Grand County Fishing Report Week of 8/12/2024

Grand Lake - Boat ramp hours are 6am-8pm. Starting to see the dog days of summer, the best periods of the day for rainbow and brown trout continue to be sunrise and sunset. Spoons are our primary lure choice right now, as this versatile lure allows us to work different depths until we find the one that is holding fish. A long cast, count your lure down, then lift fall erratic retrieve is producing fish. Vary your counting down until you find what is working. Lake trout bite is fair on most days, finding fish in 60-110 ft of water. A 1/2oz glow head jig with a 2” black power grub tipped with sucker has been our go to lure choice. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon.

Williams Fork Reservoir - The east boat ramp hours are 6AM to 8PM daily. The water level is 97% or about 2 feet low. Inflow is 60cfs outflow is 202cfs. Surface temp has been 66 early am warming to 70 degrees on calm sunny days. Visibility is 10 to 12 feet. The Lake Trout bite is fair right now, we're seeing 5 to 6 fish per rod on a slow day, 8 to 10 on a good day. We're still picking up a few fish as shallow as 60 feet but most have moved to deeper water. Look for Laker's in 70 to 80 feet. Small plastics tipped with sucker meat fished on or just above the bottom seems to be the best presentation right now. Sometimes adding scent helps. Cranking up to a Laker that is suspended or swimming in the column has a good chance of getting hit as these fish are actively looking for food. Releasing big Lakers into warm surface water after a long fight can be challenging this time of year. To help increase the odds of a successful release minimize handling and time out of the water. Patiently work the fish back and forth in the water to help reoxygenate the fish until it ready to go on its own.  If it won't go on its own tools like a SeaQualizer or Fish Saver Pro will deliver the fish back to cooler deep water and release it. Northern Pike are slow as usual, in part due to a decrease in population and many of bigger fish no longer live in their traditional habitat. They've moved to deeper water where the food is. Please practice catch and release on all Northern's caught. Brown Trout are feeding along the rocks north of the east boat ramp, and in the inlet before the sun hits the water. The lake hasn't been stocked with Rainbow's or Kokes since 2019 in an effort to control gill lice, so there isn't much action fishing for them. Randy H - Guide Fishing with Bernie

Lake Granby - Boat ramp hours are 6am-8pm. Water level is at 94.5%, Approximately 4ft low and dropping. Water temperature’s start out in the upper 60’s in the morning warming to low 70’s by end of the day. Rainbow trout bite has been fair, still finding the best action in the areas where there is fresh cool water coming in to the lake. Tungsten bead head wooley buggers, jerk baits and spoons have been catching some fish. Brown trout action is limited to the early and late parts of the day or when storms come in and stir up the water. Small tubes and Rainbow trout colored jerk baits have been lures of choice. Lake trout action has remained good. Look for fish in the 65-100ft depths off main lake points, humps and saddles with deeper water close by. A dark colored 3/8oz jig head with a light colored plastic body has been a staple, tip this with a small piece of fresh sucker fillet and pay attention for those light bites! 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 8/5/24

Grand Lake - Boat ramp hours are 6am-8pm. Just as in the past few weeks if you are looking for rainbow or brown trout, as the saying goes “the early bird gets the worm,” or the last one off the water. Best times will be early and late in the day when the sun is rising or setting. Lures with erratic action such as a Little Cleo spoon, jerkbait or bead head streamers such as a wooley bugger or egg sucking leech have been producing when worked along the rocky shorelines or inlets. Lake trout have definitely moved deeper, though are still not suspending yet. Look for them in 60-100ft of water, a black grub with a 3/8oz glow head tipped with a small piece of sucker and your favorite scent added for icing on top has been best producer for me lately. Traffic on the water is still high though should be winding down in the upcoming weeks, stay safe and watch for others while out! - Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon.

Williams Fork Reservoir- The east boat ramp hours are 6AM to 8PM daily. Currently the water level is dropping quickly, the lake is sitting at 98%. Inflow is 43cfs, outflow is 156cfs. Surface temp has risen to 66 early am warming to the low 70's by mid-day... sending Lake Trout to deeper cooler water. Visibility is about 12 feet on the west side of the lake, 10 feet or less on the east side where free floating alge is accumulating from the west to east winds. We're still catching some lakers in 60 feet of water but most of the fish are in 70 feet plus. The "Dog Days of Summer" are here. The Lake Trout bite is slow, we are seeing 8 to 12 fish per trip right now. Depending on how many fishermen I have in the boat, we're fishing three to four different jig types and colors which all seem to get bit equally, meaning when you find biters they'll bite whatever type of plastics you drop. A gentle presentation fished on or just off the bottom is working right now. Northern Pike are slow as usual, in part due to a decrease in population and many of bigger fish no longer live in their traditional habitat. They've moved to deeper water where the food is which makes it difficult to catch them. Please practice catch and release on all Northern's caught. Brown Trout are feeding along the rocks north of the east boat ramp, and in the inlet before the sun hits the water. The lake hasn't been stocked with Rainbow's or Kokes since 2019 in an effort to control gill lice, so there isn't much action fishing for them. Randy H - Guide Fishing with Bernie.

Lake Granby - Boat Ramp hours are 6am-8pm. Water temps are mid 60’s warming to low 70’s by afternoon. Water level is 95% or approximately 3.5ft below full. The early and late in the day pattern for rainbows and browns continues, once the sun hits the water the bite slows until it sets on the other end of the day. Small crayfish colored Dynamic Twitch Tubes worked down rocky drop offs or jerkbaits worked in mud to rock transition areas have been a reliable pattern. Lake trout fishing remains very good despite the warming water temperatures. Look for lake trout in 65-95ft of water on various main lake structure with deeper cooler water close by. A dark colored 3/8 oz jig head with a pink, or glow tube or grub has been producing bites tipped with very small piece of fresh sucker, later in the day when the fish get picky lose the tail on the grub or downsize the tube to keep the fish biting. Like always pay attention to those electronics, if you are on fish and they aren’t biting time to find similar structure and a different group of fish, they are biting somewhere on the lake, guaranteed! 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 7/29/24

The crowds are at a seasonal high right now and there is an absolute ton of traffic on the lake. Please use caution when traveling around because there are a lot of paddle boards, kayakers, and other watercraft. The afternoon winds are also a factor, be sure to plan ahead for that. It seems to be hitting around 11 or 12 in the afternoon, when it hits.  The rainbows and browns can still be caught at the inlets, early in the morning. When fishing these fish, get on the water as early as possible. As soon as the sun comes up and hits the water, these fish go deep. I would suggest chucking HD trout jerks in the moving water and a heavy tazmanian devil in the deeper water. The prime hours are from 6 am to 8 am. The lake trout fishing is still very good on the typical structure points. The majority of the fish are in the 14-22” range and are very eager to smash a well presented, grub style jig tipped with sucker meat. I would concentrate your efforts on the 45-90 foot range right now and fish close to the bottom. The suspended fish haven’t shown up yet due to the water being fairly cool for this time of year. Points, and flat bottom areas seem to holding the majority of the fish right now. Don’t forget to smother your jig with scent this type of year and commit to a high percentage spot for 30 mins.   Fishing with Bernie Guide, Jake Foos.

Williams Fork Reservoir - The east boat ramp hours are 6AM to 8PM daily. The water level has dropped to 99%. Inflow is 64cfs, outflow is 88cfs. From here on out for the rest of the season the lake slowly will keep going down. Unexplainably the Lake Trout bite has slowed to a crawl when the cool front and smoke came in. Every fish I cleaned during the week had empty stomachs. Usually, they're packed with small crawdads which indicates they are not feeding much. Look for Laker's in 60 to 80 feet of water. The best bite is early AM and slows as the day goes on. A slow gentle presentation with small tubes, paddle or twister tails tipped with sucker meat jigged on or just above the bottom is working the best right now. Scent seems to help a little. Northern Pike are slow as usual, in part due to a decrease in population and many of bigger fish no longer live in their traditional habitat. They've moved to deeper water where the food is which makes it difficult to catch them. Please practice catch and release on all Northern's caught. Brown Trout are feeding along the rocks north of the east boat ramp, and in the inlet before the sun hits the water. The lake hasn't been stocked with Rainbow's or Kokes since 2019 in an effort to control gill lice, so there isn't much action fishing for them. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Randy H.

Lake Granby - Boat ramp hours are 6am-8pm. Water level is dropping, currently at 96% or approximately 3ft low. Water temps are mid-upper 60’s first thing in morning and warming to low 70’s by the afternoon. Fishing for rainbow and brown trout has been fair and is condition dependent. Sunrise and sunset are the best times, erratically worked spoons, with a sharp lift and fall retrieve using long casting spoons such as Kastmasters and Little Cleo. Target the inlet areas where the water is moving and cooler. Lake trout action remains good. Fish are starting to bump deeper, look for them in 60-95ft of water. A dark colored 3/8oz jig head with a light colored plastic grub or tube tipped with sucker has been a go to set up. We are working multiple spots until we find active fish, but they are biting somewhere so keep mobile and you will be rewarded! 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