Lake Delavan Wisconsin

Saturday morning we left Peoria at 6 am and stopped in at Didleys Restaurant in Metamora to meet up with the rest of our group and grab a bite to eat on our way up to Lake Delavan just across the Wisconsin border. Whew that was a mouthful but got er out. Speaking of mouth full, what a great way to start off a fishing trip!!! My grandma says I butcher the English language, but so be it, why not put er all into one sentence....

Anyhow I figured about 3 hrs from Metamora to the main boat ramp on Delavan, boy was I wrong. It only took 2 hrs and 5 minutes and we were there WAAY early for our noon meeting time. This trip started out as a trip to get my nephew Tyden onto some northern pike, but turned into much more! Tyden's dad and grandpa came along, my dad and grandpa and father in law and brother came along, and even a client from Texas James Holt flew up with his father in law for a chance at some northern pike. Its hard to impress a guy from Texas with perhaps one of the best private bass lakes in the entire United States. He has one of the most intensively managed lakes on the planet!

We hired the best guides Delavan had to offer (all four of them) for this Saturday evening and Sunday morning fishing trip. Just kidding, there actually are quite a few guides up that way that fish Delavan and Geneva. Our guides for the trip were Steve Everetts with Finseekers Guide Service, Walt Koch with Red Rock Guide Service, Steve Ryan and Dave King. The latter two dont have websites, but they seriously know how to fish and show up on fishing shows and magazines all over the place!

I was very shocked at how reasonable the guides were for fishing trips up there. $250 gets you and your son on the water to catch fish like these below. An additional angler yet is $50 or so. Everything is included except your Wisconsin fishing license which costs you $10. Our main goal, get Tyden some Pike. Mission Accomplished-




While in pursuit of the feisty pike, we also landed quite a few real nice bass-









Next Goal- Grandpa some big fish!





James first ever northern pike:


And his second northern pike:


His Father in Law Larry with a NICE bass:


My dad and father in law got a few good ones. Here was a nice double they hooked and landed together-


So we have some awesome pictures and we all had a BLAST the whole weekend from start to finish, but the highlight of the trip and probably my life was the Italian Beef sandwich from Riga-Tony's Italian Restaurant just 1/2 mile from the boat ramp. I am planning a trip back up to Delavan with Brook just to go eat at that little specialty meat shop again!!! Seriously I might tend to exaggerate a bit here and there, but this is the most unique unbelievable out of this world eatery I have ever been to. Its a bucket list item.......hey when you do end up going there be sure to call or text me to say THANKS!

If you want to learn how to fish those waters which are surprisingly close to home, definitely hire the guide for the first trip and you should be good to go with your own boat from there on out. Its a hard fishery to figure out on your own, but a not so hard fishery once you learn just a few tricks. Tip number one, go on a weekday if possible....It is not a well kept secret, everyone knows how good the fishing is there.

The guides I mentioned are more geared towards education and just a good time doing what you want to do rather than running you through the motions to collect the money at the end. Believe me I have been with many various guides from across the country and these guys are top notch first class educators and entertainers. Walt is a retired something or other, very laid back, do whatever you want to do professional. If your an older guy looking for a relaxing time on the water with someone to talk politics and maybe even religion while catching some fish, or a family looking for a relaxing time on the water, get in touch with Walt! I greatly enjoyed my evening fishing with him and my dad and grandpa.

If your a young adventure seeker looking to run all over the place casting like a maniac with the very best boat and gear on the planet than Steve Everetts is the guide for you. He will work you to the ground to hunt down and catch BIG fish. Just check out his website, the pics are unbelievable. I have fished with Steve a couple times here and there, the man is an extreme fishing machine.

Here is the perfect ending to cap off a great weekend fishing trip with friends and family across 4 generations!!!

Summer Fish

Filling up at gas stations is pretty much a daily routine that last few weeks. Been traveling all over and then trying to build my house with every waking spare moment. Got the drywall all hung and taped and even primed, but still got a ton of exterior work to get done before I get inside to trim it out. This house will end up taking just a hair over a year from start to finish working on nights and weekends. Here are a couple pics of the kitchen/great room. I'll get some more of the exterior later in the week.



I have squeezed in a couple short fishing trips over the last couple weeks. First time in a couple years I took people fishing without taking a camera, was a weird feeling. I was able to snap a couple of photos of fishing with my sister in law from kansas:





Chef Todd is on my Pro Staff for Illinoisfishingproperties.com. We have partnered up with Illinoislandcompany.com to create the ultimate opportunity to market and sell our clients fishing and hunting properties. He has been fishing like crazy and getting some amazing pics from some amazing fishing properties, even in the heat!
 

We decided to drain one pond to fill up the newly constructed smallmouth pond. Who wants to wait till rain....



Once we got the one pond all drained out as much as possible we had Rob from DNR come out and kill off the remaining fish with Rotenone so we can start that pond all over again without existing fish to contend with. Believe it or not, that actually is the fastest way to make a world class fishery as opposed to working with existing useless fish.

So anyhow I had a good friend and client James Holt and his Father In Law from Texas come up on Friday and we did some fishing before heading up to Lake Delavan on Saturday and Sunday. James has one of the best private fishing lakes in Texas, but he wanted to come up north and try for some northern species of fish. Here are a couple pics from a short Friday afternoon fishing trip, but the rest of the Lake Delavan pics and adventure will be for another day...






So anyhow the Lake Delavan fishing adventure is a must see for anyone who like bass, pike, and walleye fishing. We headed up there with 10 guys for a Saturday evening and Sunday morning fishing trip.......