[Dave M]

It's typical for Co. Lake Trout lakes, very few make it to or past 20"s and it takes many years, then you have an 8 fish open limit at WF up to 30" so the few that do get picked off.
Green mtn is even worse, we caught 30 in a half a day last week between 14"-17", they all were in pitiful condition suspenders eating Plankton and cigar shaped. Very few make it past 18"s and no protection on the large ones.
At Granby we learned long ago to let everything over 20" go and set the tournament at under 19"s.
The eater size fish are in much better shape at Granby than most Lakes due to the Mysis Shrimp diet.
That fish on Dave's scale is 3 pds, I'm assuming thats the 23"er. At Granby 19"ers get over 3 lbs and average 2.5.

The bigger ones we caught were fat and bright orange colored in flesh. One of the main reasons I go to the fork is because the lakers (especially around the east end and on the wall on pike flats) feed exclusively on crawdads.

When i fish GM, the fish I catch go into the smoker or they get soaked in buttermilk before I fry them because they taste gamey.

 

[redleader]

Yep, the Fork is a great fishery, it has everything and is a model lake.
The dpw can complain about it being a feed lot for Pike all they want but the fact is the predators do way more to improve the health of the lake than harm it. The lake was overrun with Suckers prior to stocking Pike that were put in to control them. They have done their job well as the Fork does not have a Sucker problem now.
Only the hatchery products are sick with diseases.

Yesterday it was 50 degrees, Granby had standing water on the whole lake from the snow melting.
Snowing again now.

 

[Dave M]

Yep, the Fork is a great fishery, it has everything and is a model lake.
The dpw can complain about it being a feed lot for Pike all they want but the fact is the predators do way more to improve the health of the lake than harm it. The lake was overrun with Suckers prior to stocking Pike that were put in to control them. They have done their job well as the Fork does not have a Sucker problem now.
Only the hatchery products are sick with diseases.

Yesterday it was 50 degrees, Granby had standing water on the whole lake from the snow melting.
Snowing again now.

If ice stays safe in 2 weeks I might go back to granby for one more grand county ice session with my son. Otherwise I'm gonna stick to Leadville for my spring ice novelty....

 

[redleader]

there's 2' of ice right now and all the shorelines are good.

 

[TthePikester]

Look's like a fun and great trip...THX for sharing!

 

[Fordo]

U

It's typical for Co. Lake Trout lakes, very few make it to or past 20"s and it takes many years, then you have an 8 fish open limit at WF up to 30" so the few that do get picked off.
Green mtn is even worse, we caught 30 in a half a day last week between 14"-17", they all were in pitiful condition suspenders eating Plankton and cigar shaped. Very few make it past 18"s and no protection on the large ones.
At Granby we learned long ago to let everything over 20" go and set the tournament at under 19"s.
The eater size fish are in much better shape at Granby than most Lakes due to the Mysis Shrimp diet.
That fish on Dave's scale is 3 pds, I'm assuming thats the 23"er. At Granby 19"ers get over 3 lbs and average 2.5.

Also note worthy, Many of those 30 lakers had bite marks. We did get one in the 32 to 35 inch range and it was obvious that fish was on the smaller lakers. Those big fish in GM are a benefit to the fishery and absolutely should be protected.

 

[fishboycarl]

Good read Dave!

 

[VolFan]

Dude - you really have shed some weight. That's impressive.

 

[dallasdb]

Nice post Dave!