Share your catch
US

Lake Granby Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Lake Granby: a 7,250-acre Arapaho National Recreation Area reservoir that CPW lists as a Quality Water, with the highest density of lake trout in Colorado.

1/5
Tough. Pick your battles.Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
59 / 59 F
Wind
WSW 23 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

1/5Tough. Pick your battles.Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.

Lake Granby is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. Today brings clear skies, wind WSW around 23 mph, rising pressure near 1005 hPa and a high of 59. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:41 AM-11:41 AM and 10:10 PM-12:10 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutGood

This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66Β°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

Brown troutGood

Close to Vermont's 53-66Β°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

Lake troutFair

Spring and fall bring lakers into 10 to 30 feet of water (Michigan DNR), within reach of casters and shallow trollers; fall is also spawning time over rocky shoals.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 52 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Colorado requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $57.63 for residents. What a Colorado licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing lake trout here? Check the size and bag limits with CPW before you keep anything. The season dates for Colorado, read off the agency, are on the Colorado seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp59 F
High / Low59 / 37 F
WindWSW 23-30 mph
Pressure1004.8 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 35%
Sunrise / Sunset07:22 / 18:12
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Lake Granby this week

The best day on Lake Granby this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 3 out of 5, against 1 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Slow

Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.

Solunar majors
9:41 AM-11:41 AM and 10:10 PM-12:10 AM
Minor period
4:04 AM-5:04 AM
Sun
07:22 to 18:12
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 23 mph
Rain chance
35%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Granby: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Lake trout illustration

Lake trout

Spring and fall in shallow water, deep in summer, and through the ice in winter

Lake trout are slow-growing chars of large, deep, cold lakes, native from Alaska and northern Canada to New England and the Great Lakes, and introduced in many western lakes. Spring and fall bring lakers into 10 to 30 feet of water (Michigan DNR), within reach of casters and shallow trollers; fall is also spawning time over rocky shoals.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66Β°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Close to Vermont's 53-66Β°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

When to come: the Lake Granby calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Lake trout
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Granby today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 58 F, wind to 7 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 62 F, wind to 12 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 58 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

Colorado requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Colorado fishing license. CPW Chapter W-1 (as approved Nov. 2025): lake trout 12 a day, only 1 longer than 24 inches; other trout and kokanee 4 in aggregate; gaffs and tail snares prohibited; ice shelters must be portable; Columbine Bay above the Twin Creek inlet closed Oct. 15-Nov. 30.

Access

CPW lists three boat ramps and 260 campsites; US 34 runs along the west side of the lake and County Highway 6 along the south.

About this water

7,250 acres (CPW) in the Arapaho National Recreation Area, Grand County, CO.

Fishing Lake Granby: the full guide

Lake facts

CPW lists Lake Granby at 7,250 acres in Grand County. When full it is one of the largest coldwater reservoirs in Colorado, with 40 miles of shoreline and a maximum depth of 220 feet, and it is one of five major reservoirs in the 35,000-acre Arapaho National Recreation Area.

Lake trout and the rest

CPW says a prolific population of Mysis shrimp and complex bottom habitat give Granby the highest density of lake trout in the state, and it names Granby one of its Quality Waters. Rainbow trout, brown trout, cutbows and kokanee salmon are the other common species.

Fall closure at Columbine Bay

CPW closes Columbine Bay from the inlet of Twin Creek upstream, and the Shadow Mountain spillway reach down to Lake Granby, to fishing from Oct. 15 through Nov. 30.

Common questions

What is the lake trout limit on Lake Granby?

Twelve a day, only one of them longer than 24 inches, under CPW Chapter W-1.

Why does Lake Granby have so many lake trout?

CPW credits a prolific population of Mysis shrimp and complex bottom habitat.

Is any part of Lake Granby closed in the fall?

Yes. Columbine Bay above the Twin Creek inlet is closed to fishing from Oct. 15 through Nov. 30.

Is fishing good at Lake Granby right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Tough. Pick your battles. Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.

Nearby waters

Blue River (Silverthorne)38 miClear Creek (Golden)39 miDillon Reservoir40 miEvergreen Lake45 miCache la Poudre River45 miBear Creek46 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 40.1500, -105.8500 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.