Grand Lake - The low temperatures remain below zero degrees, the ice is definitely thickening on the lake. Currently, the cap is averaging about 10 inches in most places and the fishing is holding fairly strong. Hitting the ice early in the morning seems to be very important right now with a lot of traffic venturing out as the morning progresses. Rainbows and browns seem to have changed what they are eating as of late, and the bite is really starting to turn to more of a finesse pattern. Natural colors and well presented soft plastics are getting the most bites right now. When determining what to tie on the end of your line right now, think about “matching the hatch”. On Grand Lake, this means small nymph type plastics and very small jigs. Don’t be afraid to explore sections of the shoreline that have not seen a lot of pressure as of late. Finding fresh fish and staying as mobile as possible is really key right now. Our best bites have been on jigs in the 1/64-1/80 oz weights and tipped with a natural-colored soft plastic or a wax worm/spike. The earlier you can get on the ice, the better your chances are at having a good bite. As the day progresses, don’t be afraid to venture out into the 20’ depths looking for hungry fish. Now that we are close to the beginning of February, the lake trout seem to be a little bit spread out. We are now starting to see the suspended fish showing up over deeper than usual depths. Small spoons tipped with a small piece of meat have been the beat producers when you find the suspended fish. Additionally, there has been some action when jigging the bottom but these fish are starting to show up a little deeper than they were in the past couple of weeks. We would suggest that you focus you efforts in the 50-70 foot range when targeting the lake trout. At these depths, you will find a bottom bite as well as the suspended fish. When fishing the bottom, small tube jigs have been producing the beat in the past lake and like the rainbows and browns, think “natural” when determining what color of tube jig you would like to drop. A very small piece of sucker meat will not at all hurt your chances at some table fare. Fishing with Bernie Guide, Jake Foos
Williams Fork - The ice conditions on the lake have been good for foot travel with limited new snow its been easy to get around. The fishing has mostly been fair as it is trending towards that mid ice pattern. Lake trout are being caught in depths between 45-70’. We typically have to move one or two times to find the groups of fish that are interesting in biting. Downsizing our baits has been key to success with small ice flies or tungsten tipped with sucker worked right on bottom being our best bait. While fishing for smaller lake trout have a bigger bait handy as the the larger fish seem to come through at unpredictable times in the same spots as the small lake trout. Pike fishing has been generally slow, with an occasional fish caught in some of the shallow bays on reaction type baits, like lipless crankbaits or large jigging raps.
Lake Granby - Fishing has definitely been dependent on the day, though still generally a good bite. Ice conditions are varied from 6-12” with growing areas of slush, some of them are currently quite large and deep the farther east on the lake you go. Rainbows and Browns are most active early in the day. Look for rainbow trout in them 12’ and shallower range and target areas with current or moving water like creek inlets. Tungsten jig tipped with wax worm or a small finesse spoon in pink or white seems to be most productive. Brown trout are being caught along the natural rocky shorelines or transition area between mud and rocks. Small tubes, minnow imitations or aggressively worked Leech Flutter spoon has been most productive baits. Lake trout bite has been tougher as of late, we are having to move often to find the groups of fish who are willing to bite. Most productive depths have been 50-72' with small panfish tubes, tungsten jigs tipped with sucker or a bright colored spoon. Going to be a busy and fun weekend on the ice for the 3 Lakes Fishing Contest, stay safe and hope to see you at the weigh station! 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
