Grand Lake - 2/27/2017
The ice is holding up great despite the warmer temps last week. The top layer that was slush is now frozen and snow covered, though it is still very bumpy I spots from the old slush. Fishing has been varied from fair to excellent depending on the day. Rainbows and browns are being caught all day long on small spoons like the Clam Leech Flutter Spoon tipped with wax worm between 6' and 20' with the best action being early and late. Work the whole water column fish are being found throughout. For the lake trout work depths between 35' and 75', stay mobile and use your Vexilar to find them. When you find one, you should find several. Heavier spoons such as the Reelbait Plane Jane, tipped with sucker has been my go to bait. Dan Shannon - Guide, Fishing with Bernie
Williams Fork has been good this week. The best numbers of lake trout are mostly hanging in the 40-80 foot depth range near the bottom, with a few fish suspended up to 20 feet off the bottom. The fish can be in vastly different locations day to day, so keep moving until you find action. Various colors of large tube jigs are catching most of the quality fish. The smaller fish are eating tubes in the 3 to 3.5 inch range tipped with sucker meat, as well as jigging spoons and other small baits. Pike action is hit or miss. They’ve mostly been in less than 10 feet of water. A few rainbows are being caught in the bays early in the morning, but if you’re after fast action you may be better off chasing down the lake trout.
The ice is still about 14” in most areas, but gets a bit thinner as you get closer to the dam. The snow on top of the ice has been patchy and only an inch or so deep making it easy to drag the sled anywhere on the lake. The ice is very slick near shore so use caution and take ice cleats if you have them.
Lake Granby has been fishing excellent for lake trout, watch for them to suspend over the deeper water. Tubes, Leech flutter spoons, marabous, Gulp minnows and blade baits have all been working very well. Rainbows and browns are hitting small baits tipped with wax worms in shallow water early in the morning or right before bark. Bernie Keefe has been a fishing guide in the area for over 20 years.