Collins Lake

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Headline breaking news- We had two $100 Red tagged fish caught this week!! The first one was caught on May 12th by Mary Houtsma of Oroville and it weighed 7 lb. 8 oz. The second one was on May 13th, it wasn’t a big fish but carried a big tag!! It was caught by Greg Guerra while trolling the middle of the lake with a nightcrawler.

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Shore fishermen are having their best luck fishing early in the morning. Rick Grimmett and his 1st mate (GUS the MAN) came in at 5:30 when we opened and had two huge limits of Trout by 10 am. Rick was trolling a 9″ Rapala down 20 feet on the east side by the dam. The surface temperature is around 69 degrees and by Sunday we are expecting temperatures near 100 degrees which will bring the temperature up even higher and will push the Trout down further. In the last few days most of the trollers have found the Trout at 20 feet down which is normal for this time of year.

Among the Rapala catches this week are Alan & Robert Alvis netting 7 total Trout and Alan Lowe of Orland surprised by his 6 lb. 8 oz. Carol of Grass Valley with a 6 lb. 8 oz. and Bob Wartburg with a 6 pounder also used a Rapala. Barney LaRue trolled his Rapala near the power lines and it weighed in at 5 lb. 8 oz.

Kastmasters also brought in some big fish, Paul Hatfield & family landed a 5 lb. 2 oz. Trout trolling the surface and Mike LaCosse of Albany caught 2 lunkers (5-2/4 lb. & 6-3/4 lb.) on a Kastmaster. Art & Barbara Wong had the BEST FISHING TRIP EVER TO COLLIN LAKE this spring with big catches everyday, an 8 lb. 4 oz. topped them all!! They trolled 20 feet down on the east side mostly on Needlefish lures (firetiger was the pattern).

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Gilbert & Amanda of Penn Valley topped their stringer with a 6 lb. 4 oz. Rainbow, and they trolled Speedy Shiners and Triple Teazers. Matt Tomchick came all the way from Washington and he and his crew trolled Rapalas at 15′ and took home a nice stringer of California Trout!!

This week we are starting to see more Catfish catches but still only a few Crappie catches. As the lake continues to warm up we will see more of these catches. Primarily Crappie will bite on live minnows or mini jigs. Catfish will bite on anything, mostly stink bait like Anchovies, Chicken Livers, or Sardines.

As long as the surface temperature stays around 68 degrees we are planning on continuing the planting program until the Memorial Day weekend (5/22). On 5/7 we received a Double Trophy plant and 5/11 we received a Triple Trophy plant with tags. Our last trophy plant will be between 5/18 & 5/22, surface temp is 69 degrees!

Logan Bailey of Diamond Springs set a New Lake Record

with a 14 Pound Rainbow on 4/18/09.

Logan was trolling a gold Kastmaster near the bridge.