Is anybody fishing Granby?

[Ron Parker]

Is anybody fishing Granby?

[Dan DAN the fisherman]

Ron,

You've got mail!

[Chewy]

Hey Dan. I fished Granby the first week in January. I caught 14 macks the first three days I fished. Not a great number but the smallest was 22 inches and the biggest 27 inches. I released all of them. I know the DOW want us to keep the larger fish but I just can't keep them. I don't agree with their assesment of the number of large fish in the lake. I caught and released at least 15 fish between 30 and 36 inches over the past 10 years and only one the past two years over 36 inches. So I think we should always put the big fish back unless you plan on mounting it. If you can affort it you can have a fiberglass mount made that will look very much like the real fish. OK, I'll get off my soap box.......that said...I never met a lake trout over 20 inches that tasted worth a (Contact US Regarding This Word). Hey, an interesting story, I've caught two lakers over 32 inches that had kokanee in their mouths. Usually the kokes are in the 14 to 16 inch range. I caught a 27 inch mack on January 2nd of this year and it had a 17 1/2" rainbow down his throat. The head was digested and most of the skin was gone.....yes I did pull it out to see how big it was. Boy did it stink. I'm sure the fish was not very happy to loose his lunch, but happy to live to fight another day. Just goes to show how aggressive these macks are when feeding. Even with a 17 1/2 inch fish in his stomach he could't pass up my 4 inch gitzit. I fished for rainbows in Grand Bay and caught close to 20 fish and kept three nice fish over 16 inches for dinner. I did fish the contest and five of us inclcuding two kids caught 25 fish total the whole weekend. Nothing big enough to win or place in the contest. We really wanted the two young boy's (7 and 12) to place.....maybe next year. I'm going back the next two weekends, I'll let you know how the fishing was. I'm going to try and target the Kokanee at Granby. I broke out my homemade jigging machine I used for many years at 11-mile when there were lots of Kokes to catch. I know they're on the comeback in Granby(caught several in the fall over 20 inches out of my boat)just need to find them under the ice.

[Dan DAN the fisherman]

Nice report CHEWY. Keep them coming.

Dan

[Chewy]

Hey Dan,

Have you been to the Fork recently? Wondered how the mack fishing has been there. I fished the last two weekends at Granby. Caught a few small macks, nothing over 21". I did catch a 20" rainbow that weighed just over 4 lbs. Why can't I catch a rainbow that big during the contest!! It was the biggest rainbow I've ever caught out of Granby. Looked for Kokes and couldn't find them. I hear of people finding them and slammin'um!! Not me. If the lake fills like predicted and stays full for 4 or 5 years the Kokanee population will come back and prosper and all other species will benefit. I think the DOW is making their best guess as far as the future of trophy lake trout fishing goes and what regulations should apply. When there were large numbers of Kokanee and the lake was full most years this problem with Macks vs Kokes didn't really exist. A few years ago the DOW were encouraging fishermen to take the smaller lakers 17" to 20" because there were so many of them. I think it's just the oposite. I see fewer and fewer small to mid range macks and definitly fewer large macks. Now that the regs allow any size mack to be kept the larger fish are in a rapid decline. Until the Kokes are back in large numbers it will only get worse. As fun as macks are to fish for either summer or winter the kokanee fishing is what gets most people buzzing. The DOW is determined to bring the populations of Kokanee at Granby back to their glory day's. I hope the Lake Trout don't suffer as a result. I love fishing for both and think there has to be a good sound plan that will support both species. Right now it's just a vicious circle. I'm afraid one species will loose. I hope I'm wrong.

Heart Pumping..Good Fishing...

[Chewy]

Hey Dan,

Have you been to the Fork recently? Wondered how the mack fishing has been there. I fished the last two weekends at Granby. Caught a few small macks, nothing over 21". I did catch a 20" rainbow that weighed just over 4 lbs. Why can't I catch a rainbow that big during the contest!! It was the biggest rainbow I've ever caught out of Granby.

Looked for Kokes and couldn't find them. I hear of people finding them and slammin'um!! Not me. If the lake fills like predicted and stays full for 4 or 5 years the Kokanee population will come back and prosper and all other species will benefit. I think the DOW is making their best guess as far as the future of trophy lake trout fishing goes and what regulations should apply.

When there were large numbers of Kokanee and Granby was full most years this problem with Macks vs Kokes didn't really exist. Everyone knows small pitiful Kokanee harvests over the past 8 or more years has led to this problem with low numbers. For years there were slot limits for macks and the DOW encouraged fishermen to take limits of the smaller lakers under 20" because there were so many of them..... and now it's a take whatever you catch mentality! I'm confused, and I'm convinced the DOW is clueless!! I think we'll se a sharp decline of lakers. I see fewer and fewer small to mid range macks and definitly fewer large macks. No brood stock for reproducion. Not good for the mack's future. Until the Kokes are back in large numbers it will only get worse. As fun as macks are to fish for either summer or winter the kokanee fishing is what gets most people buzzing (I'm not sure why). They are mighty tasty. But so are a lot of other species.

The DOW is determined to bring the Kokanee population back to it's glory day's at Granby. I hope the Lake Trout don't suffer as a result. I love fishing for both and think there has to be a good sound plan that will support both species. I'm afraid one species will loose. My guess is it will be the Lake Trout. I hope I'm wrong.

Heart Pumping..Good Fishing...

[Chewy]

Sorry about the two posts. The un-edited version seems to have posted also. That's what I get for tring to organize my thoughts! The ramblings of a addicted fisherman.

[Dan DAN the fisherman]

Chewy,

I haven't been to the Fork for 2-weeks. It was still fishing good then. Nothing big there either. Sounds like a nice Bow from Granby. Good Luck,

Dan

[Rick]

Nice bow Chewy!!!

Do a lot of people ice fish Granby and how big is it?

[Chewy]

Thanks Rick. It was a nice Bow for Granby. Those are two really nice cats your holding. I would imagine they got you're heart pumping. To answer your question, yes a lot of folks ice fish Granby. It is a large lake, I don't recall the acreage (definitly in Colorado's top 10 in size).

I talked to the young man who conducts fishing survey's for the DOW yesterday and he told me the last two weekends at Granby(Feb.25th&26th - March 4th&5th)there were an average of 250 ice fishermen on the lake each weekend. I would guess those numbers were higher in early January and February. During a contest weekend that number can go as high as 1200 fishermen per day through the last day of the contest (3 day's).

The last ice fishing contest of the season is March 11th and 12th. Entry is $25.00 and you can enter as an individual or as a team (three people). Prize money for either individual or team are based on a percentage of net entry fees (fees collected minus contest expenses). For the individual catagory 1st place is 7.0% or a cap of $400. For the team catagory 1st place it is 29.0% or a cap of $1,500. Percentages and caps decrease through 6th place for both catagory's. Each fisherman can enter two fish (no laker over 20 inches) Combined weight of total fish determines the winners. If you're interested you can stop at Budget Tackle in Granby and talk to Richard or Margaret Craeger and they'll get you registered.

[Chewy]

Fished Granby during the contest weekend of March 11th and 12th. Managed to stay in the top five until late Sunday morning and ended up in 13th place. Had two great day's of fishing. Fished in 40 foot of water near Elephant Island and caught 36 macks the biggest 22 inches. We down sized to 6lb. line and 1 1/2 inch white gitzits with small pieces of sucker meat instead of waxies. It really worked well. Took a while to get the jigs to the bottom.

Fished Granby this past weekend March 18th and 19th at various locations around the lake and managed only 7 macks the biggest 20 inches. Looked for Kokes and couldn't find them. The ice was still a solid 19 inches. We got 5 inches of new snow Saturday night. Looks like one maybe two weekends of safe ice fishing left.