Grand County ice? I gotta get out...!

[Jimbok]

Howdy all,

Having just moved back to Denver from the middle of nowhere Wyoming, I gotta get outta the city in a bad way, and was thinking about an overnight trip somewhere (relatively close). I was hoping to try for 'bows and lakers on Wolford, WF, Granby, etc... How's the ice looking up that way? I'll have a relatively inexperienced friend tagging along, so I wanna make sure the ice is (mostly) good! Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

[Bigassbassman]

No ice is safe ice, but it seems like Granby is the only one still sketchy.

From Bernie Keefe via Terry Wickstrom: http://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/11/wickstrom-lake-granby-fishing/

"Keefe did a rundown on fishing in the area: Willow Creek is fishing well for rainbows shallow and some Kokanee in deeper water. Wolford Mountain Reservoir is good for rainbows. Green Mountain Reservoir is fishing well for lake trout. They are sight fishing for rainbows near the shore in crystal clear Grand Lake and catching trout deeper. Williams Fork is fishing extremely well for rainbows with a number of large lake trout up to 40 inches showing up.

As for Lake Granby, the ice should get better as winter progresses but please use extreme caution. Granby not only has a phenomenal population of rainbow and brown trout shallow, but as I stated earlier, the largest biomass of lake trout in the state. There are a number of fish in the 18- to 20-inch range. Once you find them it is not uncommon to catch 20 or 30 in an outing. This size lake trout is prolific and I encourage you to harvest a few. The exciting thing at Lake Granby, at this time, is that the big lake trout are in the same areas as the smaller ones which means a 20-pound fish, or bigger, is possible at any time. A friend of Keefe’s recently caught six fish between 30 and 40 inches over a short period of time."

Good luck, stay safe, and let us know how you did!

[Jimbok]

Just returned home after a long, fun, and successful weekend. Fished Wolford on Sat morning. Got there early, like 6am. Rainbows were on fire all morning in 20-25 fow near the shorelines. A few guys next to me were hooking koks in the deeper areas near the shore cut by feeder creeks. Also got a sucker. Used mainly small green and pink ratso jigs. Iced 30+ by noon. Checked out WF in the afternoon- got into a few small lakers in 45 fow on small tubes and spoons tipped with sucker. Also fished in 75 fow- marked a few, but couldn't entice a bite.
Hit Wolford again this morning- stuck to 20-25 fow, but the bite was much slower. Still marked a few and had a few more keepers by noon.

[callovthemackinaw]

wolford trout  is pretty good if you get close to rip rap areas.   the bigger trout tend to stick by there.