Middle Park area fishing report 6-5-2017

Lake Granby

Water temps are in the 50's in the morning. The lake is filling 1/2-1' a day. Please. be careful there is a lot of floating debris on the lake. Rainbow fishing is great around the inlets, those willing to hike into Columbine bay from Shadow Man spillway will be rewarded with some great fly fishing. Browns are still eating minnows and crawdads around the rocky areas during low light periods, tubes, jerk baits and spoons are all producing fish. Lake trout have started to move out of the shallow water. They can still be caught from the banks, try casting to steep dropping shorelines. Boaters are doing well with tubes, hair jigs, spoons and minnow style baits. 

Grand Lake 6.5.17

 Water is coming in fast right now,  all the inlets are full.  Lots of floating debris in the water be careful out there!  The water temp is in the upper 40’s in the morning and warming to low 50’s by the afternoon.  Water clarity is 3-4ft.  Fishing has been good, fish are active and feeding.  Rainbows and browns are biting on floating Rapalas and X-Raps cast from shore or trolled along the shore lines.  The lake trout are being caught between 35 and 80 ft on spoons tipped with sucker fishing up and down the drop offs.   Get out and enjoy the water here in Grand County, summer is not far off!  Dan Shannon – Guide, Fishing with Bernie

Williams Fork Fishing Report

Surface temp is in the low 50's. Lake Trout bite is slow to fair. Tubes or grubs tipped with sucker meat are producing hits in 50' to 100' of water. Rainbows are feeding on bugs on the surface. Fly and bubble, spinners and shallow running crank baits should produce some hits. Trollers are catching a few Kokanee Salmon. Small schools are running at 30'. Northern Pike remain slow but can be found in shallow water on a sunny day. Floating crank baits and spoons/spinners are producing an occasional hit. Fishing choppy water is your best bet. Randy Hall - Guide, Fishing with Bernie 

For more information, tips or to book a trip please check out www.fishingwithbernie.com . Bernie Keefe has been a fishing guide in the Middle Park area for over 25 years.

Middle Park area fishing report 5-30-2017

Grand lake has been fishing fair to good depending on the weather.   Water clarity is approximately 6ft, with lots of water coming in.  Best time to be out is early and late.   Brown trout and rainbow trout are biting on worms,  chrome spinners,  and crankbaits fished along the shorelines. Lake trout are moving deeper as the water warms and can be caught fishing the drop offs with tube jigs and sucker meat,   the depth varies depending on the day but typically between 30-75 ft.   Dan Shannon - Guide,  Fishing with Bernie

Granby has been great for rainbows, browns and lakers. The water temp still has a few lake trout shallow, with the warm weather forecasted the fish could be moving deeper. Lakers are biting on crank baits, jigs and bait. Rainbows will continue to swim along the shorelines. Worms, powerbait and spoons are working well. Moving water seems to attract a lot of rainbows. Browns have been chasing crank baits during lowlight periods and jigs while the un is up. Fishing around rocks has been very successful.

Williams Fork has been good for lake trout. Tubes with sucker meat and spoons have been producing some good fish. Pike fishing has been slow. The warming water should help the bite out a little. Try fishing the windy side of the lake in the afternoons. Rainbows are being caught along the shorelines. Bernie Keefe has been a fishing guide in Grand county for over 25 years.

Middle Park area fishing report 5-22-2017

The spring like conditions are keeping a lot of fish in the shallow water. The water temps in the 3 lakes area are still below 50 degrees.

Rainbows are eating worms, flies, power bait and an assortment of lures. Fishing seems to be best around running water and in the backs of coves.

Brown trout can be caught around rocks with crank baits, spoons jigs and worms. Fishing has been best during cloudy, windy and wet conditions.

Lake trout have been caught from 5-100 feet deep on an assortment of lures and bait. We have been getting limits of 17-19" lake trout on Havoc tubes with a small piece of sucker meat attached. Trollers have been doing very well on Kastmaster and Krocodile spoons along with crank baits.

Bernie Keefe has been a fishing guide in Grand county for over 25 years. For more information www.fishingwithbernie.com or https://www.facebook.com/FishingWithBernie/

Middle Park area fishing report 5-22-2017

The spring like conditions are keeping a lot of fish in the shallow water. The water temps in the 3 lakes area are still below 50 degrees.

Rainbows are eating worms, flies, power bait and an assortment of lures. Fishing seems to be best around running water and in the backs of coves.

Brown trout can be caught around rocks with crank baits, spoons jigs and worms. Fishing has been best during cloudy, windy and wet conditions.

Lake trout have been caught from 5-100 feet deep on an assortment of lures and bait. We have been getting limits of 17-19" lake trout on Havoc tubes with a small piece of sucker meat attached. Trollers have been doing very well on Kastmaster and Krocodile spoons along with crank baits.

Bernie Keefe has been a fishing guide in Grand county for over 25 years. For more information www.fishingwithbernie.com or https://www.facebook.com/Fis

Middle Park area fishing report 5-16-2017

The weather has gotten nicer, along with it the water is starting to warm. This will start to push the lake trout down a little bit. The bank fishermen will have another week to try their luck at some larger lake trout. Bait, spoons and soft plastics will all work at various times. Trollers are catching them on spoons, crank baits and spinners. Jiggers are dropping tubes, hair jigs, swim baits, Gulp minnows, and spoons along with a variety of other lures. They are being caught at depths of 5'-65'.
Rainbows are still along the shorelines and the bite is awesome, recent stockings have made for some great fishing. Worms, power bait, spoons, spinners, just about anything flashy is working.
Brown trout fishing is awesome early, late and on cloudy days. Crank baits cast near shore are catching most fish.
Suckers are still in the inlets but should be moving out pretty soon. Worms anchored to the bottom should catch lots of suckers.
Williams fork opened to boating on Saturday the 13th.
Bernie Keefe has been a fishing guide in Grand county for over 25 years. For more information www.fishingwithbernie.com or https://www.facebook.com/FishingWithBernie/

Middle Park area fishing report 5-8-2017

Last weeks cold weather is keeping the water temps in the area cool. Rainbow fishing is still great in all the area lakes. Creeks and other inlets (even just the little "seeps" hold large numbers of rainbows and suckers. Bait on the bottom, jigs under bobbers, small spinners or spoons and small soft plastic baits are all working. Brown trout are eating minnows and crawfish around rocky areas. Minnow baits like the Berkley Cutter, tubes or other soft plastics and marabou jigs are all working during low light periods. (Cloud cover and wind provide enough low light conditions to keep the bite going all day) Lake trout are still shallow. Bank fishermen are catching them on small pieces of sucker meat, worms and power bait on the bottom. Lure fisherman are getting them on a variety of lures fished deep along the bottom. Boat fishermen are catching fish on traditional minnow style baits or spoons trolled near the bottom. Jig fishermen are jigging tubes, hair jigs, power minnows, twister tails and spoons. Lake trout are being caught in 3-70' of water.

Middle Park area fishing report 5-1-2017

Williams Fork is fishing very well around the shorelines. Crank baits, jigs and spoons are all producing at various times of the day.
Grand Lake is fishing great. Casting the shorelines is producing browns and rainbows early and late in the day while jigging is producing lake trout throughout the day.
Granby's inlets are full of suckers and rainbows. Browns are hanging out around the rocks eating crawdads and minnows. Tubes and crank baits  are great imitators. Lake trout are scattered in various depths 3'-70' deep. The bite is very good when you find fish.

Middle Park area fishing report 4-16-2017

The ice is coming off most of our boating lakes. High country lakes could still have ice well after Memorial day. Williams Fork is fishing very well from the bank for rainbows lakers and a few browns. Bait, lures and ice jigs below bobbers are all working. Pike are slow but this is the time of year the biggest pike in the lake are caught. The boat ramp is scheduled to open Saturday May 13th.
Grand lake is open and fishing is great. Rainbows, browns and lakers are all along the shorelines and hitting a variety of bait or lures. trout fishing has been best early or late in the day.
Granby has been fishing very well. Rainbow fishermen along the shore lines and inlets have been doing very well on flies and small lures. Brown trout have been eating small to medium size crank baits in the evenings ( the morning bite will get much better when the surface temps hit 45 degrees). Lake trout have been scattered through out the lake. They have been caught on a variety of crank baits in shallow water and jigging the deeper water has been working also.
A key to early season fishing on the shorelines is to keep moving until you find fish, then sit back and enjoy the mayhem!  Bernie Keefe has been a fishing guide in the Middle Park area for over 20 years.

5 hot spots for spring trout

With cool water temperatures giving them free reign to roam, lakers, rainbows and brown trout could be virtually anywhere in the lake during the springtime.
 
More often than not, however, a few key areas hold the majority of the fish. Check out these five surefire hotspots from veteran trout guide Bernie Keefe to make this your best spring yet.
 
Main-Lake Points
Points attract forage and baitfish, making these shoreline sweet spots magnets for trout. "Long, slow-tapering points where the tip quickly drops from 10 or 20 feet of water into 30 feet or more are the best, but any gradual point with deep water at the end has potential," says Keefe, who uses a lake map to locate prime points but says you can sometimes judge them from shore.
 
Bottom composition isn't critical, he notes. "It doesn't matter whether it's mud, gravel or boulders," he says. "Depth is most important, and that it's a prominent point."
 
Light conditions are likewise key. "Sunny skies and calm seas won't cut it," Keefe cautions. "This is totally a low-light, heavy overcast or windy-weather pattern. Such conditions cause trout to move surprisingly shallow. Even trophy lake trout will cruise into a few feet of water to grab an easy meal."
 
The top of the point is where the action's at. Keefe casts a midsize minnowbait like a Berkley Cutter 110 into the strike zone and fishes it with an erratic retrieve.
 
"A combination of twitches, pauses and pulls usually trips their trigger," he says. "Experiment to determine the right cadence. But in general, keep it slow if the water temperature is less than 40 degrees, and speed things up once it's over 50."
 
Cove Mouths
As the sun rises on a clear day, trout slide out of the shallows. Keefe turns his attention to deeper hangouts, like 15- to 30-foot depths in front of small bays and coves.
 
"Bottom content isn't important here, either, except that trout tend to scatter on mud bottoms, and in really rocky areas they look for flat gravel patches to lay on," he says. "They're like us in that regard, because most people would rather have a soft mattress than a bed of nails."

Trout may be in resting mode, but they still bite. Keefe casts swimbaits like a Berkley Jerk Shad or Power Minnow rigged on a 1/8- to ¼-ounce jighead. "Cast out, let the jig fall to bottom, then experiment with different retrieves until you get bit," he says. "Dragging, hopping and swimming all have their moments, and the fish will let you know the best approach for the conditions at hand."
 
While casting, he keeps an eye on his Lowrance sonar. "If I mark a fish, it will often bite if I can get a jig down to it in a hurry," he says.
 
Inlets
Incoming tributaries are fonts of life in the spring. "Trout and baitfish move into them to spawn," says Keefe. "Other trout move in to feed on the eggs, and large trout like trophy lakers come in to eat other fish. You basically have the whole food chain in there."

When targeting eater-size rainbows, Keefe rigs a worm or artificial Power Bait on a small jig or split-shot rig and drifts it through the shallows with the current, either in the creek or where the inflow enters the lake. "If you want suckers, try anchoring a worm in place with a heavier sinker," he suggests. "Suckers won't chase a drifting bait."
 
For larger trout, he backs out into the lake and casts deeper water. Minnowbaits get the nod in low light, while jigs rule under sunnier skies. "When they're not raiding the inlet, big fish stage in depths of 10 to 25 feet, often in groups, where their competitive nature makes them easier to catch than loners cruising solo," he explains. "Don't be afraid to look around, because I've found them up to a quarter mile from the inlet."

Dam Corners
When fishing a man-made impoundment, Keefe compulsively checks the outside edges of the dam. "You either have concrete butting up to gravel, or large boulders meeting sand and gravel," he says. "Both types of transitions attract everything from spawning rainbows to hungry lakers." Keefe casts the same minnowbaits and jigs around these dam corners, in depths out to 20 feet.
 
Flats
Flat-bottomed areas rich in baitfish and other forage such as crayfish can also be gold mines right now. Keefe's favorite flats are relatively small areas such as a living room-sized flat lying on a steep-dropping point.

"These are high-percentage areas, ideal for run-and-gun tactics where you line up a milk run of five or 10 small flats and bounce from one to the next, making 10 to 15
casts on each one before moving on."
 
Small, subtle flats can be hard to spot on traditional lake maps. "Detailed mapping programs like Lowrance's Insight Genesis, which has 1-foot contours, make it easier to find fish-holding flats other anglers miss," he says.

By keying on these overlooked fish factories and the other hotspots on Keefe's early season hit list, you can make this your best spring ever, catching trout when other anglers can't.

Surefire Spring Trout Strategies

Submitted by Bernie Keefe

on Thu, 03/30/2017 - 08:21

Late winter is a time of transition for trout and the anglers who pursue them. Admittedly, figuring out productive patterns while shifting from ice fishing to open-water mode can be intimidating, but those who know where and how to tackle spring trout can enjoy some of the year’s best fishing.

“Rainbow trout are a great example,” says veteran trout guide Bernie Keefe. “They’re active, hungry and willing to bite.”

Keefe targets tributaries and lakes in the Colorado high country a short cast west of Denver, but his spring rainbow strategies produce results in systems across the continent.

One part of his game plan hinges on the spring spawning run. “Lake-run rainbows migrate into tributary streams, and resident river fish may also move upstream and even into smaller tributaries,” he explains. “They run up rivers and streams until they find suitable spawning sites, which usually offer the right mix of gravel and riffles.”

Keefe doesn’t disturb spawning fish, preferring to let them focus on their efforts to continue the species. Instead, he keys on areas just below spawning sites. “With a good pair of polarized glasses, you can often see the spots where trout have cleaned mud or silt off the gravel for their spawning beds,” he says. “When you spot a bedding area, watch for dark shadows moving around just downstream. These trout are feeding on eggs and ripe for the catching.”

Small, egg-imitating jigs like the Clam Caviar Drop Jig are a top pick for such situations. “Because you’re sight-fishing trout in shallow water, often only 10 feet away from the bank, swinging the bait gently out to the fish with a lob-style cast is key,” he adds.

To execute such maneuvers, he gears up with a medium-light power, 7-foot, moderately fast action Fenwick HMX spinning rod spooled with 6-pound-test Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon line. “A long rod allows you to swing the jig out for a quiet splashdown just upstream of the fish,” he says. “Let the jig fall to bottom, then, holding the rodtip high, bounce the jig downstream. When the jig stops or you feel a bite, set the hook.”

While the rainbow’s wariness is legendary, Keefe says the smorgasbord of eggs drifting down from the beds often overrides such caution. “There’s so much food coming down to the fish, they get so caught up in feeding you can often catch five or six fish from one spot,” he says.

Keefe also bounces egg-imitating jigs in deeper holes, where trout hold en route to feeding and spawning areas. “Doll flies, tubes and marabou jigs also work in the holes,” he adds. “These resting fish aren’t moving much, so methodically work each hole before pulling the plug on it. The good news is, if you get bit, chances are there’s more than one fish down there.”

To cap off a perfect day on the tributaries, Keefe often heads for the lake in late afternoon. “Whether the ice is off or just starting to pull away from the bank, shorecasting open water off points, along dark

shorelines and near incoming streams is a great way to pick up a few more fish before calling it a day,” he says. “Low-light conditions toward evening are great, but the fish may bite all day long if it’s overcast. Small jerkbaits like Berkley Flicker Shads and Flicker Minnows work great.”

Keefe also throws 3- to 4-inch softbaits such as a Berkley Gulp! Jerk Shad or PowerBait Minnow on a 1/8- to 3/8-ounce jig head, directing long casts toward deep water offshore. “Let the jig fall to bottom and swim it back by raising your rodtip, then reeling in slack as you lower the rod back toward the water,” he says.

Together with the tributary tactics, Keefe’s lakeshore tricks offer the means to enjoy great rainbow trout fishing during the dreaded seasonal transition as winter fades away. Use them to make this your best spring yet.