Delavan Lake 8/11/25 through 8/18/25

The fishing remains constant on Delavan Lake.  The largemouth and northern have both slowed down a little, but the bite is still better than most other bodies of water.  Boat traffic continues to be intense in the afternoons, so the mornings are much easier to fish.

The largemouth bass are still located on the weedlines in 12-15 ft of water.  A split shot rigged nightcrawler is still the best choice.  The fish aren’t schooled up quite as tight as they were last week but there are still plenty of active fish, you just may need to look for them a bit.  Another good presentation is deep diving crank baits in a crappie or perch pattern. Due to the fact that they aren’t schooled up as well, I put my trolling motor on high and move down the weedline to find the active fish.  Most locations have one or two fish.  The spots I’ve been fishing don’t have 10-15 fish as they did before.  The best locations are near the Oriental boat house, Del mar and Willow Point.

The northern pike have slowed quite a bit as well.  You can still catch one or two each trip out but the big numbers aren’t so easy to come by.  With the warm water, it’s very hard to keep the medium suckers alive.  Try bringing a bag of ice, because fishing the suckers in 20 ft of water can give them a severe shock and cause them to die.  I fish the suckers on a lindy rig.  The best depth remains 18-22 ft of water.  The average size is about 25 inches.

Bluegills are biting very well right now.  They are also located on the weedline.  Look for the fish in 12-15 ft of water.  The best approach is to use leaf worms on a split shot fished straight lined right beneath the boat.    The bite can be fast and furious so be prepared to clean a lot of fish if that’s what you’re going for.

Walleye fishing is almost non-existent right now.  The only action is coming at night.  Most success is coming while lindy rigging jumbo leeches in 16 ft of water.  Due to the fact that I’ve been guiding every day, I haven’t really been able to get out at night.  The early morning hours have been producing some walleyes using deep diving crank baits in 22-24 ft of water.  I prefer Bandit lures in the pearl color.

Crappie fishing has been very slow.  They are very sporadic and the schools are not well defined.  The crappies I’ve been catching are suspended in 20 ft of water.  The best location has been  by Belvidere Park.  Purple and chartreuse plastics have been catching most of the fish.  Try the plastics on a 1/32 oz jig.

Good luck and I hope to see you on the water.  For guide parties, please call Dave Duwe at 262-728-8063