05/29/08 Delavan Lake cloudy 52 degrees. Winds light and variable. H20 temp at surface Inlet 64 degrees, main lake 60-62 degrees. Targeting Crappies today we ended up with around 100+ fish in around two hours. Fishing plastics under floats seemed to do the trick today. We also landed a young northern pike and a nice 19 1/2" small mouth using crawlers. The crappies were caught in 4-8 feet of water. The small mouth and northern pike were caught in 12-22 feet of water fishing main breaks.

Congrats Newlyweds Dan and Kim!

05/26/08 Delavan Lake partly cloudy 83 degrees. Winds SSW 10-18 mph. H20 temps Inlet/Bays 71-73.7 degrees, main lake 63.5-65.7 degrees at surface. I had a great time taking out a newlywed couple fishing today. I was flattered they decided to spend part of their honeymoon fishing with Reddy Guide Service. My friend Dave Schuster of Clearwater Outdoor referred them to me, Thanks Dave! Please check out Dave's store in Lake Geneva if you have the chance. The couple were going to explore Geneva by kayak with Clearwater Outdoor later in the week. Just another note Dan and Kim are spending the week at Golden Oaks Bed & Breakfast and highly recommend a stay there in Lake Geneva. Kim caught her first crappie and large mouth bass on our outing. The couple had fun catching a mix of pan fish and large mouth bass. Both Dan and Kim had a great time learning new tactics and skills while catching some real nice fish. Thanks guys! Crappies were caught in 8-12 FOW using plastics. Large mouth were caught using Senkos, we did fish top water and spinner baits with follows, but the slower approach seemed to be the best presentation today.

05/25/08 Delavan Lake P.M. clear 82 Degrees. Winds SSW 10-20 mph. H20 temps. Inlet 71.1 degrees, main lake 64 degrees. I had a great time teaching two great youngsters the art of fishing today. I was impressed with how polite and patient the kids were. Being a test run for their dad to see if the kids would like being on the lake in a boat. I knew the answer to that question within a few minutes. The kids had a great time, and by the look on dad's face he had a good time also. The kids capitalized on some good crappie action along with catching a nice large mouth bass. All in all a great outing for all to be had. We caught the crappies using plastics and minnows in 8-17 FOW. The large mouth were caught in 2-4 FOW using Senkos.

05/25/08 Delavan Lake A.M. cloudy 50 degrees. Winds 5-10 SW increasing to 10-20 mph. H20 temps. Inlet 62 degrees, main lake 57 degrees. We fished for crappies in the early hours catching fish in 8-10 FOW on Mini-Mites and fathead minnows. We switched gears fishing bass looking for the warmest water finding up to 69.8 degrees. Using Senkos we caught some quality bass in the 2-4lb. range. Most of our fish were caught in 2-4 FOW.

Memorial Day Weekend!

05/24/08 Delavan Lake clear 73 degrees. Winds SSW 5-15 mph. H20 temps. Inlet 63 degrees, main lake 58.5 degrees at surface. With the traffic on the lake for the holiday weekend we tried to find some water "less travelled" which was quite difficult with pleasure boaters being within a stones throw away from us no matter where we were. We did catch some nice crappies in 8-15 FOW using fatheads and plastics.

05/23/08 Delavan Lake partly cloudy 60 degrees. Winds light and variable. H20 temps, Inlet 66 degrees, main lake 63.7 degrees. Had a chance to fish with my family chasing crappies last weekend. Many fish in the 8-12" range. Casting Mini-mites produced the best results. We used floats for the shallower fish just to keep the angel hair off the business end. The weeds are already getting to be a challenge. Many large mouth also holding close to beds.

05/19/08 Delavan Lake sunny 60 degrees. Winds calm. H20 temp in Inlet 63 degrees, main lake 59-60.5 degrees at the surface. I fished solo today doing a little fishing on my own. Smallmouth were very active making beds in 8-15 feet of water, and crappies were just a little shallower in 6-10 feet of water. A good mixed bag day catching largemouth, smallmouth and a few crappies. I had the chance to try a few new techniques which yielded quite well. Gulp has been a great presentation so far this year. Cranks have done well on occasion, but the finesse plastic approach has been the go to tactic thus far. Reddy Guide Service will be on Outdoor Wisconsin this coming Thursday the 22nd, featuring Delavan Lake catching a mixed bag last fall. Be sure to tune in at 8:00 p.m.

05/18/08 Delavan Lake clear 42 degrees. Winds NNE 10-20 mph. H20 temps. 54-61 degrees. We targeted walleyes in the early hours, switching gears to largemouth bass later in the morning. Using plastics today yielded the best results for all species. The largemouth were caught in 2-4 feet of water using Senkos, while fishing for walleyes using swimbaits.

05/17/08 Delavan Lake clear 50 degrees. Winds light and variable, increasing to 5-10 mph. H20 temp. 56-61 degrees. The crappie bite was slow to start, but later in the morning the bite was awesome yielding fish in the 8-12" range fishing 4-8 feet of water using plastics under floats, changing to casting with a slow retrieve as the water warmed later in the morning.

05/16/08 Delavan Lake partly sunny 70 degrees. Winds WSW 15-20 mph. H20 temps. 55-59 degrees. Targeting crappies we ended up with a nice mess of fish ranging from 8-12" using plastics fishing 8-15 feet of water.

05/13/08 Delavan Lake partly cloudy/clear 50 degrees. Winds light and variable. Water temp. bays 59 degrees, main lake 54-56 degrees. We had an awesome morning catching crappies on every cast catching fish 8-13", catching small mouth bass on a break line fishing plastics. Crappies were caught using plastics casting out with a slow retrieve in 8-17 feet of water.

05/12/08 Delavan Lake clear 50 degrees. Winds 10-15 mph. Water temp. main lake 53 degrees. Fished large mouth catching 12 fish ranging from 14-18" using Ironclad Sticks, and Senkos Texas and Wacky rigged in 2-6 feet of water.

05/10/08 Arbutus Lake cloudy/rain 55 degrees. Winds 5-10 NNW. Water temp. 60 degrees. I had the chance to take a quick trip with my father up to Arbutus Lake near Black River Falls, Wi. There has been maintenance work on the dam, so navigation was a little hairy due to the lake being down 10-12 feet. We had a great time catching crappies in 2-4 feet of water in the 8-10" range, walleyes in 10-17 feet of water ranging from 12-18" and my father caught a sucker around 17". The presenation for the crappies was using a twister tail casting out with a slow retrieve or drifting. The walleyes were caught either drifting lindy rigs or casting jigs tipped with crawlers or fatheads dragged along the bottom.

05/07/08 Delavan Lake cloudy/raining 55 degrees. Winds WSW 5-10 mph. Water temps. Bays 55 degrees, main lake 51 degrees. We had planned on an early start, but waited the rain out until 10 a.m. or so. We ended up with a nice keeper walleye at 20 1/2" and a 30" northern pike caught using slip-floats fishing fatheads on a break line. Drifting was not the ticket today, many short strikes, resulting in slowing down our presentation to catch fish. Large mouth Bass have been biting in 2-8 feet of water using Senkos, Spinner baits and twitching cranks. Look for the warmest water. The lake is very clear yet, so casting a distance is essential to catch fish.

05/05/08 Delavan Lake clear 45 degrees. Winds light and variable. Water temps. Bays 53 degrees, main lake 51 degrees. We had a good morning catching crappies and a few gills, switching gears fishing for walleyes catching a few short fish in 12-17 feet of water. This nice smallie was caught using fatheads fishing a break going from 12-30 feet of water.

05/04/08 Wisconsin River at Wisconsin Dells clear 60 degrees. Winds NNW 5-10 mph. Water 55 degrees. I had the chance to fish with my son, after attending a Youth Convention in the Dells area. We had a nice day on the water with my son catching a few walleyes, ending up with one keeper sauger 16 1/2". Most productive pattern was dragging jigs with Gulp in 4-8 feet of water.

05/03/08 Delavan Lake cloudy/raining 40 degrees. Winds 5-10 mph. Water temps. main lake 48 degrees, shallow bays 52 degrees. I hit the opener fishing 12:30 a.m. until around 2:30 or so. Trolling paid off producing around 10 walleyes with a 19" fish being the only legal caught. We also caught a few large mouth and northern pike. Surprisingly enough we even had a few bluegills caught fishing with 3-4 1/2" cranks, pretty aggressive fish! 6-12 feet of water was the most productive water tonight.

04/27/08 Upper Winnebago System/Wolf River at Fremont clear 40 degrees. Winds 10-15 mph. Water 49-51 degrees. I had the chance to fish one of the Midwest Walleye Series Tournaments with my good friend and guide Luke Muntner or LT Guide Service from Appleton, WI. We travelled 23 miles one way to search out cleaner water in the river at Fremont. Ending up with a few White Bass, we came up short on the walleyes. First place was won with just over 13 pounds. The best presentation was half crawlers on jigs fished in any slack water that could be found. The water was still high and dirty. One fish was caught trolling Buttes De Morts.

04/26/08 A couple more pictures from Kid's Day

04/26/08 Congdon Park Delavan, Wi clear very windy WNW 20-40 mph. I had the chance to volunteer some time to help out the Delavan Optimists Club of Delavan at their Kid's Day. In spite the rough weather, we still had a good turn out with kids and parents. The fish were not biting, but the kids had fun winning prizes, practicing their casting and baiting skills and having a picnic style lunch. The city of Delavan will also be having a Fishing Day with Mom coming up in June.

04/23/08 Delavan Lake clear 38 degrees. Winds NNW 10-15 mph. Water temps. 55 in the shallow bays, 47 main lake at surface. Fished crappies in 2-4 feet of water catching many in the 8-11" range and a few over 12". A few gills have been mixed in. Noticed many northern pike feeding busting schools of pan-fish in the shallows. Quite a sight. Caught a few small pike fishing crappies. Best presentation was using hair jigs under floats.

04/21/08 Delavan Lake clear 36 degrees. Winds NE 5 mph increasing to 10-15 mph. Water temps. Inlet 58 degrees, main lake 49 degrees. The crappie bite is really starting to heat up. I have been out the last few weeks targeting the shallow bays. The warmest water is key to finding active fish. The best luck I have been having has been using small ice jigs with plastic or hair fished under floats.

Ice Out!

04/06/08 Delavan Lake clear 55 degrees. Winds light and variable. A few pictures of the ice beginning to break up.

03/16/08 Delavan Lake clear 33 degrees. Winds light and variable. Ice 12-14" slushy on top. Fished the afternoon bite. Caught many nice bluegills and a few crappie. Most fish caught on plastics and small jigs tipped with spikes in 4-8 feet of water.