One of the tougher openers I can remember on Big D. Water temp was right (55), but pretty uniform throughout, and struggled to find even a "Couple" degrees warmer in the channels. Ended up 15 for 18, with a few quality fish. Spinnerbaits, Senko's, and Jig/Twister's. The next 3 weeks should be Excellent!

[Eric Haataja]

Made it out on Delavan tis weekend and same report fishing was a bit slow, colder than normal temps kept most of the fish a bit lock jawed for us. Did manage a few fish each time out. Plastics like senko's, and berkly finese worms worked well up on the north shore and south shore in the weeds.

Eric

[RJN]

Cbankler
Nice fish. That spot is a good one! we got ours on that location over the weekend too.

[Eric Haataja]

What a difference a couple of warm days makes! Fishing was absolutely awesome today for bass, lots of bass over the 17-18 inch mark with the biggest about 20 inches. Clients caught smallies, largies, and pike. The shallow warm water was the tickets for the best activity. We even popped some really nice fish in the channell heading out to the lake. Senko's, the worm, and Berkly shaky worms worked best.

[Cbangler]

Went out yesterday, and braved the storms. Really glad we did........Although we didn't catch any giants, we put the smack on em BIG TIME. Lost count, but must have caught well over 50 fish! Green or Brown, whatever the conditions allowed us to do. Seemed like they really tunred on just prior to another thunderstorm pushing through - and that went on all day! Plastics and Jerkbaits. When they really got hot - I was getting them on a soft plastic jerkbait, fished on top - weightless. Here are a few........

[RJN]

Nice fish CBangler!!!

[Cbangler]

Thanks - but not the pigs you were getting a week earlier. Loved that big brown one you got in the evening!

[RJN]

Actually he came right about 4:45 am.
Those brown guys will hit just about anything before sunrise.
:D

[BigMusky]

chicagoland fishing link? Dont encourage more Illinois fisherman on our waters or we will have to ban you from the site. ...:cool:

[RJN]

I'm guessing you were kidding, right? :)
That whole Illinois / Wisconsin thing is just silly.

[Cbangler]

Hit Big D twice between Friday and Sunday, and as always this particular weekend, the bite was on. Maybe not the numbers we always get, but clearly the quality was there. PIGS! and we ended up with 21 bass on the 2nd outing.
Still going with Soft plastics and jerkbaits, and they were gobbling them up. Here are a few of the good ones......

[BigMusky]

with strong south winds, the north shore of Delevan was pretty tough to fish with finesse plastic presentations. Boat control was one issue, but light lining baits in wind made it hard to "feel" anything. Was unable to get fish on X-Raps so we moved to southern part of lake to get out of wind. Saw plenty of big fish in south east shore, but could not get any bites. Packed up and headed to Okauchee at Noon after four hours and only one bass to show for it. Tried Senkos, The Worm, Sweet Beavers for plastics both weightless and texas rigged with 1/8oz sinkers.

[Eric Haataja]

Wow what an absolutely crazy day of awesome fishing. Fished with 3 clients today and we literally had non stop action all morning long I bet they easily landed 60+ largies with most averaging in the 3-4 lb class arounf 17-18 inchers. We found a massive school of post spawn fish and they bit very well! The hardest part was boat control in that crazy wind! I basically stayed on my big motor to keep us in position while they casted. We caught all our fish on weed edge fishing plastics in 4-10 feet of water.

The last 2 days have been really really good for post spawners fish the 4-10 foot ranges with plastics.

[BigMusky]

time to upgrade an 80lb trolling motor so I can fight 20mph winds better.

[RJN]

Fishing was unbelievable this weekend. I thought the weather might be a problem, but didn't appear so. All the bass we caught were in a foot of water, and were caught on plastics.
Fish ranged from 16" to 20".
http://chicagolandfishing.com/forums/album_pic.php?pic_id=4869

[Finseeker]

Fished Delavan 3 times over the weekend. Bass fishing was good on plastics (Yum Dingers "Mardi Gras" 5") fished shallow and slow.

Picked up some Walleye, ripping Suspending Rogues over the weeds and on leeches.

Picked up a few pike on the weed edge. 13' of water

[Finseeker]

More Pics

[Finseeker]

Had 2 solid trips this past weekend. Saturday we boated 11 largemouth (5 over 18") 1 smallmouth, 3 pike, and 2 walleye.

Sunday we boated 9 pike and 2 bass over 18".

Bass were taken on 5" yum dingers and leeches. Pike came on spoons and suckers in 13-18 fow.

[Finseeker]

more pics

[Finseeker]

Fishing last night was great. We went 4 of 6 on Largemouth last night, with one pig.

We also landed 2 smallmouth, 2 walleye and 4 Pike, all in a 3 hour trip

[reddyguideservice]

Delavan Lake has been very productive my last few outings. Most of the fish have been holding between 14 and 25 feet of water. The warmer nights we have been catching nice smallmouth suspended 5-10 feet off the bottom.

[reddyguideservice]

more pics

[reddyguideservice]

A few more pics

[Eric Haataja]

Nice work John and Steve and great reports!

Fishing was fantastic yesterday client landed a crazy amount of smallies, largies, pike and eyes. with a few pigs in the trophey class!

Split shot and a leech was good along with spinner baits for the pike, and drop shotting wotked along with senko's up on the north west and south ends for bass. Get out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eric

[Big_D]

Out on Friday 11 AM to 8 PM. Partly cloudy most of the day, temps in the upper 60's. HEAVY winds out of the W/NW, finally tapered late in the afternoon. Water temp (surface) 71F.

Early going was tough... when the wind finally started to slow down, I started to find some action on the windswept side of the lake. Caught 3 pike up to 29" drifting/draging 4-5" suckers on a Lindy rig in 15-20 fow. 3 LMB and 2 SMB came casting Xraps from that drift up shallower ~10-15 fow, and working them super-sloww with long pauses. Tried a variety of other presentation throughout the day, the suckers and the Xraps were the only things that saw action.

Take Care,

D.

[Eric Haataja]

Did a couple of diffierent trips the past few days, clients loaded up on gills in about 6 feet of water. The bigger gills are starting to spawn now. Also caught some pike, bass, walleyes on the weed edges dragging leeches and crawlers. Senko's still worked well dead sticking.

Good bite going on now and the bite will only get better as the fish will migrate out to the deep water for the summer bite. there are fish all over out there now, some deep, some shallow and some in between everyday takes a little adjustment so bring a variety of stuff from spinners to suckers!

Eric

[Eric Haataja]

Had a good day yesterday with clients had a customer catch a giant smallie that I weighed on my scale at 5 .6 ounces. Fish was released also caught eyes and pike. Weed edges and yop water were the ticket. Lots of sacada's flying around and bass are smashing top water baits at certain times of the day.

Heading back out on the water right now!

Eric

[reddyguideservice]

The last few trips out have been productive for most of the species. Eric is quite right, you definitely have to think outside of the box and be ready to change up day to day. I have already picked up a few pike in over 30' of water. Most of the walleyes are in and around the weedlines along with a few in deeper water. Many of the aggresive bluegills have been caught in 17-20 feet of water. Largemouth bass have been taken around the piers fishing topwater and soft plastics, if you can contend with the outrageous angelhair! Many of the smallmouth have been taken on or just below the surface over deeper water. Many have been feeding on Cicadias I am sure. Good Luck All!

[reddyguideservice]

A few more pics. Time for a new camera! Old reliable is now just getting old!

[Eric Haataja]

The past 4 days have been excellent for just about everything out on Delavan. Numerous 5-6 lb bass with several giants. One day I actually caught 2 smallies over 5 lbs that I weighed and a 6.6 lb largie. Walleye fishing has been good as well with 10-25 fish the last few times out but you have to work for a few of the legals. Pike fishing has also been good with topwater, spinner baits, and cranks. Gills are on the weed edges and all the gamefish are close by. Had a good amount of legal pike this week with several over 36 inches and the biggest at 38 inches, summer patterns are just starting to set up I had surface temps up near 80 degeree. Bass are also still shallow up under docks and there is a really good slop bite starting.

[Eric Haataja]

A few more pics from the past few days...

[Eric Haataja]

I tell ya ya I keep wondering how this lake can jeep producing so many giant fish year after year and I'm amazed! I did 2 trips yesterday and both clients cleaned up on smallies, largies, pike and eyes. Again just one of those rare days where everything seemed to be going right and I just so happened to be fishing in the right places at the right times. Lots of fish on the weed edges but there are still plenty of big bass under docks, ecspecially certain docks where they will school up under. The eyes have been very active both day and night leeches and crawlers were doing the trick. Pike were smashing just about anything yesterday from cranks to live baits.

Heading back out there this afternoon!

Eric

[Eric Haataja]

a few other's from yesterday

[Pike One]

....yeah, right Eric. You were just lucky to be in the right place, right time for all those fish. Everything goes right because you KNOW the right places, and the right times to catch 'em. You are way too humble, as you could probably catch fish on that lake while blindfolded.

Pike fishing was fantastic last Saturday. We ran out of suckers after about 2 hours. Had a 2-dozen carton of crawlers, so started trying to catch 'gills for bait. We kept getting pike after pike (all small though) on the crawlers, with the occasional big bluegill mixed in. Every 'gill we caught went back out on a circle hook. They were getting gashed almost immediately, but couldnt set the hook, and didnt have any trebles.

Either way, my buddy and i were just laughing, 'cause we have never seen the bite that hot before. Ended up boating 20 pike, most on the small side, though.

Reminded me of the movie caddyshack, when the old man is playing the round of his life and laughing his a$$ off because he just can't believe it. then he gets struck by lightning.

on that note, heading out this Saturday....hope it doesnt rain.

Steve (Finseeker).....let me know if you are going to be out this weekend. Would like to catch up. It's really nice to be back out on the water after back surgery.

[Adrift Alone]

Fished last night from 5PM to 8PM when the storms really started to kick up. Targeted largemouth and they cooperated. At least they did half the time. What I mean is this... On the leeward side of the lake, I might as well been fishing in my driveway. Not one bite. On the windward side of the lake,,, fiesta. Fished outside edges in 12 to 15 feet with soft plactics. Where I found fish, there were many. Schooled up big time. All fish were between 15-19 inches. (Also caught two nice waldos by accident.)

Great to be back on the water.

AA

[Adrift Alone]

Fished Saturday afternoon/evening during "the speed boat races" by the Delavan weekend warriors. Between 4-8pm I managed to ride-wake to a nice total of 15 or so largemouth. All fish in the 15 to 19 1/2 inch range. Several nor-derns as well. Tactic was still the same, fish outside weed edges in 11 to 16 feet on turns and points. Fish went for tubes, jigs and 7" worms on the windy side.

Problem is...I'm still sea sick!

[Pike One]

Out last Saturday 6am - 4pm. Long day. Caught and released 12 pike and 5 bass. Biggest bass 18", biggest pike only 28.5". All fish caught on suckers, except for 1 bass on a crawler.

Weather was pretty unstable until the afternoon. Once the wind picked up, so did the pike bite.

Have had some trouble finding the bigger pike so far this year. I'm sure we'll get into 'em eventually, but is still much different from last year.

Will be back out on Friday.

[Finseeker]

pics from the last week.

Finseekers Guide Service
847-707-1827

[Finseeker]

Pics from the last week including a triple header of small frys

[Finseeker]

Pics from this week

[Finseeker]

More pics including a 5lb 2oz largemouth caught by Rams on his vacation.

[Finseeker]

My mentor working hard on a "walworth county lake"...........Get the Frabil!!

[noluck4eyes]

You have a well-run site here. I've talked to many of you guys (Eric, Steve, etc) out there and appreciate the advice. I'm not a guide, but pretend to be one on the weekend! Hopefully I have a little something to offer.

Walleye and panfish are usually the targets of my boat. A few eyes have been biting leeches for us. I like to fish outside the weededge to around 25 fow. Bluegills are schooled up in many spots at that same depth. We have been catching them on crawler pieces. I've had problems finding big crappie this year.

If this works, here are pics of three other species that hit leeches too. My bro (or another of my crew) and I will see you out there!

[Cbangler]

This lake continues to impress - fishing the last few weeks has been absolutely incredible for both numbers and size! I havent had a chance to post, but I would like to thank Captain Haataja for saving a few for the rest of us. Ill get the real pigs (including a double on 6# 21+" LM) on here as soon as I figure out how to shrink them down enough, but here is a sampling of what's been going on....

As everyone else has said, for this lake to get the pressure is does, yet yeild consistent bites as it has, is simply amazing and a credit to the DNR!

CB

[Eric Haataja]

Welcome no luck for eyes, I'm sure you'll be a great help here.

Like Steve and Corey stated the past 10 days have been nothing short of spectacular fishing!

I don't remeber having such a great strech of consistent fishing on this lake for a long time. Probably the best 10 days of fishing on the lake for big bass I've also had in a long long time! Boating 3 largies over 6 lbs on a scale, at least 10 bass over 5 lbs on my digital scale, and 3 smallies over 5 lbs on the scale, not to mention the walleyes. We probably boated 100-130 walleyes the past 10 days with a few in the upper teens and a few in the 20 inch class.

On a side note I also saw many many big gills still spawning in 6-8 feet of water and these looked like 7-9 inchers and fat all on the east shore.

The pike fishing was insane this past week, catching many fish on cranks and on chatterbaits but the sucker bite was also good.

drop shoting for bass worked well, I also caught walleyes drop shoting with Berkly shaky worms, and finese worms and senko's still caught bass in the weeds and jig and pig combo's caught bass on the weed edges for me.

Lots of fish all over the lake from the docks to the deep weeds for bass, and with gills still spawning lots of pike are near by!

Most of the walleyes are on the deep weeds being caught with crawlers or leeches either with slip bobbers or with a split shot and a hook.

Thanks for all the great reports folks! Heading on a little vaction for the next 10 days so save a few fish for me!:) :( :rolleyes: :o :D :D

P.S. I wanted to give a special congrats to my good friend and fellow guide Steve Evertts (Finn Seekers) who just succesfully completed his Captain's Licence. Congrats Brother!

Eric Haataja

[Adrift Alone]

Worked Delavan hard for largemouth with only limited success during the afternoon hours. From 3 til 7:30pm caught only a handful (5) of fish with the largest being 18 inches and three pounds. All these fish came out of heavy weed cover. At that point (one fish per hour) I was pretty frustrated and thought about calling it a day. Fortunately for me, I hung around and was rewarded. Between 8 and 9:30pm found three fish under four, two fish over four pounds and one more that tipped the digital at 5 pounds, 6 ounces. All fish, later in the evening, were caught on artificials, mostly 7" worms rigged texas sytle on weed edges. Finished the day with smile, but it would have been a different story if I had left at 7:30.

It's good to be fin-atical.

AA

[BigMusky]

interesting report....I caught all my fish around 3:30...two over four, three under four. I had a few hit top water in the time period you said. I lost my deep weed edge bite as sun set.

I did split time between Pike and Bass though. Pike cooperated for the most part, I just had a hard time getting them to stay on circle hook...will try smaller hook next time out.

[homerj]

NoLuck took us out and we found the wallys:) split shot with leeches in 20 FOW.

[noluck4eyes]

Thanks, homerj. Those walleye were actually from last weekend, folks. And yes, I can afford shoes!
This weekend my bro and I started for eyes but found some bass instead. Here's a bad pic of a real good fish - 19+ inch smb. Split shot rig leech. In the same 13-16 fow area we started catching nice 7.5-8.5 inch bluegill, so we never got back to finding walleye. Jigging spoon tipped with crawler piece, slip-bobber crawler piece, even large leeches were catching the gills. The interesting part is the males were milting. I didn't imagine they would spawn that deep and still be spawning this late. We kept 34 gills for a fry and 28 of them were males.

[Finseeker]

pics from the past week

[Finseeker]

pics

[Finseeker]

Did a trip Tuesday afternoon. We boated 9 largemouth and had a few others come unglued at the boat. Biggest Bass was pushing 5 lbs.

In addition, we landed 1 legal pike and 2 short Walleyes. All fish were caught on the south shore in 18-24 feet deep using leeches and minnows.

[reddyguideservice]

Fishing has been great on Delavan in the last few weeks. Most of the largemouth, smallmouth and eyes have been along the 15-17' weedlines. Although we have been picking fish up in deeper water to 29-33'. The pike I have been catching have been very close to the thermocline at 20-25'. Many of the larger pike have been fairly shallow adjacent to the weedlines and right in the weeds. Livebait has been producing many fish, but fishing artificials, like swimbaits, trolling cranks and casting cranks, burning bucktails and spinnerbaits over the weeds after dark have all produced a mixed bag consistently. I agree with Eric the speed trolling bite is Dynamite right now. Especially with that weekend traffic if you can handle the "human element"!

Good Luck All!

John

[reddyguideservice]

More pics......

[reddyguideservice]

We had a lot of fun on this father son/daughter outing. Its great to see alittle sibling rivalry!

[reddyguideservice]

More pics......

[reddyguideservice]

A few pics from Saturday. The bite was on fire at first light. Caught around 20 Largemouth largest 19", 3 pike no legals and two walleyes 15" and 20". Most of the largemouth were caught in 10-12 feet of water. The walleyes and pike were caught along the 15-17' weedline using crawlers and suckers. We also ended up with many nice eater Gills but caught and released today.

[reddyguideservice]

I had the chance to fish with my son and father. My son tore up the pike today! He had a blast, and I could see my dad reminiscing about our
father/son outings from many years ago. We ended up with around 10 pike from 27-33" a few walleyes 16-17" and some Largemouth 15-18" a great day to be on the water rewarding in many ways!

[Finseeker]

Did a trip on Saturday and boated 15 or so gamefish in a 5 hour trip. Mixed bag of pike, walleye and bass.

Sunday fought monster winds and boated double digits of Pike and largemouth along with several gills, a few walleyes, and some smallies.

Fish were caught putting the nose of the boat straight into the wind in front of a point that the wind was blowing into. Then keeping the throttle full blast on the trolling motor for 2 hours. We boated over 25 fish.

[Finseeker]

More Pics

[Finseeker]

More Pics from Sat and Sun.

[Cbangler]

There continues to be a fantastic bite out on Big D. However, with Captain Haataja back in town now, we all might have to work a little harder out there. Anyway, we are deep into the hardcore summer patterns, but you can still get some LM in shallow on Senko's and other plastics. One thing I have noticed, and others have mentioned, is that when I find fish on those deep weed edges, you almost always find more than one. They really seem to be bunched up! The Pike bite continues to be good as well as occasional walleye's during the day, and in bunches in the evening (if you got on the right spot). Seems to be a few more "keeper" size showing up this year. Those brown bass have been a little dissapointing, but the green ones seem to be healthier, fatter and in greater #'s than ever! Here are some of those pigs I promised from a few weeks back - Steve, thanks for helping me shrink em down!

[Fishin Dan]

Hit Delavan with my fishing partner last evening/nite. Caught a nice mixed bag including some big gills, one 16" eye, one smallie, and a bunch of largies including these two pigs. Jigs worked best for the bass. Both of these fish measured over 21" - guessing they were pretty close to 6 lbs. Lots of fish feeding on the durface after dark - tried some top water, but no success - anyone have ideas to get the night feeders? Also had a few Pike chase up the gills as we were bringing them in - fun to see. Wind was howling when we got there at 6pm, but by midnight the water was like glass. Nice night to be out.
Dan

[Eric Haataja]

Delavan has been very consistent for some big fish lately. Pike, Bass, and some nice gills. The deep weeds are going good for schooling bass, cranks like DT 16's and jig and pigs have worked well drop shoting has also produced some nice fish. Suckers still working deep but we also did well trolling cranks last week while the fish were agressive we aught some bigger fish trolling.

Eric

[BigMusky]

I have drop shotted a couple of times this year on Delevan and Oconowoc with no success. Do you put enough weight on it to stay vertical? do you always fish under boat? ever cast it out? I have tried all three and nothing. I have tried using small fluke minnows, small senkos and leaches. about a 16 inch leader between hook and weight. :confused:

[Eric Haataja]

I mainly cast it out unless I'm specifically fishing some deeper structure or deeper points with dirty water, but typically I cast it out with 8 lb test a light weight, and 4 inch finese worms like gulp shaky head worms or gulp 4 inch finese have been really good along with 4 inch zoom worms. Fish it slow......

Eric

[BigMusky]

that is what I do, I guess I just need to find fish that want to eat :cool:

[Finseeker]

Friday late morning had a great pike bite going. We went 13 for 18 with 32" being the biggest.

[Finseeker]

More pics

[Finseeker]

Fishing last night was hot. In 3.5 hours we boated 10 pike, 5 L.M Bass, 3 S.M Bass, 2 Walleye and about a dozen gills. In addition we lost at least 10 other fish that came unglued, bite offs etc.

The pike and S.M were mostly small. Bites came on suckers and leeches.

[Eric Haataja]

Maaaan! Crazy fishing out there lately and I just don't know how it can get better. The deep weeds and rock is hot now for all gamefish and panfish, they all seem to be piled in on the deep structure. Dragging live bait like gills,suckers, and leeches have worked but drop shotting was also very very good! Get out there!!! Got a nice mid 40 inch ski this week as well out there.

Eric

[Eric Haataja]

A few more from this past week....

[Cbangler]

Eric - amazing fish! Hell of of a week. Nice to see those good brown ones as well. Oh and let me guess - bet you caught that ski on 6lb line with a spinning rod?

[walleyeslayer23]

nice fish fellas I went last sunday for the first time on Delevan wow was that crazy the boat traffic was NUTS but we did get some good bass bites and some really nice gills and some crappie Released all for another day, I will be back up there. does the boat traffic get a little slower in the fall? or does it get more fisherman then. them pleasure boater's and wave runner dude's are freaking crazy I dont think they care if they swamp anyone, they sure dont respect the fisherman at all But it is also summer. Again nice fish and very very nice lake.

[Adrift Alone]

Fished D yesterday afternoon and evening for the first time in three weeks. EH/OT's report is right on the money. Fished underwater points and turns with artificials and was rewarded by a very sore hand this morning. Caught bass almost everywhere I tried.

Fished alone and put well over 30 bass in the boat. Five biggest were all over 4-1 pounds, with the biggest going 4-13. 10 more over 3 pounds, so very nice quality overall. Biggest disappointment was that, with the full moon here in two days and the the moon rising last night just before sunset, a real monster didn't reach the boat. Every bite around sunset I expected her to show up, but not in my cards last night I guess.

Fished grubs and worms, slow on the bottom, in 11 to 17 feet. Stayed on the edges until sunset then fished the tops of those structures around dark.

There are a lot of bites available right now out there, so get your gear and go. If you want some pro-help, call EH, as there's no better teacher (and what a singing voice he has.) Don't let him show you his tatoo though, I made that mistake. Yikes!

AA

[Finseeker]

Boat traffic is borderline unbearable but the bite is still good - great depending on the time of day. The overall quality of the bass is unbeleivable for souther Wisconsin.

Try to fish plastics if you can, unless you want to catch 100 gills in a day. Did 3 trips this weekend with some decent Bass, Pike, several dozen gills and a few Eyes.

[Finseeker]

weekend pics

[Cbangler]

Braved the crowds, freaks, and oblivious pleasure boaters over the weekend. (Friday & Saturday) As painful as it was, there were some distinct feeding windows, and I showed my Pops a good time on Sat. Don't know if it was the full moon or they were really bunched up, but during specific windows/spots, there were lots of fish, and lots of big fish. Crawlers/Leeches are really tough right now, unless you are interested in the gills - they are everywhere! If you are - bring the kids, the wife, bring everyone. This lake is jam-packed full of quality bluegills, and they are EVERYWHERE!

For Bass it was plastics at the weed edge 15-25FOW, and cranks at the weeds or right parallel to that edge. In the 2 days, we had 3 fish 19" or better, 7 fish 18" or better, and numerous 15-17"s. The brown ones are still elusive, but the green ones continue to make up for it! Plenty of Pike as well..... Here are a couple of the better fish

[Adrift Alone]

Yesterday afternoon (late) and evening were again phenomenal for largemouth on Delevan, even with the intense heat. Used same techniques as previously posted with same results. Big bass coming to the boat very consistantly. Digitaled 8 over 3.0, 5 over 4.0 and 1 over 5.0lbs.

Brief editorial comment: Started fishing Delevan about five/six years ago and have noticed that bag limits and slot limits, at least for bass, have really improved the "consistancy" of quality fish coming to the boat. While Delevan has always had good bass fishing, I can't help but notice the huge quanitity of bass now reaching the 4 pound mark and well beyond. 5's are not rare and 7's and 8's are certainly in the future for this fishery. CPR and strict management can really make the difference.

Fish on.

AA

[Jerry Borst]

The bass population at Delavan and through out the southern WI/ northern IL area for that matter has had a very successful spawn in years previous, but the notion we are going to start seeing 8 lbser soon,,, I'm not so sure, it would be nice but... In this area of the country bass live approximately only 6 years reaching a average final weight of 5.75 lbs. Anything larger is a freak :D

Jerry Borst
Spoonplugger/Instructor
Heavy Duty Lure Retrievers

[Cbangler]

I have to agree, but might have got a freak today.....Good deep weed edge bite with plastics on Big D today. 15-20fow.

Solo trip so no pics, but they were biting pretty good.

[Eric Haataja]

This past week the bite did not slow down crazy!!! Lots and I mean lots of bass being put in the cooler (just kidden) we let them all go! Seriously this lake is uncredible and like stated before i'm sure it has it's up and down years and the year it is certainlu up!!! Lots of bass on 4-5 inch gulp in the green pumpkin drop shoting or with a stand up jig, live bait always works, and cranksalso caught us some fish this past week.

Great reports guys!!!!!

Eric Haataja

[noluck4eyes]

We've been out only a few times in the last month. My family likes a bluegill fish fry occasionally and we'll find schools anywhere in 15-25 fow. Tip a crawler piece on a hali jig or any small jig, or even large/small leeches on a split shot rig. In fact, I don't know if there is any spot in 15-25 fow on this lake that does not have at least a few bluegill (?).

A few bass on leeches, split-shot rig, pics attached. We ran out of leeches before we could get any more gamefish - ha!

Here is also a nice 12+inch perch my ex-jarhead brother caught. Same method as for bluegills. I usually find perch in 15 fow or less and have yet to find the deep basin schools that I have heard others talk about.

[Adrift Alone]

Fished for bass yesterday afternoon late and into the evening with a fellow bass enthusiast. Been telling him stories of great fishing and he was pumped to get in on some of the action. First couple of hours between 4 and 6 pm were strangely slow, then around 7pm fishing took off. From 7 to 9:30 we boated over 30 largemouth and a nice bonus waldo (19"). At one point, when we went 12 fish on 12 consecutive casts, he realized just what I had been talking about these past few weeks. This lake is fun! He'll be back soon I'd bet.

Most all fish scaled between 2 and 4 1/2 lbs. All fish caught on soft plastics on deep edges and turns. Fish were schooled up again tightly. After 8pm you could find them "up on top" of most mid lake structures. See you on the water...

AA

[Eric Haataja]

Nice job Mark and Noluckfor eyes

I was out there today and the morning bite was pretty good client caught 31 bass biggest arounf 4 3/4 lbs smallies and a few eyes mixed in as well. Afternoon trip was a bit slower clients landed a half dozen pike about 10 bass smallies and largies and some gills allin 3 hours had a clients daughter get sicj and missed out on prime time.

drop shotting and shaky head jigs worked best along with leeches and crawlers for the bass, spinners and suckers for the pike on the deep weeds and rock.




Eric

[noluck4eyes]

Wow, Eric, your slow day would be a great day for us! We are having trouble catching fish on artificials, but it doesn't matter because leeches and crawlers are working so well. Got lots of nice bluegills including some at 9 inches, a nice smallmouth landed on 4lb test, and this MONSTER largemouth!! See my bro to guide you to nice largemouth like this!:)

[Finseeker]

I did (2) trips last Friday. Morning trip produced 12 bass, 8 pike, and a couple dozen gills.

Afternoon trip produced 10 bass 1 just shy of 20", 8 pike and over 40 gills. All in all a good day. Fish were holding very tight to the weeds and I had to adjust my depths to get bit.

Fished the East shore most of the day.

[Finseeker]

some pics from the afternoon.

[Adrift Alone]

Fished Delavan last night from 4 to 9pm. Much slower than my previous last few water assaults. Targeted largemouth, caught one dozen and a couple of norderns by mistake. Biggest largie was 19". Cold front may have had something to do with my struggles. Better luck next time?

AA

[BigMusky]

Fished Delevan thursday. Caught several bass in the 18 inch range with a bunch more in the 16-17 inch range. They were all fat fish. Also managed a 28 inch and 30 inch pike. Had many hits on suckers that did not result in fish.... texas rigged plastics resulted in bigger fish and they were inhaling hit when they hit. One fish almost swallowed my plastic!

[Eric Haataja]

Still pretty good for the most part out there drop shotting gulp shaky head worms being the best with 8 lb easy cast florocarbon casting line is my rig the10-18 foot depths have been good ecspecially on thw east shore from the china house south has been great! There have been a few slower days but they don't always jump into the boat! slow down and really finesse closer to the weeds and in the weeds when the bite slows down.

Trolling or casting DT 16's or dragging suckers also good for bass and pike.

Eric Haataja

[luv2fish]

Hey all, just read on LL that the public launch is closed "indefinitely" because of high waters... Just a heads up for those who have to drive a while to get to the lake.

[noluck4eyes]

AS OF THIS AUG 26 MORNING THE LAUNCH IS STILL CLOSED.

Here are some pics from last weekend when the storms started. It wasn't a good bite, but we did get 7 different species. We found some crappies in... well, see my locator in this picture and you'll know how deep! Small jigs for them. This walleye hit a crawler piece while fishing for bluegill. And next time we will leave when we hear thunder instead of waiting for our rod tips to start buzzing - that was scary and could have been too late.:eek:

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

delevan boat launch is open as of yesterday afternoon, still slow no-wake the entire lake, no pleasure boats, no jet ski's, and no water skiing. lets get to some fishin.

[Adrift Alone]

Blew off work yesterday afternoon and was on flat water by 3:30PM looking for largies. Worked four of my best spots till 7PM and had "zero" bites to show for it. My worst outing on D this summer. Looked at the boat ramp several times thinking about calling it, but the wind was down and had nothing else to do, so stayed.

Soft plastics were so unsuccessful that after seeing one fish feeding near the surface I "finally" grabbed my jerk bait rod and had five fish follow my first offering to the boat. Next five casts caught four nice fish (18, 18 1/2, 19, 19). Biggest being 4-7. Lesson learned!

Once sun set fish started hitting worms again. Fished till 9PM and called it with 13 bass in the boat (and a couple of snakes).

AA

[noluck4eyes]

AA, nice job reading the signs and making the adjustment.

We haven't had to adjust our presentations yet. Still finding baitfish schools, then using live bait near bottom to catch walleye, bass, bluegills and a pike. No pics, camera "lo batt".

[Adrift Alone]

Fished bass Monday evening for about 4 hours and the overall bite is definitely tougher as we start the Fall swing. With the warm, stable weather over the past few days I expected to clean up, but 10 bass was all I could muster (big fish 19" about 4.6). Appears that fish are now in more pods than schools and that I have to work very hard to catch a nice limit, whereas just two weeks ago, I could catch 10 in very short order. Each year this happens though, so Fall is on the way, even if the temp gauge says 74.

For those of you like me that prefer to lure fish vs. baiting them and work artificials exclusively, here's what I can offer: slow down and work your good spots but only the ones with baitfish present on top or on your electronics. Also, look for larger clumps of grass on edges in water from 12 to 16 feet. Work plastics under and through them, work wackys over them, and work suspending baits (or cranks) past them. They are still there, just more finicky, as every fish I caught the last two trips were just bulging, stuffed fat with 2" bass minnows.

Good results to you...

[Eric Haataja]

Had a good day with clients catching largies, smallies, pike, gills. perch, and a couple of giant bullheads.

fishing the deep weeds was good as stated before look for baitfish and fish on the graph and the fish still bit. drop shotting was great along with jig pig up in the weeds, pike on spinners and suckers.

Posting a few pics from trips this past week as well.

[Eric Haataja]

Did well on the big D again a few trips this past week, the water was a bit dirty but the fish still bit the next 3 weeks should be really good out there!!!!!!!!!! Before turn over.

[Finseeker]

Did well on Delavan on Saturday with a few nicer pike. Bass and Walleye were small. Also caught some gills that were 8.5"

The bite was deeper than normal.

[BigMusky]

delevan was really cruel to me on Saturday. I fished out to about 28 fow and right up to the weeds and did not find really any pike worth mentioning. Did have a musky eat an entire spinner bait though by lake lawn. There were way too many boats out there for my liking though. I will take the summer pleasure boat nightmare over this fall fishing frenzy. Every 20 yards of shoreline had a boat...

[FishinMatt]

Was out for a couple hours with the wife Saturday morning. Algae bloom was still in full tilt so we had to search for some clean water. Managed a good assortment of fish on topwater. With the diminished clarity they really were attacking the bait. If they missed, they would be right back on it just about everytime. No monsters, but I'll take topwaters in October anytime.

[noluck4eyes]

Slowed down for us in the past two months. Panfish generally are much deeper, but some schools remain on the thick weedline. Minnows are working well now, with crawlers and waxworms still good too. We didn't spend enough time patterning the walleye, but we did get a couple in the 20"+ range and quite a few 10-11 inchers - good to see for the future. We're not generally fishing for pike/bass, but finally boated a pike over 30" and a nearly 20" lmb. Will have to post pics later.

[Eric Haataja]

Did pretty good out there this past week with a nice mixed bag of largies, smallies, pike and eyes all on the weed edges and rock now with zips, minnows, and cranks. Water temps were 55-56 degree's in the main lake and with this cold snap it should finally help the lake turnover now. Nows the time the big gattors should slide start to put on the feed bag!

Eric Haataja

[Finseeker]

Went 4 for 5 on walleyes (biggest 19.5"), 1 32" pike, and 1 17.5" smallie trolling cranks on the North and South Shores

[noluck4eyes]

Earlier this month we found panfish at the base of the main lake dropoff. They now appear to be moving out into the basin. Waxworms or minnows for them. Night walleyes are hit or miss. Two nights were great bites landing one fish every ten minutes over a total three hour period. Other nights we struggled to catch one or two. Stickbaits worked best. So far this month 70% of our walleyes have been legal.

[Eric Haataja]

Great pics nice fish!

[reddyguideservice]

The pike bite has been pretty good producing a few over 39" for a few lucky fishermen. Most have been in the 30-33" range. Fish have been taken in the shallower water 2-5' range. About the only safe ice has been out to maybe 10-12 FOW. After Saturday's warm up I am not sure of the ice conditions. The bluegills have been pretty consistent in the 8-10 FOW range running 7.5-9". Happy Holidays! Good Luck all!

John

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

fished here sat morning, and sunday afternoon, sat caught limit with 2 crappies and the rest gills, sunday was 4 crappies and 20 gills. the police were handing out tickets for parking, glad we have permission, seen pike, walleyes, bass, gills and crappies. probably caught 300 gills between the 2 days. won't let me post the pics?

[getthenet]

Is the only access to Delevan lake at the boat launch? Also wondering about using a 4 wheeler out there, is it safe yet? Thanks for any info

[Finseeker]

Ice fished Delavan yesterday for the first time in a few years. The bite was slow overall and extremely crowed. I had guys drilling holes 50 feet from my shack and spread.

Reminded me alot of summer fishing on weekends.

We iced 3 pike and had a few other hit and runs with a steady gill bite in the afternoon. The pike came on roaches in about 5 fow.

F.Y.I - The ice is close to a foot thick in the shallow bays

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

had my buddies call yesterday from the lake, 6 guys, they had 89 keeper gills, and these keepers were the slobs. they fished the southwest corner of lake in 4-6 ft of water, sight fishin them. they said the caught well over 300 gills between them. purple was the hot color. i was busy bustin 6" of ice off the corner of my driveway, thanks city plow guy.

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

out yesterday afternoon, the giant gills were slamin again, few crappies mixed in, south end 4-6ft of water with weed pockets. purple was hot, but it couldn't keep up with a green jig and white wedgie. 4 guys 3 limits, and the other guy didn't want to clean anything, so he didn't keep anything.

[watrfwlnut]

the gill fishing has been steady on the south end of the lake...plastics have been the ticket for myself...havent used bait down here yet...most fish are in the 7-8 inch range with the occasional 9 incher...not big but good enough to fillet

TEAM,
I'm not sure what you consider giant gills but I havent seen a single giant gill through the ice there all winter...

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

when i say giants i am refering to 9"+ gills, we have been only keeping the big bulls. you fish in the croud, you will get some nice ones, go out to an area where no-one is, then it seems the fish are larger. we have only seen 4-5 people out where we have been, every time out, we have permission to enter the lake from private land, so we aren't fishin in the croud, not all year.we have been seeing more crappies heading towards the bays.we also sight fish them, playing keep away from the little ones.

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

fished here yesterday, took my boys ages 6&9 out, lots of top water. i let the kids fish, since we could only take 19 fish home, because we didn't want to go over the possesion limit. the boys caught close to 100 fish between them, purple ratfinky and 2 spikes. when we left the shoreline was getting bad, glad i brought a plank. very thin up by the edges, i also have 2 buddies out there today, i will report how they did later. good luck and be safe, i myself will be heading up north again this weekend.

[watrfwlnut]

fished yesteday 8am -11am...started out good and then OH NO...DOWN TIME..!! I use one of them rods that the line runs through the center of the rod and broke the line at the tip 15 mins after I started fishing......well, the good news is the fish was on the ice when it broke so I didnt lose the spoon but the bad news is trying to thread 2lb test back through that thing was impossible...being as stuborn as I am I was going to get this done if it killed me...well, it killed me..!! and after 25 min of d$$king around with it I finally cryed uncle and grabbed the spare rod(its just not the same, right??)...I was picky and took home 15 bigger gills and a nice crappie...plastics and a tear drop spoon again for me...Oh ya I was in the south bay again 5-6ft of water...good luck all

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

nut- i use the same kind of rod, and i always carry a wire that i keep in my tackle box, i am the same as you, i have magic with it, and another rod, weather it be the same, just isn't the same. anyone heading to the south end, should bring a plank, just for good measure, i had my kids in life jackets sunday, and with this weather, i would be cautious around here. the gills are going nuts, had 2 buddies out yesterday, and they said they cleaned house, white plastics was hot.

[watrfwlnut]

late report,

fishing remains very good on the south end of the lake...Sat was good but Sun was even better...mostly gills with some decent crappie mixed in...4ft of water and most fish hitting half way down...plastics again for us...however the guys using bait were doing well also...I cant confirm myself but heard they were giving tickets to anyone parking on the road off South Shore dr...I did see a (NEW) no parking sign there when I went by so be careful about parking guys...just a heads up...good luck...

P.S. ice is starting to go quickly...still over a foot of ice but its in fairly poor shape so be VERY careful...shore lines are getting soft so you have to watch where youre entering and exiting the ice...I put a foot through coming off Sat...:eek:...better than on the way out though :rolleyes:

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

fished where we could sat. without being in the inlet, caught a few gills/crappies. ice chunk is still there, we had about 20 yards of fishable water. green gill pill and a waxworm.another great fisherman i know told me he was in the inlet and caught a few crappies, minnows and waxworms under a bobber, he said nothin hot, but they were there. caught 7 keepers, wanted to go out this week with the waders and a spud bar and clear more area to fish, but i think this rain might do the same thing. going out tomorrow morning- have the day off. i will report where and how we do. you can't catch them just sitting at home and wondering if they are biting yet! get out a drop a line. always remember to take a kid fishin, keeps them off the streets!

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

did a walk around yeasterday from shore, the lake has opened up and will be fishable from a boat. went back to the spot i fished sat. and caught a few gills/crappies. could see fish crusing the shallows. its on!!!

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

the crappies and gills were going strong this past weekend, west side where the dog track is. fish are starting to STACK up in the bays, and creeks. some fish came on waxworm, most on minnows. caught so many fish, i stopped fishin and let the kids slay em. was a blast watching them fish, dad another one, thats all i heard for the 3 hours we were there. probably caught 100 crappies.

[brewcityfishr]

fished delavan yesterday from 6am till noon, the crappies had lock jaw! not a single crappie. hit all my favorite honey holes and the crappies just never turned on. talked with a few other guys and they had the same luck. ended the day with 2 pike a 5lb. largemouth and a rockbass. water temps were 48-52 deg. 52.8 was the warmest water i could find. the west wind had the warm surface water blown up on the east shore. should be great fishing in a week!!

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

fished sunday night from 6pm-dark, gills and crappies were slammin, ended up with 11 keepers and released probably close to 100. most of the crappies we caught were 8-9", except for 3 at10"+ gills were really active in the bays, pateniece in a area is key. also caught a couple bucket mouths right a dark. all in all a good afternoon. green jig with waxworms were they key, didn't have a strike on minnows, but the crappies were biting mini mights also.

[Adrift Alone]

Fished Delavan yesterday afternoon for about 3 hours. Surface water temps on main lake were mid/upper 50's, bays were a few degrees higher. Targeted bass and caught five, biggest being prespawn female at 18 1/2 inches. Spinner bait and jerk bait were pretty good. Some steady warm nights should really ignite things. Good luck!

[Eric Haataja]

Good bite on Delavan right now for both spawning and pre-spawn fish depending where you fish and what you want to fish for. The past few days more and more fish are going up on beds, and lots of stagging/cruising pre spawners as well all over.

Clients caught 40-50 bass just about everyday this past week with many over 18 inches. Also lots and lots of crappies, the crappies are so so this year with some decent ones mixed in and gills are pretty nice too.
The smallies are going nuts right now out there pre-spawn on the deeper rock and deeper flats putting the feed bag on! lots of pike up shallow, along with walleyes up shallow. It has been a great year so far and should only get better!

Best baits were jerk baits such as lucky crafts, rouges, and husky jerks. The key with the jerk baits is fish the windy shorelines, spinner baits also worked well. There's also a good bite going on from shore now under the bridge in the channel for eyes and inside the channel (boat luanch) for largies, pike and walleyes, spinner baits and small stick baits are key!

Highlight of my week was yesterday...I took the day off to fish with my good friend Corey and it was non stop action from the get go! we easily boated 35 bass in about 3 hours of fish from 2-5 PM. With a couple of dandy smallies on over 5 lbs and just over 21 inches, along with numerous 19+ smallies yesterday out on Delavan. I had a good feeling about Geneva as well so I asked corey if he wanted to try Geneva for the last 2 hours of the evening. He agreed and we had a blast fishing jerkbaits and jigs for smallies, landing some giant prespawn smallies and the lake was practically vacant! In about 2 1/2 hours fish we boated 15 smallies with 3 over 20 inches.

It does not get better than that! Good fishing, good friendship, life is good!



Capt. Eric Haataja

[Finseeker]

Took out Corey (CBangler) Thursday night for some early season bassing. I usually try to avoid Delavan the first 2 weeks of the season but I stopped in to get my season pass and got the bug. We met at 5:30 and fished for bass until 8:00. We boated 13 bass, and missed a few others and 1 pike all on spinner baits and plastics. Twice we had 2 on at once (double pics)

After dark we trolled for an hour and a half and boated 2 pike(small) and 3 walleyes (1 legal) all and all a fun evening. The last picture I call juveniles getting caught after curfew.

[Finseeker]

Got out with my father in law and friend on Saturday morning. Water was 5-6 degrees cooler than it was Thursday night. Struggled to get the bass going so we switched to the crappies which we found at our 3rd stop.

Finished with several crappies and went 1 for 4 on the bass. Got the dreaded call later that evening that the bass went crazy in the afternoon and the boys were putting the smackdown on them!!!

Well done Corey and Eric!!!

A few more pics from Thursday night and a few pics from Saturday morning

[Cbangler]

Great fishing this week, with great friends at Delavan - thanks Steve and Eric for the enthusiasm and company! (Steve, I look forward to a few more of those evening runs)

Water temps continue their srping variation, but as of Saturday 59-61 in the back bays, and 54-57 on the main lake. Wish I had more time to myself this time of year - there are just so many ways and places to catch em. Focused mainly on plastics and Spinnerbaits for Bass and rouges on the troll bite. Some fish are definitely bedding up, but tons of pre-spawn bass yet to be had. Try that weed edge from 10-12' in the evening and you might just hang a 40" Pike, or 25" walleye.

Caution to all....just when you think you have a lake dialed in, you spend a day with Captain Haataja and realize that you really don't. That was tons of fun Eric, one of the better days I can remember. Here are a few of the pics, but the Captain got the biggest fish, and the better pics.

[Cbangler]

Few more cuties.....
Sorry for the bogus pic in the last post. They were just too big to get down to the needed "Site Shrink"
Maybe Eric will put some of the good pics up.

[RJN]

Geeze Eric,
I thought I had the lake dialed in too, but after looking at those smallies I would have to say I don't.
We made it out Sat. morning and put a hurt on the largemouth with plastics and spinnerbaits and ending up with 37 between the 3 of us.

We had our best luck after finding 59deg water temp in a back bay.
With literally a fish on every cast.
Should have tried a little deeper for the brown fish, but didn't put that pattern together.

Bangler,
I saw you in the marina Sat. morning and I have to say you have a nice rig.
We were in the blue and beige aluminum boat with the kid. I'll say hi the next time I see you out there.

[Eric Haataja]

Here's the biggest smallie I have caught so far this spring. Just over 21 inches and fat prespawn. They were all schooled up which was cool to see 8-9 other fish follow in everytime you caught one fish.

Eric

[Eric Haataja]

Here's a few more pics from this past week on friday these kids put the smack down on the bass they landed about 40 bass in 4-5 hours of fishing.

[Eric Haataja]

A few more from friday. They were vey happy!

Here's one tip to try...drop shotting Gamakatsu hooks with small finese worms up shallow on the weed flats...it can out fish everything some days.........It also works like a champ on beds!

[pike eyes]

hey when you guys talk about using plastics for the smallies what kind of plastics are you using. worms, crayfish, gulp etc? i can give some helpful hints for good perch and gill action in return. thanks for the help

[BigMusky]

fished delavan yesterday AM....same thing happened as last year - typhoon winds. I have a bigger trolling motor this time though so I could battle it, but this lake just sucks in big wind. Lots of shallow spots have all slime and you can not fish finesse baits very well with one guy in heavy wind. I tried tossing jerkbaits to the wind blown areas and drifting through some weedbeds with a windsock and tossing a jerkbait, but that pattern just never emerged for me. So I packed up after one bass in three hours and headed to Okauchee. The other annoying part is all the shallow areas that were out of wind had some of the most obnoxious fishermen ever. They are driving around in a four foot weedbed with there outboard kicking up muck right in front my drift. One would have thought they could have driven behind my drift, but no. I can not wait until pleasure boaters come out and scare some of the fishermen off lake.

[Finseeker]

Fished Tuesday night for a few hours with No Luck 4 Eyes. We boated a handful of bass and then went into trolling mode. We ended up with 1 pike and a suicidal bluegill taking a 4.5" stickbait.

[irishqone]

Out with the Cptn. yesterday and fished in the wind too. Probably caught 30-35 , mainly Large Mouth. One Small mouth and one Pike. Thanks for the tips Eric.

[dleblanc]

Hello,
Fished the west shore today for bass. Water temp was 57-60 degrees. Saw many 3#-5# fish on beds. Landed and released 6 fish. Biggest fish was 4#. All fish caught on wacky worms. I also fished LL marina for crappies. Caught several fish under the docks on jig/minnow combination. Water temp in marina was 60-63 degrees.

[noluck4eyes]

Worked on my bass techniques with Homer J today. Fast presentations did not work, so we tried slow (topwater, worms, etc) and connected. Bass were shallow in 2-7 fow. Thanks HJ, you're a great guy for a cowboys fan! And now, for a little entertainment with your fishing reports, please see my post on, um, that other site.

[Eric Haataja]

Too funny!!

The past few trips out here have been nothing short of fantastic. The bass fishing has been good and steady with clients landing 30-50 bass each trip along with walleye's and pike as well. I caught my first pike this year over 40 inches this past week. Also we had bass up to 6 lbs and limits of legal walleyes which has been a bit odd for the day bite. Lots of pictures to post!!!!!!

Shallow water and wind blow shore lines have been key for eyes and pike and some bass, shallow warmer water is key for bass in the 4-6 foot range.

Senking minnows worked well along with stick baits.

[Eric Haataja]

All from the same day!!!! except the pics with the kids largie and smallie

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

fished yesterday, i was the 2nd boat there in the morning, started casting for bass right in the launch area, landed a 19-3/4" female 1st cast, i knew it was going to be a great morning, fished up the rock edge of the channel, half way up, i boated a 18-1/8" female. both fish looked like they were going to burst. the 19-3/4 was real heavy. then went to the south end in the channels and shallow flats 2ft or less. found fish all over the beds, i fished down the channel on the south end, pulled a 19-3/8, and a 18-5/8" female, then hit a few of the other channels on the south end, caught 21 bass total and 2 pike. all fish caught on guiley worms. can't wait till this weekend, i think its gonna be a mad house, but the water was only 58 degrees main lake. did see crappies and gills in the channels also. went out and jigged some rocks producing a undersized wally, and a 13" smallie. then the wind came in and i called it a day.

[Eric Haataja]

Great report!
Yes we also killed the fish yesterday no giant bass maybe a few in the 19+ inch range but lots of fun lots of action up shallow. Also did really well on the eyes! Deep weeds and rock was key!

Heading back out there tomorrow!!!!!

[Finseeker]

Did some scouting yesterday and found largies still cruizing the shallow flats and bed areas. Lot's of slime starting to form on the surface of some of these areas which was a real pain.

Made several stops and popped a few fish everywhere we went but didn't stay on any one spot too long. Ended up with a dozen or so bass and some gills and crappies. One pike that didn't even break 2'

Largest bass was 19" Everthing we caught came on a stickbait or wacky worm.

[Cbangler]

First and foremost......Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Eric Hataaja on their healthy new baby girl! Way to go guys!

And since they were in labor most of Friday, I helped out Finseekers cover Eric's trips for Saturday. Not terrible, but clearly a tougher bite. We ended up 17/20 with 12 bass (3 smallies), 4 Pike, and a crappie. Boat traffic got obviously tougher as the day went on, but we scratched out a few fish.
Jerry and Corey (not me) did a great job taking advantage of most opportunities. Here are a few of the highlights.......

[Cbangler]

Trip #2. Bite got tougher, right along with the boat traffic, as the day went on. So we scaled down the line, and the baits, and managed some steady action. Finesse plastics, with very long casts. Everything we caught was shallow, as fas away from the boat brigade as you could get. We ended up 17 for about 23, with again: 12 Bass, 4 Pike, and a crappie. I had a great group of guys in the boat, and not only did they take full advantage of most opportunities, but they put the hurt on the guide. Way to go fella's

[Cbangler]

Made a little afternoon/evening visit to Big D on Monday with Captain Morgan. Boat traffic was not nearly as bad as I thought, maybe due to those huge storms that never came. Pretty good day....We ended up with 26 Bass, 2 Pike and a few crappie. No smallies - but Bass came on plastics and Topwater. They really turned on hard from about 7-8:30pm with the impending cold front about to show up. Can't beat that explosion of a top water strike! Water temps had risen to about 61-64 on the main lake, and 66-70 in the back bays. No pigs on this visit, but Topwater #'s will do just fine! Here are a couple........

[Eric Haataja]

Fish don't bite after cold fronts right??? Wrong! Some of my best days all year come a day or two after a cold front! We did well yesterday landing about 40-45 bass each trip in the AM and PM shallow was the ticket! fishing slow and sinking gulp minnows and sticko's worked very well for us in 2-8 feet of water where ever we could gwet out of the wind.

Eric

[dduwe]

Crappie fishing on Delavan remains awesome. The fish are pre-spawn in 10-15 feet of water. Purple plastic has been producing the most success. I keep the boat in 20 feet and cast to the break. It has been no trouble catching 50-100 fish in a couple hours. A slow retrieve is very important

[RJN]

I completely agree with you.
Last Sat. we had the same success with around 50 crappies in an hour and a half using white and yellow tubes.
We positioned the boat in 10' and threw out to the deep.
I guess it doesn't matter because they're everywhere.

[Finseeker]

I have been out 4 times since the 24th. Same story, plastics in the shallows. Somedays the fishing is tough if there is a lot of floating debris but if you stay the course you get your bass.

I have also found some nice crappie bites. I have had several bass in the 18"-19" range. Best fish yesterday was a 19 3/4" that scaled 4lb 4 oz.

[Eric Haataja]

Still getting good amounts of bass up shallow with gulp and sticko's. Some fish are still spawning others post spawn hanging in the weeds or around spawning blugills.

Eric

[NOBADDAYS]

ok thanks for reports Eric!! and your expertise guiding! headed for gills this morning b4 the rain and wind and b4 the storm bite was HOT took limits of gills for 3 of us all nice sized with waxies and then hit the bass bite with plastics with some nice sucess in 5fow lotsa weeds. here is a pic of dbles no trips I got stuck taking pic all bass CPR'ed

[Eric Haataja]

The bite is really picked back up with the warmer water temps a good topwater bite is starting up. Almost anywhere up shallow there's bass and pike cruising, the gills are going good as well on the beds and bass are near by along with the pike. Sticko's, drop shotting gulp and gulp minnows texas rigged across the surface worked well for us yesterday when filming with John Gellispe. We landed about 70-80 bass.

Eric Haataja

[dduwe]

Fishing on Delavan remains awesome, my thumb is raw!! The fish I am catching are 3-4 feet post spawn. I have caught bigger fish on the deep weedline though. Green Pumpkin, All-terrain Sticks, Texas rigged. The entire lake is slow no-wake due to the rain. Dave Duwe's Guide Service

[Cbangler]

Late report from last Friday - pretty good largemouth bite, can't wait to get back tomorrow. Lots of fish shallow, and lots of fish starting to move out. Plastics were the ticket. Deeper weedline bite should pick up pretty soon. Will post detailed report after tomorrow's outing.

[BigMusky]

with most Waukesha County lakes closed yesterday...headed to Delevan. Weed edge bite never materialized and could not get any pike to respond to suckers. Did fine crappies in 12-15 FOW though, but all small. Finally moved to shallow weeds and started getting some bass. Got a 3lber and 4lber...rest in that 16 inch range. Wind was really howling

[Adrift Alone]

Hit the water Friday looking for bass. Found them in just about every area I fished. Summer pattern is slowly emerging and that signals a solid bite on artificials for the next 40 DAYS!!! AWESOME! Fished weed edges and some deep weeds (8 to 15 feet) with drop shot gulp, texes rigged worms, jigs. Even cranked a little. All caught fish including northerns and walleyes as bonus fish.

Best pattern I can offer is to look for "thicker" weeds clumps and the edge and you'll find fish. They will let you know they are there almost right away, so if the bite is slow at one, move on to the next good one.

AA

[Cbangler]

Good outing at Delavan on Friday afternoon/evening. Water temps were 70 plus throughout, but entire lake was "no wake".

Shallow bite for bass continues on Plastics, and even took a bonus keeper walleye from 4 FOW.
Deep weed edge bite also almost in full effect. Several larger fish have already moved out, and they are taking plastics and leaches from 14-20ft. Sundown walleye bite also picked up nicely - leaches and drop shotting gulp.

Be back Weds - Fri.
Save some for the rest of us Eric!
CB

[Eric Haataja]

Fishing is still going good, fish seem to be everywhere now, some still on beds some on docks and some moving out to the deep weeds. Fished yesterday and we caught about 50 bass all largies except 1 smallie, We fished the shallow weeds bays in 6-8 feet of water and did well.

Eric

[Finseeker]

Fished Friday and boated 30 bass with clients. Got to the launch and ran into CB Angler and J.T at the launch. Grabbed J.T for an hour and we boated another 16 in a pass and a half. All on plastics.

Fish were schooled together and biting. Finding the clean water was key.

[NOBADDAYS]

later report from last week on Delly lotsa wind lotsa gills in same place all along shorelines super shallow on beds tried for bass with only a few and a northern. used waxies and plastics this was day after the rain on last Tuesday from 6-Noon water was super merky and levels super high.
??? when you rig a plastic wacky style what type of hook are you using ??
a weedless lindy ? thanks for the help.

[NOBADDAYS]

fished yesturday morning until noon got a few bass northern and then went for gills with not much luck could see em they just werent biting until it warmed up then they were on fire! still loaded with eggs and back on beds. wind kicked in and we took off with 44 gills between 2 of us. red worms were the ticket no waxies.
I will toss some pics on soon. gotta work more to pay for gas to fish more....

[NOBADDAYS]

here is our almost 2 man limit a few short these dogs can eat I mean catch fish....lol

[Fishin Dan]

Headed out for an afternoon jaunt with my brother. Started shallow and had a few bites, but nothing exciting for the bass. Definitely not a dock bite, so we went to deep summer patterns. Most fish came between 18 and 26 feet of water on the wind blown side of the lake. Managed a bunch nice largies, three walleyes, one pike and five coveted smallies!!

See you out there.
Dan

[Eric Haataja]

Great report Dan and awesome fish !!!!! Thanks!

Pretty good bite with a lot of our fish still in the weeds, jigs like the 1/2 ounce rock stalker jig and drop shotting was best for us for mainly bass but we also picked up pike, and walleyes as well. Did have a couple of exceptional days as well with just a bunch of big largies piled up in a few spots which made for a lot of fun!

I have a bunch of pics but my camera is not letting me download them so who knows.....????

That's the report!

Eric

[Eric Haataja]

got it fixed!!!

Here's some pics from the last few trips.

[Eric Haataja]

few more

[Fishin]

Some more pics from a trip with Eric on Friday. He forgot his camera in the truck for our trip!

Awesome time... great guy. Anyone that hasn't fished with him needs to. It felt more like we had another buddy in the boat then a fishing guide. This buddy just happened to know where the fish were!

Included is one of the weirdest looking largemouth that I've ever seen!

[Eric Haataja]

Thanks guys it was indeed a blast fishing with you guys and those are the trips that I truely enjoy the most!

Today was also a fantastic day for some really big fish caught a giant pike, some big smallies, some decent eyes, lots of gills and crappies and we found a big school of largies as well which made for a fun bite! Gulp and the rock stalker was again awesome this is a must jig and pig if you have not tried it check it out here's the link 1/2 ounce is my best now in pumpkin and black and blue! http://www.unclejosh.com/bassstalker/modules/cart/

Lots of fish are moving to the deep weeds however there a defintly some schooling bassin the weeds in certain area's, the gills are spawning and still prespawn on the deep weeds, just look at the locater drift over them drop down a red ratso tipped with redworms and the rest is really easy!!!

Back up early tomorrow for another day at the office!:rolleyes:;)

Good fishing and thanks for the fishing reports guys!

Eric

[Eric Haataja]

Thanks guys it was indeed a blast fishing with you guys and those are the trips that I truely enjoy the most!

Today was also a fantastic day for some really big fish caught a giant pike, some big smallies, some decent eyes, lots of gills and crappies and we found a big school of largies as well which made for a fun bite! Gulp and the rock stalker was again awesome this is a must jig and pig if you have not tried it check it out here's the link 1/2 ounce is my best now in pumpkin and black and blue! http://www.unclejosh.com/bassstalker/modules/cart/

Lots of fish are moving to the deep weeds however there a defintly some schooling bassin the weeds in certain area's, the gills are spawning and still prespawn on the deep weeds, just look at the locater drift over them drop down a red ratso tipped with redworms and the rest is really easy!!!

Back up early tomorrow for another day at the office!

Good fishing and thanks for the fishing reports guys!

Eric

[Finseeker]

Pics from last week. All fish taken on 5" Yum Dingers

[Brian Mirek]

Got out this past Saturday from 6am - 10:30am w/ another buddy. Picked up 15 - 20 largemouth on plastics, spinnerbaits, and jerkbaits. A few average pike mixed in and a little walleye to round things out.

[Cbangler]

Sorry for the late reports guys - Had the boys in town from Zona and spent a few days over the past week fishin the Big D. Last week there were still quite a fish shallow, but the deep weedline bite was really picking up. By early this week, it was in full effect on the deep edges. Senkos shallow and Drop shots and Jigs deep. Some walleyes eating drop shots as well.

[Cbangler]

The old man made it out in honor of the "out of towners" on Friday - really just for a small window in the afternoon. Bite was a little tougher for us, as a storm had just passed through, but we got our share. . Deeper bite continued to improve from the prior day.

[Cbangler]

Last fishing outing of T-week '08, and the zona boys got a proper send off. Deep edge bite was on from 18'-22'. Drop shots early, and some live bait later in the evening. Several walleyes on plastics and live bait, but no keepers. Pike bite was also pretty good for us in the afternoon draggin meat around, with 2 over 33". Again no giants, but some pretty nice fish. Also found some bass shallow in the early evening -Few of which were brown, with one right at 19".

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

fished monday by myself, started out at 4:45 am, second cast right next to the weed cutter and pulled a 16-1/4, then finished the channel with 4 more fish, nothing big, went to the south end and slammed the bass, all largies, easily caught over 30 fish, here are a couple. forgot all fish caught on guiley worms!

[FishinMatt]

Nothing new for this thread, but here are some of our fish for this Spring. Early in the season we were on a very good bite with spinnerbaits (3/8 to 3/4) and LC Pointers. As it warmed up a bit we did most our damage with the 3 and 4'' senko type baits. Again, nothing new for the board. You guys catch some incredible fish. The only other point of interest is there is a nice 40''+ ski that hangs in the general area of the no-wake buoy in front of the white Lake Lawn Pier. I raised her twice last year on Bionic Bucktails and once this Spring on the LC Pointer (same scars). I don't have the time to chase her right now, so I figure one of you can give her a workout. Eric's probably caught her 3 times already, but she is worth a shot if you are fishing around there :cool:

[Eric Haataja]

this past week has been pretty solid with a few exceptions. Some of the days when we had some storm the bite slowed or turned off a while, then that same evening or next morning the bite picked back up. The walleye bite has been hit and miss abd a slower than I'd like to see it this past week, the bass have either been on fire or tough to catch and the pike are all over the boards as well. Gills are still spawning, still some prespawn and many post spawn, also saw crappies still spawning down deep.

Many of our bigger bass are coming in the weeds along with some of the bigger pike, this next week should be much better once the thermocline sets up and fish start to relate to it. the bass, Pike, and eyes should move to the deep weeds and deeper rock where they are easy to pick off. best baits have been gulp minnows on jigs, leeches and crawlers with a split shot, our bigger bass have been coming on bass staler jigs and rock stalker jigs in the 1/2 ounce sizes, pumpkin and black and blue are my favorites.

see you on the water

Eric

[Eric Haataja]

few more largies from this week.

[Army-Retired]

Excellent day on the water, a fishermen dream. Found crappies on the weedline in 10-14 feet of water. I must have caught a fish almost every cast that was 9-11 inches using a purple plastic bait similar to the nail-tail (I, don't know the name, sorry) Also, managed 3 LMs around 14 inches. Have a great day on the water..:)

[Eric Haataja]

Fishing was so so today clients caught both pike and bass but we had to work for them our best action came early and the bite got tougher as the day went on. Our fish were caught both on the weed edges and on the deep weeds as deep as 28 feet. Lots of gills all over and pike around but they were not as agrressive as we'd like to see them. The bass were biting pretty good in the weeds.

Eric

[Adrift Alone]

Absolutely pounded laregmouth last night on D. Big schools of post spawners are flooding back to deep weeds and bunching up big time. Fished yesterday from 3PM to 9PM with outstanding results. Drop shotting in 11-18 feet weed clumps. Fishing alone, 30+ bass, smallest 15", biggest 19 3/4". Eight of the 30 fish were between 19 and 20 inches. That is awesome. Another 7 were over 18". On light tackle, what a blast!

One nice walleye and northern too, by accident. Beautiful night out.

Warning: Watch out for the "crazies" as the weekend approaches. They were starting out early as of last night. Never ceased to be amazed how long it can take for some "nut" to launch or stow their rig. Very dangerous at the launch site, so fishermen watch your back.

AA

[Eric Haataja]

Last few days have been really good on delavan fish biting deep, shallow and in between. Lots of pike and a few eyes offof drop shots, spinners, cranks, and fish a rock stalker and bass stalker jig. Most of my big bass are coming on the 1/2 ounce or 3/4 ounce Bass stalker now. best depths seem to be 8-18 feet of water.

The pike bite is finally picking up in full swing all you need to do is locate the big schools of bait and gills and fish the pike and bass in those area's, which is almost all over. I took a few pictures so you can what I'm refering to when I look for bait and gamefish near the bait, or bait near weed clumps etc...

[Eric Haataja]

Here's the bait and gamefish on the screen find this and your always find gamefish near by!

[Eric Haataja]

Well we had a small corporate Fun fishing tourney on Lake Delavan today and had some good sticks out there, Dave Duwe, Karl Kaulfmen, Steve Everetts, and Cory Berger (Cbangler) and yours truely (me). We had a little over 4 hours to fish today, Us guides could only set lines and stter the boats for our clients. We were not allowed to fish only the clients could set the hooks and fish, so it was an interesting day.

Final satndings??

1. Eric ---26 fish landed 24 (gamefish) 2 blugills with our biggest pike being just shy of 38 inches. Mixed in with some nice bass.

2. Dave Duwe 10 gamefish

3 & 4. Steve Evertts and Corey both tied with 8 gamefish.

5. Karl had I think 6 gamefish.

Dragging big suckers, and drop shotting worked best for my group today.

The deep weeds is where I fished all day as deep as 34 feet caught fish.

Eric

[NOBADDAYS]

hey Eric where do you get the rock stalker jigs at ? you said blue and white the hot colors any others? they look wild

[Eric Haataja]

http://www.unclejosh.com/bassstalker/modules/cart/

Caught a bunch of big fish on these in the past month, the 1/2 ounce and 3/4 ounce worked well in the bass stalker, rock stalker and swim stalker. They all serve different purposes, I like the rock stalker in scattered weeds, flats or rock/ mud bottom. I like the swim stalker with a cast and retrieve swimming the bait over weeds, and I like the bass stalker when I flip and pitch in heavy weeds. Pumpkin and black and blue along with white have been very hot!

Eric

[Cbangler]

Thanks Eric - always fun getting your butt handed to ya, and then reading about it. Good times though, and our group did a really nice job! - I really enjoyed it!

Fishing was a little tough for us Thursday, even for the afternoon run. We did get some real quality fish on drop shots, and suckers. Here are a couple of highlights, along with a couple from last stormy Sunday

[Cbangler]

Much better bite for us going on Saturday. We soaked some meat during the busy boat hours, and went 14/18 on Pike. In the calmer hours of the evening, we fished leeches and drop shots and smacked the bass pretty good - some real nice fish as well. 16-22' was the key depth range for us for both Pike and Bass. Few walleyes mixed in as well - 2 of which were keepers, and we ended the day with the obligatory trophy bullhead!

P.S - look at Ron Burgandy with his trophy bass!

[Cbangler]

Few more pics - Perfect weather on the water with you brother and dad - putting a smack on em, it just doesnt get much better!

[Fishin Dan]

Corey - nice work, not much better than getting out with your bro and dad while beating up some fish.

Did a solo run on Sunday evening - put the smack on over 30 bass. One brown fish and 30+ largies. Brownie had some serious back issues and it sounds like a few of my buddies have also seen him swimming sideways around the lake.

Anyway, the waves were brutal to start as the boat traffic was crazy, but as the evening progressed the fishing picked up. I like to spend most of my time deep, but yesterday I got pushed shallow inadvertantly and ended up getting bit. Only one fish deeper than 14 fow. Many fish in the 3-4 pund range, but my biggest weighed in at 5-11 on my scale. Bunch of fish drop shoting and a bunch punching the weeds with plastics and heavy weight. Ripping the bait off the weeds produced most of my bites.

No pictures as I was alone - hope to get back soon.
Dan

[Eric Haataja]

Great report guys awesome fish!