The weather has been spectacular this past week. With that, there has been lots of people out enjoying the water.  Fishing has slowed a little bit, but overall is still good with plenty of hungry fish in our lakes to be caught.

The long 4^th of July weekend looks to be a busy one. If the bite seems tougher because of the traffic on the water, one of our favorite tricks is to down-size our baits and slow everything down to entice the finicky fish. Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday. See you on the water!

Grand Lake

Boat ramp hours are 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Water surface temperatures are in the upper 50s to low 60s, depending on time of day. The inlets have slowed and the water is starting to clear up. 

Rainbow trout and brown trout bite has been good in the early mornings. Brook trout colored crank baits or blue/orange spoons worked with an erratic retrieve has been producing bites. Shore anglers are reporting good success with worms fished close to the bottom. 

Lake trout bite has been fair this past week. Look for these beauties in 45 to 85 feet of water. 2-inch glow grubs with a contrasting colored jig head tipped with fresh sucker has been most consistent lure. 

-Fishing with Bernie Guide, Dan Shannon

Williams Fork Reservoir

The east boat ramp hours are 6 .a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The water level is 100%. Inflow is 357cfs, outflow is 406cfs. Most of the floating logs and branches have made their way to the shoreline, except for in the inlet area.

Visibly is good; baits drop out of sight 10 to 12 feet down and good visibility equates to more bites.

Surface temperatures are running 61 degrees early morning warming to nearly 66 degrees on sunny calm days, which is sending the fish a little deeper. Look for lake trout in 60 to 90 feet of water. The best action is early morning tapering off by 10 a.m. 

We’re running four different types of 3-inch to 4-inch jigs and four different colors. They’re all getting bit equally well, so one lure is working no better than the other. Fish on the bottom are finicky with presentation with slow gentle jigging working the best.

Fish in the column are hunting and very aggressive. More than half of our daily catch is from swimmers. Northern pike fishing is slow.

Rainbow trout have not been stocked for several years so it’s doubtful there’s any catchable fish in the lake. The recently stocked kokanee are very small and won’t be catchable for a few years.

-Fishing with Bernie Guide, Randy Hall

Lake Granby

Boat ramp hours are 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Water level is at 97% or approximately two feet below full. Water temperatures are in the upper 50’s in the morning warming to mid 60’s by the afternoon.   

Rainbow and brown trout bite has been good in the early mornings and slowing as the sun rises. Look for rainbows in the inlets or in Rainbow Bay where the water is coming in. 

Shore anglers are reporting success fishing with worms or pink PowerBait close to them bottom. Casting a Dynamic Twitch Tube and working it in the rocks with a slow lift-fall retrieve has also been producing fish for us. 

Lake trout bite has been good. Look for them in 50 to 80 feet of water. Small plastics such as tubes, grubs or minnow imitations have all been producing fish, the color seems to change each day. Some days we are finding dark colors working, while others its as wild a color as you can throw on. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment a little outside the box. Keep that sucker on your hook fresh and pay close attention to your rod to detect those soft lake trout 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 FishingWithBernie.com