Summer is in full swing and there are lots of people out enjoying the water daily. A little bit of patience and awareness this time of year will help keep everyone safe and able to have an enjoyable day on the water.

Fishing has remained fair to good on our area lakes, and we do not look for that to change anytime soon. We hope you have a chance to hit the water and experience some of the fresh mountain air, excellent scenery, and feel the tug of the fish that call Grand County home.

Grand Lake

The summer crowds are at their peak right now in Grand Lake and there is a substantial amount of traffic on the lake. Please use extreme caution when navigating on the water as some of the small watercraft are hard to see.

There is also a heavy amount of seaweed floating throughout the water column that has pushed in from Shadow Mountain Reservoir making the trolling game somewhat difficult. The water temperature is ranging from 63 to 68 degrees depending on what area of the lake you are on and what time of day you may be on the water.

Rainbow and brown trout action seems to be the most consistent right now. Focusing your efforts near the two inlets will help produce the most action. I would suggest fishing these fish as early as you can in the morning.

Casting hardware like Tasmanian Devils, Kastmasters and small flutter spoons are the top producers as well as HD Trout jerkbaits. The lake trout fishing is spotty right now with some days producing better than others.

There are fish scattered all over the water column but the 40 to 80 foot range seems to be holding most of the hungry fish. We are using primarily all soft plastics like tubes and twisters and tipping them with a very small piece of sucker.

The best action has been within six inches of the bottom. Make sure to switch up your cadence throughout your trip and pay special attention to exactly how you are jigging your presentation. We have found that if the jig is not touching the bottom fairly frequently, the number of bites we are getting is drastically decreased.

-Fishing with Bernie Guide, Jake Foos

Williams Fork Reservoir

The east boat ramp hours are 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Today’s fishing report is straight off the water.

The water level is hanging at 99% of capacity. Inflow is 60 cubic feet per second, outflow is 68 cfs. Visibility is excellent jigs drop out of sight at 15 feet. The surface temp this morning was 65 degress topping off at 67 when we headed in.

Overall, the lake trout bite is fair to good. The recently stocked kokanee salmon has made a big impact on the bite. The fingerling kokanee have already grown to more than three inches in length and have dispersed across the entire reservoir.

We’re catching fish that are coughing them up. I’m still finding pockets of keeper-size lake trout as shallow as 65 feet and 90 feet on the deep end.

The fish are very scattered and bunched up in small groups this year, possibly because of their new food source. Our go-to has been four inch or smaller plastics, jigged very gently with 10 second pauses on the bottom.

Northern Pike has been slow but one was caught in the inlet today. Rainbow Trout haven’t been stocked for several years so it’s doubtful there are 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 96.5% or approximately 2.5 feet below full.

The traffic on Granby has been pretty busy lately. There are a lot of sailboats, water skiers and plenty of paddle boarders to add to the fishing traffic.

The water temperature is riding between 64 and 69 degrees on the surface. The inlets are not raging in anymore and the lake is starting to stabilize quite a bit.

The rainbow and brown fishing is still very good in the very early mornings and late evenings. If there is not any wind blowing, you can really see a ton of surface action early and late in the day. The boaters are doing best by fishing the surface over deep water, but the shore anglers are still catching a fair number of fish near the moving water.

When fishing from a boat for these fish, I would suggest casting or trolling small spoons and jerkbaits in the uppermost 10 feet of the water column. When fly fishing, I would suggest a hopper-dropper combination as a lot of grasshoppers are showing up floating on the surface.

The eater sized lake trout fishing remains decent and finding the “freshest” pod of fish is almost necessary right now. If you are not getting bit in the first few minutes, I would suggest making a small move, sometimes even 20 feet can make a difference.

These fish are eating small twisters, grubs, tubes and spoons right now. When fishing for the smaller fish, I recommend using a piece of sucker meat that is no larger than a small fingernail and loading your jig up with some scent.

The most active fish have been in 55 to 85 feet of water right now. The big fish are seeing a ton of pressure and presentations need to be flawless right now to get bit.

Tube jigs are producing the most action, but you may need to try quite a few sizes and colors to have a shot at a bite from a big fish. Most of our efforts are in 45 to 60 feet of water and it seems that there are certain bite windows that are giving us the best shot at setting the hook.  

I am finding that the early morning is producing the best before the sun and heat really set in and these fish shove off into deeper, cooler water. We are seeing a lot more kokanee salmon on our graphs this year and things are looking good for the future. I haven’t heard of anyone having any luck on the salmon, but they are definitely showing up more frequently. 

-Fishing with Bernie Guide, Jake Foos 

The Fishing with Bernie team has been guiding in Grand County for over 25 years. For more info please check out http://www.fishingwithbernie.com