Big Lake

Boat ramp hours are 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. General activity on the lake is declining as school starts back up and summer vacation ends. Fishing of all species is mediocre.

The best time for rainbow trout is at sunrise with blue/silver or pink/silver Little Cleo Spoons deployed along the shorelines. Focus on the areas around the inlets in 10-20 feet of water.

The best places to catch brown trout are along the rocky shorelines around the city piers or along the cliff-like shore areas. Colored lobster tubes and smaller jerkbaits are the best ways to catch fish.

Lake trout are caught in water depths of 18-30 meters. A Powerbait Twitch Tail Minnow on a 14g jig head and a small piece of fresh sucker carp has proven to be a successful bait.

Williams Fork Reservoir

East boat ramp hours are 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Water levels are down to 95%, about 3 feet deep. Inflow is 96 cubic feet per second, outflow is 235 cubic feet per second. Surface temperature has dropped a little to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, warming to 68 degrees by midday. Visibility is still 10 to 12 feet.

The lake trout are biting slowly. Right now we are seeing 12 to 14 fish per trip. The best bites are in 70-80 feet of water on a drop-off or right on the drop-off. Juveniles up to trophy class lake trout are mixing it up. Small tubes, maggots, twisters or plastic baits with sucker meat and a dash of scent gently moved on or just above the bottom are bringing in some bites.

When the bite is slow, patience is the key to getting fish in the boat. Work each spot until the bites subside, then move on.

Pike are slow as usual, partly due to a population decline and the fact that many of the larger fish are no longer in their original habitat. Some have moved to deeper waters where there is more food. Please catch and release all pike.

Brown trout forage on the rocks north of the east boat ramp and in the bay before the sun hits the water. The lake has not been stocked with rainbow or kokanee salmon since 2019 to keep gill lice under control, so fishing for them has not been particularly successful.

Lake Granby

The boat ramp is open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The water level is 93% or about 1.5 meters. The water temperatures are still around 18 °C at the beginning of the day and warm up to just under 21 °C by the end of the day. Fishing for rainbow and brown trout has been mediocre so far.

The key to finding rainbow trout is in cooler, moving water. These areas are where food and fish are concentrated. A chartreuse-colored spinner or spoon is a good choice for spinning gear, or for fly fishermen, a slow-running pattern with a tungsten head and egg-sucking leeches has produced fish.

Brown trout activity depends on current conditions, focus on the low light times of the day or when afternoon weather sets in. Rocky, windy shorelines are key, an intermittently deployed Dynamic Twitch Tube or Jerkbait is our first choice.

The lake trout are good. Target them in 20-30 meters of water along drop-offs and old riverbeds, with deeper water close by. The color of the baits seems to change daily, even hourly on some days, but always in the 5-8cm profile tipped with a very small piece of fresh sucker meat. Use a 14g jig head, keep the hooks sharp and watch closely for light bites.

As always, keep moving to find the active schools of fish, as not all schools are actively feeding this late in the summer.

The Fishing with Bernie team has been guiding in Grand County for over 25 years. For more information visit FishingWithBernie.com.