Grand Lake - Mid-winter traffic is at an all-time high on Grand Lake right now. Between the hockey tournament, the ice skating, and the general tourism, there is a lot of traffic on the lake. With that said, fishing as far away as you can from the high traffic areas will increase your odds for a great day on the ice. Ice thickness continue to get better but there is still some slush present. The pump canal is pumping water and the open water area on the west side of the lake, in front of the bridge, contains a large amount of unsafe ice due to the current. The rainbow and brown trout fishing remains fair. Fishing as early in the day or late in the afternoon as possible will increase your odds of catching fish. Small jigs tipped with a wax worm have been providing the best opportunities. These fish are being caught between 10 and 20 feet of water and most are suspended in the water column. I like to use Clam drop kick and Clam caviar jigs when targeting the rainbows. The lake trout fishing on Grand Lake has remained steady over the past week. We are seeing most fish in the 40-to-80-foot range. Small tube jigs, grub style jigs, and twisters are getting the vast majority of the action. We are tipping our jigs with a very small piece of sucker meat that is no bigger than a fingernail. Right now, using scent is also a very important part of the puzzle. We are loading our jigs up with shrimp flavored scents. Starting right now, the famous Grand Lake suspended bite has begun. We are finding the suspended fish 40 to 60 feet down over 80 to 120 feet of water. When fishing the suspended lake trout, position your jigs 1 to 3 feet above the fish and you will almost be guaranteed a bite. Fishing with Bernie Guide , Jake Foos
Williams Fork Reservoir - Water level is at 74%. A lot of the snow on the lake has melted creating some slushy and slick walking conditions. Lake trout bite has been fair. Small tube jigs and grubs tipped with sucker meat have been producing fish. When the bite on the bottom slows down try switching to small tungsten jig heads tipped with sucker meat a foot off the bottom. Staying mobile and moving around to different pieces of structure has been key in producing more fish. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Sam Hochevar.
Lake Granby - Water level is at 71% or approximately 23.5 ft low. Travel conditions on the lake are good after the cold night on Sunday, slush is minimal, but we do have snow in the forecast so be prepared if snow starts to accumulate with the new storms. Rainbow trout and brown trout action has been fair, with the best action being the 30 minutes before sunrise or after sunset. Target the rocky faces of the dikes and dam face with a white or pink colored Dynamic Twitch tube or 1/8oz clown colored Clam Leach Flutter Spoon tipped with a waxie. Lake trout action has been very good since the tournament. We are finding excellent numbers of fish in the 35-65ft depths, a pumpkin green grub or 2 1/2” tube is getting the most bites, but like always staying mobile and keeping on top of active fish is key while ice fishing on Granby. With the traffic on the lake in full swing, now is the time to start thinking outside the box and finding some of that out of the way structure that holds fish. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon.
The Fishing with Bernie team has been guiding in Grand County for over 25 years. For more info please check out www.fishingwithbernie.com, www.facebook.com/FishingWithBernie/ or our Instagram pages https://www.instagram.com/fishing_with_bernie https://www.instagram.com/fishingwithaltitude