Reddy Guide Services Communication Board

2008-05-29T23:22:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T17:30:00.001-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T12:09:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-21T09:48:00.001-07:00

04/19/08 Rock River at Blackhawk Island sunny 50 degrees. Winds light and variable. Water still high and dirty. Caught two short walleyes and a mess of small white bass. Fished using Gulp on chartreuse/orange/green jigs.

2008-05-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

04/13/08 Rock River at Blackhawk Island cloudy 38 degrees. Winds NE 10 mph. Water very high and dirty. We ended up with a few sheep head and had a decent walleye at the boat, but lost her on one of her head shakes. Fished 6-10 feet of water using Gulp and fathead minnows on green/orange jigs.

2008-05-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

03/17/08 Delavan Lake cloudy/snowing 32 degrees. Winds ENE 5-10mph. Ice 12-14” slushy on top. Fished pan fish ending up with a mixed bag of bluegills and crappies. All caught on plastics in 4-8 feet of water.

2008-05-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

03/16/08 Delavan Lake clear 20 degrees. Winds light and variable. Ice 12-14". We had a fun trip today with a party of six. The bluegills were biting on plastics and spikes fishing in 4-6 feet of water.

2008-05-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

03/15/08 Geneva Lake clear 15 degrees. Wind NE 5-10 mph. Ice 12-14". Fished lake trout in 70-90 feet of water. Had two on lost half way up to the hole. Spoons were the ticket today.

2008-03-13T23:43:00.000-07:00

03/13/08 Delavan Lake clear 40 degrees. Wind NW 5-10 mph. Ice 15-16", slushy and water on top. I had the opportunity to be a Big Brother to a young friend of mine, Sam. Sam is pretty new to ice fishing, but after a crash course, he caught a nice gill shortly thereafter. We didn't have much time before Sam had to get to school, but we will be out on the ice again in the next few days. The best presentation today were dark colored Rat Finkies with plastic fishing in 5-6 feet of water. The fish were eating today, although it was a finesse bite. At times it was difficult to tell you if had a take in the windy conditions. Good job Sam!

2008-03-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

03/12/08 Geneva Lake clear 26 degrees. Winds SE 5-10 mph. Ice thickness 10-12" in the Narrows. We chased after lakers today ending up with a few fish on the Vexilar. My clients decided to go chase down some panfish to take home, so we packed up and headed to Delavan to finish out our trip. After we arrived at Delavan, the temp had to be in the low 40's an dthe sun was out in plain view. We fished the west end shallow bays joining the mob of fishermen pulling gills up regularly. My clients had a blast catching nice sized gills and a few bonus crappie. We fished 5-6 feet of water using dark colored Rat Finkies and othe small jigs with plastics and spikes. I had to get to my "regular" job, but Dell and Dick decided to stay and keep fishing. Dell notified me that they ended up with 38 nice fish to take home. Great job guys!

2008-03-13T23:24:00.000-07:00

03/09/08 Geneva Lake snowing/cloudy 20 degrees. Winds WNW 10-15 mph. Ice thickness 10-12" in the Narrows. We tried our hand at trying to land a few lakers today. I hooked into a fish losing it shortly thereafter. Many fish marked on our Vexilars, but we just could get the fish to take our offerings. We tried spoons, jigging Raps, jigs, you have it. The fish had a case of lock jaw today!

2008-03-13T23:14:00.000-07:00

03/08/08 Delavan Lake afternoon clear/partly cloudy 35 degrees. Wind light and variable. Ice 14-18". I had the chance to take out one of my "Best Bids" auction winners through the Janesville Gazette for a party of six on the ice this afternoon. We had a blast catching a mixed bag of crappie, bluegill and pumkinseeds. I cooked brats, beans and chips for the guys, which was a hit. One of my clients caught a nice 14 " slab crappie. We stuck it out until around 8 p.m. ending up with a nice mess of fish for my clients to take home. The best presentation was small jigs with plastic and/or spikes. I fished deadsticks for crappies with small minnows with no luck. After dark we switched up to glow pattern jigs for the crappie. All the fish were caught in 4-6 feet of water.

2008-03-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

03/06/08 Geneva Lake clear 20 degrees. Winds NNW 10-15 mph. Ice 10-12" in the Narrows. I had the chance to take a client out for lakers today. We hit the jackpot early! While

showing Roger my jigging technique and how to read a Vexilar FL-18 a laker came in within 15 seconds of dropping the lure down. That had to be record time for hooking up. Roger ended up landing a nice 28", 7 pound laker in less than 15 minutes. We marked a few more "sniffers", but no more takers. A great day on the ice!

2008-03-13T23:01:00.000-07:00

03/05/08 Not a fishing report, but a report nonetheless. I picked up my new Alumacraft 185 Tournament Pro boat today. It will be exciting to get out on the water with it as soon as my ice season comes to a close. I will post pics of my new vessel as soon as I get her rigged up. I have a little work to do yet to get it ready for the season. Stay Posted!

2008-03-13T22:52:00.000-07:00

03/02/08 Delavan Lake afternoon partly cloudy, foggy later 48 degrees, coolong back down to 28 degrees. Ice 14-18". With the warm temps today, we ended up with a good amount of water on top of the ice. In result we had the "toilet bowl effect" today ending up with many nice gills and crappies. What I mean by the "toilet bowl effect", is with all of the water running into the holes, it reminds me of a toilet flushing. Many of the bigger gills we caught were sitting right under those holes. Lots of warm water rolling under the ice. We had three flags, one had a heavy fish on, but managed to get wound up in weeds snapping my Pline flourocarbon leader with ease. No other gamefish were caught, but we ended up with many nice fillets going home with my clients. The best presentation were dark colored jigs with spikes during the daylight hours, switching over to glow colors after dark for crappies.

2008-03-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

03/02/08 Delavan Lake clear 32 degrees. Winds calm. Ice 14-18". With the warmer temperatures I had the feeling it would be a productive day on the water. That proved to be correct catching a nice mess of gills. The young guys I had the privilege to take out today tore it up catching a couple nice pike and took home some real nice gill and crappie fillets. The pike were caught on large golden roach shiners, and the best presentation for the gills were small jigs packed with spikes.

2008-03-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

03/01/08 Delavan Lake clear 20 degrees. Wind NNE 5 mph. Ice 12-14". We decided to pursue the walleyes again this morning coming up empty handed, but having the bright red image from the Vexilar, indicating sniffers but no takers. We headed in to the west end bays in 5-6 feet of water to catch some decent gills ranging from 7-9", the 9's being few and far between. We ended up with 45 nice keepers between three of us. The best presentation was dark colored Marmooskas and Rat Finkies packed with spikes.

2008-03-13T22:34:00.000-07:00

02/28/08 Delavan Lake clear 20 degrees. Wind WNW 10-15 mph. Ice on the main lake 12-14". Starting out early today we tried for walleyes at first light. We ended up marking 8 fish onthe Vexilar catching two fish. One at 12" and the other 14". A soon as the sun was up we switched gears to catch a few bluegills in Highlands Bay on the south west end of Delavan. We had our best luck catching fish on Rat Finkies with spikes.

2008-03-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

02/27/08 Geneva Lake snowing to clear 15 degrees. Winds NNW 5-10 mph. Ice 18" in Geneva Bay. Fishing was a little slow this morning. After marking a few fish on the Vexilar with no takers, we dropped the Aqua-Vu down to reveal many fish. The fish were completely still, and not interested in eating. The temp down to 14 feet was at 33 degrees. The fish were quite lethargic. We ended up catching a few nice pumpkinseeds after the sun was a little higher in the sky. Come on warm weather!

2008-02-26T10:57:00.000-08:00

02/24/08 Geneva Lake afternoon clear 30 degrees. Winds light and variable. Ice 12-14". I had the chance to fish with my taxidermist friend Don Rich of Natures Touch Taxidermy from Janesville, Wisconsin and a group of friends and colleagues fishing the narrows for lakers with a group of seven covering a lot of water. We marked 4 fish right off the bat, but the fish were not interested. Reports of many people out fishing have hooked fish losing them half way up in the past few weeks. I believe the fish are getting a strong case of lock-jaw in result of the foul hook-ups. We down sized a bit to turn the sniffers into biters with no avail. With the slow action, it was a great day to be out on the water.

2008-02-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

02/24/08 Geneva Lake clear 12 degrees, warming to 25 later in the day. Winds light and variable. Ice 12-18". We fished Geneva Bay in the morning with the bite starting slow and picking up around 10 a.m. a few nice pumpkinseeds were caught. Best colors were gold or chartreuse marmooskas. One 26" northern caught on medium roaches. Four other flags with the line run out 20 feet or so. Saw many fish on the Aqua-Vu along with some largemouth and pike, but dead still. The water column is very cold, marking 32 degrees at 22 feet.

2008-02-26T10:48:00.000-08:00

02/23/08 Geneva Lake clear 15 degrees. Winds NNW 5-10 mph. Ice 14-18" in Geneva Bay. Fishing was extremely slow due to the high pressure hovering over us. No Flags.

Reddy Guide Service will be in the Sunday Journal Sentinel!

2008-02-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

02/21/08 Geneva Lake partly cloudy/overcast later 15 degrees. Winds light and variable. Ice 10-12". I had the golden opportunity to fish with Paul Smith of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Judy Nugent of Outdoors Radio and Outdoor Wisconsin and one of my clients Donna Lotzer fro Madison, WI.

We targeted lake trout today being rewarded with a beautiful male laker 36" and 15.1 pounds. Judy hooked the fish around 11 a.m. or so. Judy being an awesome person let my client Donna fight the fish for 45 minutes landing the fish. I truly do not know who was more excited in the group. The adrenalin was pumping in all of us. Donna did a great job fighting the fish on 6 pound test using a jigging Rapala. We marked a few more fish with no avail.

This was a day I think all of us will mark down as a memorable one!

Photos by Paul Smith of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Fishing with Paul Smith from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel!

2008-02-26T10:13:00.000-08:00

02/14/08 Delavan Lake overcast 32 degrees. Winds SW 5-10 mph. Ice 15-18" in southwest bay. I had the opportunity to fish with two clients from Janesville and Paul Smith of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. We fished mainly for panfish ending up with 32 nice bluegills in the 7 1/2-8 1/2" range. We set a few tip-ups with no takers, but saw many northern swimming through looking with the Aqua-Vu. Between the four of us we caught 60-70 gills ranging from 4-8 1/2".

Best presentation was black Rat Finkies tipped with spikes.

Reddy Guide Service On Outdoor Wisconsin Again!

2008-02-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

02/13/08 Geneva Lake clear 15 degrees, the first bluebird day in a long time. Winds NE 5-10 mph. Ice 10-12". I had the opportunity to fish with Judy Nugent of Outdoor Wisconsin once again for a show on ice for lake trout. It certainly was an eventful day.

We fished in the narrows covering 70-85 feet of water. The first fish was on around 10 a.m. or so which Judy hooked while I was demonstrating how to use a Vexilar FL-18. She fought the fish for a good 40 minutes finally getting the fish to the hole. We had the fish up the hole when he fish lunged popping the hook out and slipping back to the depths. I estimate the fish was between 28-30".

While Judy was fighting that fish for 20 minutes one of my clients hooked another fish, so we rushed over to my client to film his fight with the same result, the hook flying out of the fish at the hole.

After some time I hooked into a fish at noon, playing the fish out for around 40 minutes landing a nice 24" laker.

All in all a great day on the water, ending with a delicious bratwurst fry.

2008-02-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

02/11/08 Geneva Lake overcast 20 degrees. Winds NNE 5-1 mph. Ice 6-7". Fished for lakers in 65-75 feet of water with many sniffers, no takers. I fished for maybe an hour or so. Doing a little scouting for an Outdoor Wisconsin television segment on Wednesday.

2008-02-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

02/05/08 Geneva Lake rain 38 degrees. Winds NNE 10-15 mph. Ice 4-5". I fished the narrows today hunting down lakers. I ended up hooking one fish losing it on the second run. Marked maybe 10 fish in around two hours. Jigging in 85 feet of water with jigging raps and spoons.

2008-02-26T09:57:00.000-08:00

02/09/08 Delavan Boat Show at Community Park 9-6 p.m.

2008-02-26T09:53:00.000-08:00

02/01/08 Delavan Lake overcast/snow 29 degrees. Winds NE 10-15 mph. 10-11" ice in the northwest bay. We had a good morning catching gills and few nice crappie fihing jigs tipped with plastics in 5-8 feet of water. The pike bite "again" was not happening. No flags. Talking with a few other fishermen over the course of the ice fishing season, the pike catch rate is down. Many of the pike being caught are between 24-28", lots of young fish swimming.

2008-02-26T09:47:00.000-08:00

01/31/08 Delavan Lake clear 19 degrees. Winds NNE 5-10 mph. Ice 8-10". I had the chance to go fishing with local reporter Mike Heine from The Week. We did a story on ice fishing and why we do it. After our outing I think Mike had a new perspective on the "insane" sport of looking down an ice hole. We caught a few decent gills, but the northern pike were not actively biting today. Photos by Dan Plutchak of The Week.

2008-02-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

01/27/08 Delavan Lake clear 32 degrees. Winds West 10-15 mph. Ice 8-10". We fished a little shallower today in the 5-6 foot range catching 20 nice gills between 7-9" out of 40 fish or so caught on gold and glow pattern jigs with plastics and spikes. Two flags with the line run out about 10-20 feet. Tip-ups were baited with smelt and golden roaches.

2008-02-26T09:37:00.000-08:00

01/26/08 Delavan Lake snowing 17 degrees. Winds SSW 5-10 mph. Ice 8-10" in the bay. No flags using a mix of offerings. We ended up with 40 nice gills catching most of the fish with any jigs in the glow pattern. We fished 5-8 feet of water.

2008-02-26T09:34:00.000-08:00

01/07/08 Delavan Lake rain/foggy 60 degrees! Winds light and variable, picking up to 10-20 later. Ice 5-6" deteriorating quickly. Tornado warnings out after we left the ice. The bite was awesome today. We limited out in gills within 45 minutes using glow teardrops and spikes. One 24" northern on smelt.

2008-02-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

01/06/08 Turtle Lake foggy/overcast 48 degrees. Winds light and variable. Ice 6-7". 2-3" of water on the ice. We fished the 15-17 weedline ending up with 10 nice perch between 7-10". No flags set with fatheads for walleyes. Best bait for the perch was using rockers with spikes. Quite the sunset!

2008-02-26T09:26:00.000-08:00

01/06/08 Delavan Lake foggy 40 degrees. Winds calm. 5-6" ice. Fished 12-15 feet of water with tip-ups and jigging for gills. We ended up with 3 flags but no fish using medium suckers. Caught 35 gills with 11 being 7-8 1/2" using Rat Finkies and spikes.

2008-02-25T23:13:00.000-08:00

01/05/08 Delavan Lake overcast/heavy fog 35 degrees. Winds light and variable. Ice 5". Fished the Northeast end of the lake for walleyes. Two "flags", but no fish. Fished 5-8 feet of water with fatheads on tip-ups.

2008-02-25T23:07:00.002-08:00

01/01/08 Turtle Lake clear and cold! 12 degrees. Winds 5-10 mph. Ice 6-8”. Fishing was quite slow due to the cold temps and high pressure. We ended up with 10 gills and no flags. Most of the fish were caught fishing 25-28 feet of water on the bottom dead sticking small jigs and spikes.

2008-02-25T23:07:00.001-08:00

12/31/07 Turtle Lake overcast 34 degrees. Winds light and variable. Ice 6”. No flags today, but we ended up with 20 nice bluegills ranging 7-8”. Best depth was 17-20 FOW, fishing brown and black jigs tipped with wax-worms and spikes.

Fishing With My Son Very Memorable!

2008-02-25T23:05:00.001-08:00

12/30/07 Turtle Lake overcast/snow 32 degrees. Winds light and variable. Ice thickness 5-6”. I had the opportunity to take my son out fishing today. I am quite proud of my boy reeling in a 20 ½” walleye. After catching the fish my son asked if we could let it go. A true young sportsman and steward, practicing catch and release. We also managed to catch 25 nice gills and a few perch fishing small jigs tipped with spike in 12-17 FOW. My son caught the walleye on a dead-stick tip-up using large fatheads fishing 17-19 FOW.

2008-02-25T23:00:00.000-08:00

12/29/07 Delavan Lake snow 28 degrees. High winds 25-30 mph. Ice thickness 5” in the bay, wide open out on the main lake. Fished the west side of the lake on the north side of the Island. Pretty good day out on the ice ending up with 20 nice gills fishing gold tungsten jigs tipped with plastic or spikes. We fished 3-5 FOW. On the tip-ups we landed a nice 23” northern pike, and lost one larger fish at the hole. We also had 5 other “flags”, but no fish. The line was run out 10-30 feet. Many of the minnows were crushed with out tooth marks leaving me to believe that largemouth may have been the culprits.

2008-02-25T22:56:00.002-08:00

12/22/07 Delavan Lake heavy fog/raining 48 degrees. 3-4”ice thickness, lots of water on the surface. We fished mainly for pan-fish, setting tip-ups for pike also. The fishing action was pretty slow to start. We ended up with 15 bluegills ranging from 7-8 ½”, and a 20” northern pike. We fished 4-8 FOW fishing medium suckers and smelt for the pike, while fishing Rat Finkies tipped with plastics and spikes.

2008-02-25T22:56:00.001-08:00

12/20/07 Delavan Lake clear 30 degrees. First ice fishing outing of the year. Ice thickness 4-5”, 4-5” of snow cover. We fished the morning bite ending up with 3 northern pike 24-27” and 11 nice bluegills ranging 8-9”. We fished the west end of the lake north of the Island. Best depths 5-8 FOW. For the pike we used small to medium suckers on tip-ups. The gills we used small marmooska jigs tipped with spikes.

2008-02-25T22:55:00.000-08:00

12/17/07 Delavan Lake snowing 18 degrees. Winds SW 5-10 mph. H20 33.1 degrees. After a long hiatus from fishing, I took some time to acquire my captain’s license, taking a class up in Green Bay, and taking care of un finished business. We casted stick baits in between the ice floes on the windward side of the lake. We ended up catching three walleyes 17-17 ¾”, fishing 17-22 FOW. Most of the lake was iced up, excluding a huge open area between the Yacht club going south east.

2008-02-25T22:54:00.002-08:00

11/29/07 Delavan Lake clear/partly cloudy 41 degrees. Winds NNW 10-15 mph. H20 temps 40.8 degrees. I fished the windward points casting stickbaits, switching to long-line trolling producing 6 walleye ranging from 17-21”. Best depths 12-20 FOW.

2008-02-25T22:54:00.001-08:00

11/23/07 Delavan Lake clear 33 degrees. Winds light and variable. H20 temps at surface 41.6 degrees. Casted the shoreline for eyes, producing two shorts. Not many fish marked tonight. Fished 15-25 FOW.

2008-02-25T22:52:00.001-08:00

11/21/07 Delavan Lake fished the evening bite, snowing 32 dropping to 18 degrees. Winds NNE 20-25 mph. H20 temps at surface 42 degrees. Worked the lake long-line trolling switching to casting the shore line with stick baits. Quite a productive night ending up with 12 walleyes total. Out of that twelve, three keepers 18-19” fish. Best depths 17-22 FOW.

2008-02-25T22:48:00.001-08:00

11/18/07 Delavan Lake rain 40 degrees. Winds NNW 5-10 mph. H20 temps 42 degrees. Long line trolled walleyes along south shore. Caught 11 walleyes ranging 17-25 3/4". All fish caught in 15-20 FOW. Trolling stick-baits between .5 and 1 mph. Great fishing in nasty weather!

2008-02-25T22:47:00.000-08:00

11/04/07 Delavan Lake afternoon, clear 45 degrees. Winds NW 5-10 mph. We fished targeting crappies then walleyes at dusk. The crappies were biting fair to good giving us 12 good eater size fish. The walleye bite started slow, but when the sun hit the trees we ended up catching two short eyes. The best depth was 24-33 FOW. We fished using fathead minnows and crawlers Lindy rigged drifting. The crappies were caught under slip-bobbers and casting Mini-Mites.

2008-02-25T22:44:00.001-08:00

11/04/07 Delavan Lake morning, clear 50 degrees. Winds NNW 5-10 mph. H20 temps at surface 54.5 degrees. We fished artificial baits today for bass concentrating on the main lake points and deep weed-lines. Swim-baits and rattle-traps were the productive presentations today. We fished 20-45 feet of water ending up with 3 undersized walleyes, 2 largemouth 17 ¾-18”, and one northern pike 31”.

2008-02-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

11/03/07 Delavan Lake morning, clear and cold 33 degrees. Winds calm increasing 5-10 mph. H20 temps 53.1 degrees. Very slow morning early, around 10 a.m. the bite started to heat up. We ended up with around 10 crappies, 2 short walleyes and 3 northern pike 27-31 ½”. Nice and calm with no pleasure boat traffic.

2008-02-25T22:35:00.000-08:00

11/03/07 Delavan Lake afternoon, clear 49 degrees. Winds light and variable. H20 temps at surface 54 degrees. Targeting northerns today we ended up with a nice 33” along with a few undersized fish. We also fished for walleyes ending up with one legal and three undersized fish. Best depth was 33 feet of water today. In between we caught a few crappies fishing small fatheads under slip-bobbers. Notice the great fish-fighting stance! My clients did a great job reeling them in today!

2008-02-25T22:34:00.000-08:00

11/01/07 Delavan Lake clear 37 degrees. Winds NNW 10-15 mph. H20 Temps 55 degrees at surface. Pretty quiet today on the lake. Most of the fish I marked were on or close to the bottom. We ended up catching a few crappies dragging small jigs and minnows on the bottom in 30-35 feet of water. We switched gears to fish for walleyes ending up with two shorts and one smallmouth 17 ½” fishing 25-30 feet of water.

2008-02-25T22:33:00.000-08:00

10/28/07 Geneva Lake afternoon, clear 55 degrees. Winds light and variable. H20 temp at surface 57 degrees. Fished for crappies near Trinkes and Geneva Bay. Ended up catching some nice smallies ranging from 17-18 ½” in 20-25 feet of water. Did not mark many schools of fish at all.

2008-02-25T22:31:00.000-08:00

10/28/07 Delavan Lake morning, clear 39 degrees. Winds light and variable. H20 temp at surface 56.8 degrees. Low clarity today, the lake may be starting to turn. Barometric pressure 30.06 rising. We fished the main points this morning with swim-baits and plastic grubs on darter heads. The action was unbelievable for around an hour or so. We caught 4 largemouth, 17-20”, 1 smallmouth 18 ½”, 3 northern pike 24-28”, around 15 crappies ranging 8-12”. Best depths were 26-36 feet of water. Best time was 9-10:30 a.m.

2008-02-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

10/28/07 Delavan Lake clear 38 degrees. Winds light increasing to 10-15 mph. H20 temps 58.7 degrees. Caught 3 largemouth 17-20", 4 walleyes 16-17", one smallmouth 18 1/2", 3 northern pike 24-28" and 15 crappies 8-10" using fathead minnows fishing the main breakline adjacent to the weedline. Best depth 20-30 feet. Fished minnows drifting Lindy rigs and drop-shot rigs. For the game-fish we casted lipless cranks and swim-baits. Many of the fish were on or near the bottom with such a cold morning.

The Fall Bite Can Be Excellent!

2008-02-25T22:17:00.001-08:00

10/26/07 Delavan Lake clear 48 degrees. Winds calm. H20 temp at surface 59.2 degrees. Fished for walleyes and crappies off of the north shore. Ended up with a few walleyes the largest being 23”. We also caught a few smallmouth the largest being 20 1/2 “. Fish were caught on drop-shotting crawlers and fatheads due to calm winds. Crappies were suspended over 22-24 feet of water. Caught crappies on fatheads and plastics. We fished a combination of casting and using slip-bobbers.

2008-02-25T22:12:00.001-08:00

10/25/07 Delavan Lake afternoon, clear 45 degrees. Winds picked up to 20-25 mph. H20 temp at surface 59.9 degrees. Had a difficult time with boat control. We fished the leeward side of the lake. Caught a few under sized pike. We also ended up catching a few under sized large mouth and smallmouth bass. Ended up calling it a day early due to winds.

Cool Crisp Fall Air!

2008-02-25T22:06:00.001-08:00

10/25/07 Delavan Lake morning, clear 40 degrees. Wind SSW 10-15 mph. Water temp at surface 60 degrees. Had a great trip fishing for walleyes and crappies. We ended up with a few nice northern pike in between. The biggest walleye was 23” with a few 17-17 3/4” Lindy rigging crawlers and fatheads. Crappies were suspended in 30-35 FOW 10 feet down. Used plastics and minnows for the crappies vertically jigging.

2008-02-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

10/22/07 Delavan Lake rain 53 degrees. Wind NNE 10-15 mph. Water temp at surface 60.6 degrees. Fished 20-25 FOW caught crappies at 10-15 feet down suspended. Caught two walleyes 18 ½-19 ½” and one largemouth 19” all in 24-28 FOW fishing swim-baits off of the main points along the north shore. Fished by myself today scouting out a few new areas.

2008-02-25T21:59:00.002-08:00

10/21/07 Geneva Lake clear/partly cloudy later 76 degrees. Wind SSW 5-10 mph. H20 temps at surface 60.6 degrees. Caught 10 smallies between 12-17”, many rock bass in between. Best depth 28-33 FOW. Fish caught on swim baits and drop-shotting small Senkos.

2008-02-25T21:59:00.001-08:00

2008-02-25T21:57:00.001-08:00

10/20/07 Rock River clear 70 degrees. Wind 5-10 mph. Water was a little high due to the rains. Caught 2 saugers 15-17”. Caught on jigs and ringworms and munchies in pink and chartreuse combination.

2008-02-25T12:37:00.000-08:00

10/19/07 Milwaukee River rain/overcast 38 degrees. Water level high to normal. Clarity fair. Had a few decent fish on. Ended up catching a carp on spawn today. Still a fun fight! Drifting skein and spawn on split shot rigs.

2008-02-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

10/16/07 Milwaukee River at Estabrook Park overcast/rain. 48 degrees. Water was 12" high from all of the rain. Water clarity was poor to fair. Ended up with two nice Kings, one 12lbs. Caught drifting spawn.

2008-02-25T12:31:00.000-08:00

10/15/07 Delavan Lake 55 degrees rain/windy. H20 68.3 degrees. Trolled fo walleyes tonight 12:30-3:30 a.m. Marked many fish on or near the bottom. The rain pounded quite hard a few times pushing the fish to the bottom. No takers tonight.

2008-02-25T12:28:00.000-08:00

10/14/07 Milwaukee River at Estabrook Park rain. Winds NW 10-15 mph. Caught 4 Kings today, tough bite due to water clarity being quite low. Large amount of run-off in the river. We fished spawn and skein on split shot rigs.

2008-02-25T12:23:00.000-08:00

10/06/07 Milwaukee River overcast/rain 48 degrees. Water level high. We had a great time fishing the river today. Fishing spawn and skein drifting with split shot. We ended up with 14 fish, 10 kings, 2 browns, 1 lake trout and one rainbow. Many fish were stacked up below the Estabrook Dam, the run is on! Good reports all along the river near Locust and North Avenue bridges up to Thie

nsville.

2008-02-25T12:18:00.000-08:00

10/05/07 Delavan Lake clear 75 degrees. Winds calm. H20 temps 69.9 degrees. We fished the early morning bite today ending up with 4 nice walleyes fishing 26-33 FOW using fatheads and crawlers on split-shot rigs. We also caught a nice mess of crappies and gills along with the eyes. Noticed quite the algae bloom on the surface today along the north shore. Most of the gills were caught on or near the bottom in 33 feet of water.

2008-02-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

10/04/07 Geneva Lake clear 80 degrees. Winds SW 5-10 mph. The smallmouth were quite active today. We fished the main points along the south and north shores catching 16 smallies ranging between 16-19". The most productive depths were 30-35 feet of water and a few were caught in 18-20 feet of water. We also caught some decent pumkinseeds and gills along with the smallmouth. Fishing half crawlers on drop-shots was the ticket today.

Bluegills!

2008-02-25T11:57:00.000-08:00

9/26/07 Delavan Lake clear 60 degrees. Winds light and variable. We had a great trip catching bluegills and crappies. We also caught a few under sized walleyes. Best depth today was 22 FOW fishing with small fathead minnows and crawlers on split shot rigs. Don, my client snapped pictures of me cleaning their catch. Notice the Fillet King Boards, very handy tools in cleaning your fish. If you have any questions about Fillet King Boards, contact me at 262.949.3470 or reddyguideservice@yahoo.com.

Tight Lines!

Reddy Guide Service will be on Outdoor Wisconsin!

2008-02-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

9/26/07 Delavan Lake clear 50 degrees. Wind light and variable. H20 at surface 68.3 degrees. I had the golden opportunity to fish with Judy Nugent of Outdoor Wisconsin today on Delavan. We had a great outing catching a mixed bag of crappies, blugills, walleye and one bonus northern pike. Judy hooked into a nice northern pike in the mid 30's for length while trying to entice a walleye. The show will air sometime in spring of 2008. Most of our fish were caught off of the Yacht Club and Willow Point fishing 25-35 FOW. Unfortunately I did not remember to snap a few pictures during our outing.

What a Day!

2008-02-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

9/23/07 Delavan Lake clear 75 degrees. Winds 10-15 mph SSW. H20 temps 68.6 degrees. We hit a great crappie and bluegill bite this afternoon. We fished the main points along the north shore catching fish suspended over 30-35 feet of water at around 20-25 feet. Near sunset we caught two nice keeper walleyes 18 1/2" and 19". The crappies were caught on minnows and plastics. Walleyes were caught on fathead minnows on lindy rigs.

2008-02-06T18:09:00.000-08:00

09/22/07 Geneva Lake clear 45 degrees. Winds light and variable. H20 67.6 degrees at surface. I had the opportunity to go out fishing with Piero, which has been a while. We fished strictly artificials for smallmouth and large mouth bass producing 4 largemouth and 8 smallies. Drop-shotting Senkos and Flukes produced the most fish. Yo-Zuri Rattlin-Vibes and swim-baits also worked well to bring a few fish in the boat. Tight Lines!

2008-02-06T18:05:00.000-08:00

09/21/07 Geneva Lake clear/cold 55 degrees. Winds SW 5-10 mph. H20 temp at surface 69 degrees. We had a small window of opportunity today! The best bite was between 9-10 a.m. catching 15 smallies 17-20". We alo caught some decent gills in deepr water fishing 35-45 FOW. Drop-shot rigs tipped with fatheads, shiners and crawlers all produced bites and fish.

Roller Coaster Weather!

2008-02-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

Geneva Lake clear 84 degrees. Winds NNE 5-10 mph. H20 temp at surface 68.3 degrees. Turned out to be a slow bite today with the high pressure system moving in. We did well catching a mess of gills in deep water ranging from 25-35 FOW. We also caught 7 smallmouth ranging from 17-18". Drop-shotting crawlers was the best method to entice these fish, holding close to the bottom. It was certainly a finesse bite, losing quite few due to the little or no detection of the fish taking the offering.

Big Water Today!

2008-02-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

09/17/07 Geneva Lake clear 80 degrees. Winds SSE 10-20 mph. White caps, three foot waves today, dying down near dark. H20 temp at surface 68.2 degrees. Backtrolled lindy rigged crawlers producing some nice smallies ranging from 10-19 1/2". Most of the fish were caught in 25-30 FOW, but a few fish were caught as shallow as 15 FOW.

Hot Action On a Cold Morning!

2008-02-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

09/16/07 Geneva Lake clear 46 degrees. Winds SW 10-20 mph. H20 70.5 degrees at surface. It is always a pleasure to fish with my friends, and clients Steve and Karl. We were blessed with a hot bite today on a cold morning! Targeting smallies, Reddy Guide Service produced just that! Geneva was the place to be. We boated 40+ smallies, missing a handful more. We also had a good blue gill bite going for a small window of time. The most productive water was near the Military Academy, Fontana and Cedar point. Fishing 23-42 FOW, which is quite a spread. That is part of the game and puzzle is moving until you find the fish. I give each area 15-20 minutes moving on to the next destination until we find fish. All of the fish were CPR'd today. Tight Lines!

Crisp Fall Air!

2008-02-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

09/15/07 Geneva Lake clear 60 degrees. Winds SW 5 mph. H20 70.1 degrees at surface. The action slowed up a bit in the afternoon. We managed to boat 23 smallmouth ranging 14-20". At dusk the "bull gills" turned on in the deeper water giving up around 15 fish ranging 8-9 1/2". The most productive depths were 28-36 FOW. We had equal success with split-shot and drop-shot rigs tipped with crawlers and small shiners. We also Lindy riggend perch in the shallower water for a few smallies.

Geneva is on Fire!

2008-02-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

09/15/07 Geneva Lake clear and cold! 39 degrees, with frost on the pier. Winds WSW 5-10 mph. H20 68 degrees at surface. The smallmouth had the feedbag on this morning! Russ and Jim could not reel the smallies in fast enough. In four hours we boated 40-50 smallmouth ranging 12-19 3/4", one 17 1/2" walleye , and 18 nice sized bluegills ranging 8-9". The best depth ranged from 22-35 FOW. We fished split-shot rigs tipped with crawlers, anchored and drifting. The bite was light, but Jim and Russ out smarted

these wise fish.