Grand Mesa Lakes

[Woodland]

Hello All,
I will be heading to Grand Mesa to do some work for 2 weeks in Feb and was thinking about trying a couple of the lakes in the area. What lakes would you recommend? have the best access? how thick is the ice? it will be hard to pack an auger, but i can probably construct a take apart spud bar...

I am willing to trade info on Monster Idaho Perch!

[lefty2053]

The Grand Mesa Lakes are known for a lot of slush. Island Lake isn't too hard to get down to from the Hi way on the bend of the corner. Closest to the Island itself. Look for a trail others have made. There is a Tournament in February sometime I believe around the 7th. If you can find a parking place down at Deep Ward you can find some nice Brookies. Just got to follow Snowmobile trails where ever you go. Also the Mesa Lakes are fairly easy to get to on the Collbran side of the Grand Mesa. Look up Mesa Lakes for directions. Island Lake has Splake in it.

[Woodland]

Lefty2053,
Thanks for the info.This is a great place to start and i appreciate it.  Any idea on how thick the ice will be?

[lefty2053]

Not sure about the ice thickness this time of year.

[elks]

Island Lake, ward lake and around the lodge is about all a guy on foot can reach. As mentioned be careful to stay on tracks. Snow is deep and bottom usually slush. A snow mobile is great if you have one. Depth of ice hard to say. I believe last year in March we were on 2 foot of snow 18" of top layer ice, 8" of a mid slush and then another 14" of solid. Usually when we are drilling holes late we loose sight of the auger blade in the hole so around 30 to 36 total.

[elks]

I will be up there this weekend and will report back.

[Bmh0419]

Great fishing up there and there is a tournament on Island lake the 4th of February

[Woodland]

The tournament would be fun, i get in on the 5th, but it sounds like there will be some holes i can use!