Grand County Fishing Report Week of 10/28/24

It’s been an excellent open water season with lots of rod bending action, hope yours was as well! This will be our final report until ice season gets under way.

Grand Lake - Boat Ramp hours 6am-6pm. Ramp will be closing 11/3. Fishing for rainbows and lake trout has been excellent. Look for the active rainbows along the shorelines in less than 10ft of water. Flashy chrome colored spoons and spinners have been most productive. Lake trout are being caught in 20-45ft with chartreuse and silver jigging spoons tipped with sucker. Look for them along the rocky bottomed areas of the lake. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon.

Williams Fork - As we wrap up the open water season this will my final fishing report for the 2024 season. The east boat ramp hours are 7am to 7pm daily. Thursday October 31st at the end of the day the boat ramp will close for the season. The lake will still be open for non-motorized hand launched crafts. The water capacity is at 95% or about 9.5 feet low. Inflow is 16cfs, outflow is 59cfs. Surface temp has been around 54/55 early am. Visibility is 9 to 10 feet before a jig drops out of sight. The Lake Trout bite is at its fall peak right now... and you don't have to be there at first light to catch them. Around 9:00am the bite lights up and runs till about 1pm. The bite will be good until the fish drop their eggs. Look for mixed age groups in 60 to 70 feet of water. Lakers are a bit difficult to locate on Williams Fork but if you find one stop and drop, there more there than what you can see. Pretty much any small plastic tipped with fresh sucker meat will get bit. I prefer small tubes but anything from crappie jigs to 4" tubes is working well. Northern's are slow, in part due to a decrease in population and many of bigger fish no longer live in their traditional habitat. Some have moved to deeper water where food is more plentiful (think Lake Trout). Please practice catch and release on all Northern's caught. Brown Trout are active 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. Until next season Randy H - Guide Fishing with Bernie

Lake Granby - Boat ramp hours are 6am-6pm and will be open until weekend after Thanksgiving. Water temperatures are in the low 50's. Water level is at 86% or approximately 11ft low. Fishing for rainbow trout has been excellent, Chrome/Blue or Chrome/Pink spoons both cast and vertically jigged are the go to lure right now. Target shoreline transition areas where it changes from rock to mud and along the dam faces. Lake trout action has also been excellent, look for them in 15-40ft of water. P&D Lure Company purple glow grub and crawfish colored tubes tipped with fresh sucker have been working best. If the bite slows a Northland Buckshot spoon tipped with sucker can entice a few more bites out of the group before you move on to the next one. Fall is a great time to be out on the water here in Grand County, don’t miss out on those few last casts before we get some ice! 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 10/14/24

Grand Lake - Boat ramp hours are 6am-6pm. Water temperature is in the mid 50’s. Rainbow trout action has been very good with fish active along the shorelines in less than 10ft of water. A Little Cleo or Kastmaster spoon in blue and silver worked with a lift-fall retrieve has been consistently producing. Lake trout action has been good, look for them in 30-50ft of water. Slab style spoons or Clam Leech Flutter spoons tipped with sucker and jigged aggressively in the schooled up spawning lake trout been producing good numbers of fish.

Williams Fork - The east boat ramp hours are 7am to 7pm daily. The lake is about 9 feet low (85% capacity). Inflow is 12cfs outflow is 89cfs. Surface temp at 7am has been running 55 warming to 57 mid-day. Visibility is 9 to 10 feet. The Lake Trout bite has been very good on eater size fish. Right now, we're seeing between 12 to 25 fish per rod depending on the day. Mixed age groups can be found in 60 to 80 feet of water. 70 to 74 feet seems to be producing best right now. Unlike Granby and Grand it's difficult to locate Lakers on Williams Fork with sonar. I'm guessing it's because the large laker's in Will Fork hunt down instead of up which has conditioned the smaller fish to hang tight to the bottom. Once you find a fish stop and drop, there's more there than what you see on the screen. 2 to 3" plastics (we're using small tubes) tipped with sucker meat fished gently on or just off the bottom is getting bit. The bite gets started around 9am and lasts till about 1pm. Northern's are slow, in part due to a decrease in population and many of bigger fish no longer live in their traditional habitat. Some have moved to deeper water where food is more plentiful (think Lake Trout). Please practice catch and release on all Northern's caught. Brown Trout are active 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 - 6pm. Water level is at 86.5% or approximately 10.5 ft low and water temperatures are hanging in the mid 50’s. Rainbow trout action has been excellent around the islands and dam faces. Fly anglers are finding success with Clouser minnow and egg sucking leech patterns in dark colors. Dynamic Twitch tubes and flutter spoons in pink and white have been our go to lure choice when fishing with spinning gear. Lake trout action is very good, use your electronics to locate the large schools of spawning fish in 30-60ft of water. P&D Lure Company glow twisty tail grub in chartreuse and purple on a 3/8oz jig in head in a contrasting color has been our most consistent bait. If the bite slows but you are still consistently marking fish, make a switch to a Clam XL Flutter spoon or a jigging rap to work the reaction bite with these schools, and don’t forget to tip with fresh sucker! The weather forecast looks like it may be a cool weekend, but still an excellent time to get out and enjoy fall fishing in Grand County. 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 9/30/24

Grand Lake - Boat Ramp hours are 6am-6pm. Fishing for Rainbow and Brown Trout has been good. Flashy chrome colored spoons and spinners have been working well cast along the shorelines. Lake trout action has been good, look for them in 35-50ft of water. Chartreuse spoons and P&D Lures glow grubs tipped with sucker meat have been top producing lures. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon.

Williams Fork Reservoir - The east boat ramp hours are 7am to 7pm daily. The water level is 87% or about 8 feet low. With the cool nights the surface temp has dropped to 55/56 warming of 59 on a sunny day. Visibility is still excellent; jigs drop out of sight between 10 to 12 feet. We've come full circle on the Lake Trout bite and they're eager to bite again as the fish are grouping up for spawn. Look for mixed age groups in 55 to 75 feet of water. Small tubes tipped with fresh sucker meat worked with any kind of jig stroke on or just above the bottom is getting bit. The fish have moved to banker's hours so you'll only pick up a few more fish with an early start, the bite is lasting thru early afternoon. Northern's are slow as usual, in part due to a decrease in population and many of bigger fish no longer live in their traditional habitat. Some have moved to deeper water where food is more plentiful (think Lake Trout). Please practice catch and release on all Northern's caught. Brown Trout are active 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-6pm. Water level is at 86.5% or approximately 10ft low and dropping daily. Temperatures in the mornings have been 57 degrees and warming as the day goes on. Fishing for all species has been good. Rainbow trout action is excellent in the mornings casting pink and white colored spoons along shorelines and in water less than 15ft deep. Brown trout are being caught along rocky shorelines, Dynamic Twitch Tubes in brown or white and jerkbaits have been go to lures, for fly anglers a black egg sucking leech has been working well. Lake trout action is good and getting better daily. They have started moving up on to their spawning locations, look for them in 30-60ft of water, flutter spoons as well as P&D Lures glow twist tails and tubes on a 3/8oz jig head tipped with sucker have been our go to lures to keep putting fish in the net! Kokanee salmon are schooled up and starting to run, pink, white or chartreuse jigging spoons tipped with a waxie has been working well when you locate a school with your electronics. Great time of year to be on the water with the fall colors and excellent fishing, 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