Grand County Fishing Report 9/25/23

Grand Lake - Boat Ramp Hours are 6am-6pm. Fishing for all species has been good. Rainbow trout action has been excellent in the inlet areas, along the rocks by the town docks as well as the mouth of the channel leading to Shadow Mountain Res. Pink and chartreuse spinners, Dynamic HD trout jerk baits, or for the fly angler leech and egg patterns have been working well. Lake trout action is excellent with the fish on their spawning locations. Spoons, blade baits or dark colored jig head with glow grub have all been producing fish when tipped with a small piece of fresh sucker. Look for fish in 30 to 50 ft of water, if the fish stop biting sometimes it takes just small moves (5 to 10ft) to find the active fish again. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon

 Williams Fork Reservoir - The east boat ramp hours are 7AM to 7PM. The water level is dropping quiclky. Current capacity is 90%, or 6 feet low. Surface temp is 60 warming to 62 on calm sunny days. With the cold nights and cooler water temp the Lake Trout bite has been very good till about noon, then the bite slows. This last week we've been seeing 10 to 20 fish per rod as the fish are grouping up for spawn. Look for mixed age groups of Laker's in 80 to 90 feet of water. Most any plastic tipped with sucker meat sucker meat fished on or near the bottom is producing bites. When the bite slows add your favorite scent and down size your jig body. Brown Trout are colored up and getting ready to spawn. They have been active in the inlet and rocky areas north of the east boat ramp early AM. Small spinners, suspending or diving jerk baits are a good choice. Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout and Kokanee Salmon are slow due to low populations. Please practice catch and release on all Northern Pike to help preserve the diminishing resource. Randy H - Guide Fishing with Bernie

Lake Granby - Boat Ramp hours are 6am to 6pm. Lake is at 91% full or approximately 7 ft below full. Fall fishing is picking up every day as the water temperatures continue to cool, temperatures are hovering around 60 degrees currently depending on time of day. Rainbow trout action has been good in Arapahoe Bay in the campground area. Silver spinners and spoons in 1/8oz to 1/4oz sizes have been working well as well as size F5 or F7 original floating Rapalas in silver/black or rainbow pattern. The lake trout action is improving daily as the fish are moving up on their spawning areas. Look for them in 30 to 55ft of water, Clam XL Flutter Spoons or Dark colored jig head with glow body tipped with fresh sucker have been top producing lures. This lake trout spawn bite should only improve as the water cools, don’t miss out! 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 9/18/23

Grand Lake - Boat Ramp Hours are 6am-6pm. Rainbow Trout action has been improving with the cooler water temperatures. Trolling or casting Silver w/pink or orange spoons and spinners has been producing fish. Brown trout action has been fair with most fish being caught in the inlet areas or in the streams on small crank baits. Lake trout action is fair witih fish staging for the approaching spawn. Look for them in 40-65 ft of water, jigging a variety of spoons and small plastics tipped with sucker has been producing fish with glow colors working better than natural colors. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon.

Williams Fork Reservoir - The east boat ramp hours are 7AM to 7PM. Water capacity is 93%, or 4.6 feet low. My last trip out the surface temp was 62.7 and warmed to 66 mid-day. Visibility is about 12 feet. The Lake Trout bite has been good on keeper size fish, but the big fish are pretty tough to locate. Best depth to fish right now for all age groups is between 80 to 90 feet. Tubes, twisters or paddle tale grubs tipped with sucker meat fished within a few inches of the bottom is getting fish. If the morning bite slows start adding scent and try downsizing your jig. By noon fishing gets slow. Kokanee Salmon and Rainbow Trout are nearly impossible to catch due to little or no population. Brown Trout are getting ready to spawn and have been active in the inlet and rocky areas early AM. Small spinners, suspending or diving jerk baits are a good choice. Northern Pike are slow, so slow that I rarely see anyone fishing for them. Best chance of hooking up with a Pike is early AM, late PM or during an approaching front. Please practice catch and release on all Northern Pike to help preserve this declining resource. Randy H - Guide Fishing with Bernie

Lake Granby - Boat Ramp hours are 6am-6pm. Water level is 92% and dropping, approximately 6ft from full pool. Water temperatures cooling, low 60’s during the mornings warming to mid 60’s by the afternoon. Rainbow trout action has been good. Silver/pink spoons and spinners cast or trolled along the dam faces and around the islands has had good success. Brown trout action has been fair, look for the best brown trout action in the moving water in the creek and inlet areas, an erratically worked spoon or jerk bait will produce bites. Lake trout action has been fair, fish are in their pre-spawn areas in 45-70ft of water. Jigging Spoons or small dark green and black grubs with a bright pink or chartreuse head have been producing best on most days. Switching up to a glow color if the bite slows has been enticing some additional 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 9/11/23

Grand Lake - Boat ramp hours are 6am-6pm. Fishing for all species is improving as the water temperatures are dropping. Rainbow trout and Brown trout action has been good along the shallow shorelines and main lake breaks into deep water. Small jerkbaits and spoons worked erratically will produce bites. Lake trout are moving up towards their spawning structure. Look for them in 30-50ft of water. Spoons, jigging raps, and blade baits tipped with a small piece of sucker have been our go to baits. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon.

Williams Fork - The east boat ramp has new hours for the remainder of the season, 7AM to 7PM. Water capacity is 95%, just over 3 feet low. The surface temp is cooling down, it's been running 63/64 early AM warming to 66 on calm sunny days. A couple more weeks of cool nights and we'll be into a great fall bite! The Lake Trout bite has been picking up. The last few trips out clients could easily put 20 to 30 "catch your limit" size fish in the boat, but trophy class fish are pretty tough to find right now. Mixed age groups can be found in 80 to 90 feet of water. Currently we're using natural-colored tubes or twister/paddle tail grubs tipped with sucker meat and scent fished gently within a few inches of the bottom. The fish are belly down on the bottom which makes it tough to locate a group of fish, but if you find one that's up... there's more nearby. By noon the bite gets pretty slow until late afternoon. Kokanee Salmon and Rainbow Trout are slow due to a low population of both species, they haven't been stocked since 2019. Northern Pike are also slow due to a declining population. The last couple of weeks I haven't seen anyone fishing for them. Best chance of hooking up on a Pike is during an approaching storm or low light conditions with choppy water. Please practice catch and release on all Northern Pike to help preserve this diminishing resource. Brown Trout have been active early AM in the inlet near where the river meets the lake, and along the rocky cliffs north of the east boat ramp. Small spinners, count down or suspending jerk baits have been producing a few fish. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Randy H

Lake Granby - Boat ramp hours are 6am-6pm. Rainbow trout action has been improving as the water temperatures are dropping. Flashy silver colored spoons and spinners worked along the rocky shorelines and around the islands have been a good pattern. Lake trout action has slowed a bit as they start moving towards their spawning locations but should pick up with the dropping water temperature. Look for them in 50-70ft of water along the main lake channels. Spoons and plastic grubs in dark colors tipped with sucker meat have been the most consistent baits. 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 9/4/2023

Grand Lake - New boat ramp hours are 6am-6pm. Fishing for all species has been fair. Rainbow and brown trout action is best at sunrise. Dry flies and hopper patterns have been producing either with fly gear or with a spinning gear and a bubble. Kastmasters and Little Cleo spoons are also producing fish, best colors have been silver with a bright contrasting color. Lake trout action has been fair. Look for them in 50-90ft of water and pay close attention to electronics we are seeing lots of suspended fish. Glow grubs and flutter spoons jigged on the bottom tipped with a small piece of sucker are working well, with the spoon producing best for those suspended fish when you real up to them. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon.

Williams Fork - The NEW east boat ramp hours are 7AM to 7PM. Water capacity is 97%, just under 2 feet low. Inflow is 51cfs, outflow is 211cfs. Surface temp has been running 66 early AM warming to 68. Visibility is about 15 feet. The Lake Trout bite has picked up compared to last week's slow bite. Mixed age groups can be found in 70 to 90 feet on top of, or at the bottom of steep drops. Small tubes, twister or paddle tail grubs tipped with sucker meat fished gently on the bottom will produce bites. If the bite slows start adding gel or spray scent. If the bite doesn't pick up it's time to move. Keeper size fish are holding very tight to the bottom (they're hiding from big fish) which makes them hard to locate, but if you find one stop and drop, there's more fish in the area. Kokanee Salmon and Rainbow Trout are slow due to little/no population. Northern Pike are also slow due to a declining population. Best chance of hooking up is during an approaching storm. Please practice catch and release on all Northern Pike to help preserve the diminishing resource. Brown Trout have been active early AM in the inlet and along the rock cliffs north of the east boat ramp. Small #3 or 4 Mepps type spinners or sinking countdown jerk baits have been producing some fish. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Randy H

Lake Granby - New boat ramp hours are 6am-6pm. Water level is at 96.5% or approximately 5 ft below full. Water temps are in the upper 60’s and should be starting to cool with the days getting shorter. Fishing for rainbows and browns has been fair. Best rainbow trout action has been in Columbine or Arapahoe Bay. Trollers are reporting success with cowbells and spinner tipped with a piece of worm in 12-18’ of water. For shore anglers look for rocky shore lines that drop off quickly, smaller jerk baits such as a Dynamic HD Trout or Rapala X-rap in rainbow trout colors has been producing bites. Lake trout action has remained good, look for them in 60-100ft of water. Found better action with dark colored jigs this week with a black or pumpkin colored bitsy tube tipped with sucker as best producing baits. 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