Grand Lake: Currently, the lake is in very good condition especially if you plan on fishing the areas with quite a bit of traffic. Ice is averaging 8-15 inches throughout the lake. The area in front of the pump canal can be very dangerous as water flows out of Shadow Mountain so please use extreme caution in this area.

The rainbows and browns have been eager to strike a well-presented tungsten jig in the shallows very early in the morning. The CLAM Pro Tackle’s Drop Kick and Caviar jigs have been a pretty solid bet for this year. Concentrate your efforts in 5-12 feet of water and as the day gets warmer, slide off into the deeper water and utilize a flashier type of hardware like a small spoon.

Lake trout are still taking the typical Grand Lake presentations. Small tubes and grub type jigs have been very good as of late in the 30-60 foot range. If fishing for lake trout over the deeper water, keep your eye out for the suspended fish. This late in the season it’s not uncommon to see fish suspended in depths well over 100 feet deep.

Williams Fork: Certain areas still have some slush on top of the ice and are difficult to navigate through when traveling on foot. The lake is at around 44% of capacity so the usual walks are a bit longer than past years. The fishing for all species other than lake trout has been fairly slow for us as of late.

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Late trout are super hungry and have been slamming small grub style jigs like a Simcoe Bug when tipped with a small piece of sucker meat. Again, load that jig up with some crawfish or shrimp scent for best results. We are concentrating our efforts in 40-70 feet of water right now for the hungry lakers.

Lake Granby: With the latest sub-zero temperatures and lighter snow storms mixed with some very strong winds, the lake is really starting to firm up quite nicely. There are still some very problematic, slushy, wet areas around the center of the lake so please use extreme caution, the slush monster is not 100% gone yet. The black ice is averaging 8-12 inches below the frozen slush layer that is about 14 inches thick right now.

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Rainbows and browns are starting to stack up in the inlet areas. As soon as runoff starts, these will be fantastic areas to concentrate on. Right now, the key to the rainbows is to fish early and stay as quiet as possible on the ice. Small jigs tipped with a wax worm are fishing the best. Lake trout are continuing to produce quite well, even as we get closer to spring. We are still finding fish in almost every depth range throughout the lake. With the high water this year, pay special attention to shoreline features and structure for an early morning bite in the shallows. As the day progresses, we are pushing off into deeper water in search of the numbers that are showing up.

If you find one fish right now, you will usually find a whole pile of them. About 40-50 feet of water has been producing best for us. JCP grubs and small tubes have been our top producers in more “natural” like colors. When fishing these lake trout, don’t forget to load that jig up with some scent and tip them with a very small piece of sucker meat no bigger than a finger nail. A lot of our fish have been chasing baits up to 15 inches off the bottom, and it’s a ton of fun when you can get them to bite in those conditions.

The Fishing with Bernie team has been guiding in Grand County for over 25 years. For more information please check out FishingWithBernie.com , Facebook.com/FishingWithBernie/ or our Instagram pages @Fishing_With_Bernie and @FishingWithAltitude .