Grand County Fishing Report Week of 2/20/24

Grand Lake - Travel conditions on the lake have improved for the most part though you will still find some deep snow and slush spots. The bite for rainbow trout and brown trout has been slow. We are finding some success shallow, less than 8ft, at first and last light with Clam Jointed Pinhead spoons in white and pink, tipped with a wax worm. Lake trout action has been fair with best action in the 65-90ft range with brightly colored chartreuse, pink, and glow tubes or grubs, tipped with a small piece of fresh sucker meat or a salmon egg worked along the bottom. We have also been having some success with Flutter Spoons and Jigging raps in blue/silver colors and chasing the suspended fish we are seeing in the upper parts of the water column. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon.

Williams Fork Reservoir - Travel on the lake has been difficult with the recent snow and slush across the lake. Bring very good waterproof footwear and travel light, you are going to work getting around. The bite for rainbow trout has been slow. Lake trout action has been fair with best action for fish in the 15-18” size range. Best action has been on 2” tubes or hair jigs in brown or black tipped with a small piece of sucker meat, target the 50-70ft range and stay as mobile as you can if you are not consistently marking fish. Fishing with Bernie Guide Team.

Lake Granby - Travel conditions are as you would expect for this time of year and the amount of snow we have received. There are some large areas with deep snow and slush, while other areas near the most popular access points are rough and frozen solid. Finding more slush and deeper snow the more East you travel on the lake, be prepared in the event you get stuck and we highly recommend waterproof boots. The rainbow trout and brown trout action has been fair with best action along the dam faces early in the morning, a Little Cleo spoon or a tungsten tipped with minnow head or wax worm have been go to baits. Lake trout action has been slow to fair depending on the day which is very normal for our mid-ice conditions. Finding groups of fish willing to bite has been the key, many spots you will mark fish which are curious but will not bite, stay mobile until you find the feeding fish! Look for active fish in 50 to 85ft of water, P&D Lure Co. 3inch grubs in chartreuse or purple tipped with sucker have been consistently producing on most days. We are also starting to see the suspended spoon bite appearing so have a Clam Flutter spoon tied on and ready to drop to those suspended fish cruising through when you mark them on your electronics. 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

Grand County Fishing Report Week of 2/5/24

GRAND LAKE - Conditions on the lake are changing with every storm that is dropping snow on the lake. There are some very good spots and there are some very bad spots found throughout. The easiest access points are off of the swim beach area and within the docks in town. Please make sure that you have a pair of boots that will shed water as the slush can range from an inch deep to pushing a foot in depth. Rainbows and browns are still hitting well presented bug imitation jigs in fairly shallow water. When fishing for the rainbows and browns, make sure to fish as early as you can and stay as quiet as possible when fishing less than 10’ of water. Tipping your jig will greatly increase the bite ratio. We are tipping our jigs with wax worms and very small pieces of fresh shrimp. The best jigs we have found right now are small CLAM Caviar jigs as well as small ice flys. Keep an eye on your electronics because we have found some very good fishing right below the ice pending you are quiet enough not to spook the fish. The lake trout fishing remains pretty good right now in about 50-80 feet of water. Look for the flattest bottom possible or at the top of a drop off when fishing as they like to have a “room with a view”. Again, I am downsizing my baits this time of year and am focusing a lot of effort with the finesse approach. Small Simcoe bugs by SIFlies are a main staple but don’t overlook a small soft plastic or tube jig as well. When fishing or the lake trout in Grand Lake, keep your baits as natural looking as possible. By that I mean, use smaller jig strokes and hug the bottom as much as possible. Always use a small, small piece of sucker meat or skin and load up on scent. These two pieces of the puzzle will greatly increase you odds. As always, if you are over deep water, keep an eye out for the suspended fish on your graph and put your jig 1-2 feet above the marks. This will almost guarantee a strike! - Fishing with Bernie Guide, Jake Foos

Williams Fork - Lake trout have been fishing well in 50 to 60 feet of water. Small plastic jigs in the 1 to 3 inch range tipped with sucker meat have been catching most of the fish. Drop offs around deep flats have been the most productive areas. Staying mobile and moving around structure has also been key to catching fish. Snow has made travel a little bit more difficult around the lake and we are seeing a few slushy areas as well. - Fishing with Bernie Guide, Sam Hochevar

Lake Granby - Conditions on Granby are also changing almost daily. It seems that once we get the fresh snow to from up we get another dumping of the white stuff and that is making for some very slushy conditions. I have found this year that being tied to weigh points and potentially having to fish in a foot of water/snow/slush is not necessary. Study your maps and look for “similarities” in bottom structure in areas that may not be swamped with slush right now. As always, make sure that you have all of the right gear and safety supplies (food, water, etc) because getting stuck might take some time to get out and fishing again. Stay safe and have fun! Rainbows and browns are still biting pretty well throughout the lake. Currently, we are keying in on shoreline structure and fishing around large rock piles. Very small tubes and similar soft plastics are getting most of the attention. Make sure to add a little bit of meat to the jig and load it up with some scent. I would suggest fishing as close to sunrise and sunset in the shallow water as possible. 3-15 feet of water is what is working for us right now. The lake trout fishing remains very strong right now for eater fish as well as big fish. We have found that the fish are much more pressured than they were a week or two ago and paying very special attention to the size of your bait and color are key factors to success. We are using more natural colored tube jigs for the big fish in the 3-5 inch range and fishing them very close to the bottom. The eater lake trout are still smashing just about anything you get in front of their faces. We are finding these fish starting to move towards deeper water as spring approaches. The deeper bite seems to be providing more constant action right now. We are focusing our efforts in 50-70 feet of water right now. For the small lakers, you cant beat a Simcoe bug or certain walleye jigs tipped with a small piece of sucker meat. The morning seems to remain strong and starts to taper off around 2:00 pm. Stay tuned to our facebook page as we will be releasing some more information on a new jig we are working on that is powered by a Trokar hook! Tight Lines and be safe out there! - Fishing with Bernie Guide, Jake Foos

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