Collins Lake

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Mother nature has taken care of us this week for sure.  Our lake has risen from 45 feet down to 31-3/4 feet down and the water is still gushing in at the bridge. Catfisherman Dan from Oroville showed up as he always does after a torrential downpour to catfish at the bridge on Tuesday.  He said he caught one cat and he is back at it again today

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On the 14th Debbie Sanders of Yuba City landed a 2 lb. 8 oz. Rainbow (before the rains) using powerbait down by the dam from shore.  I spoke with another guy who fishes down the old sand ramp by the bridge who came up on Sunday.  He said he didn’t have much luck this time but that throughout all last spring that’s where he and his wife and sons would catch all their big ones over 5 lbs.

Krista Rhodes of Chico also landed a nice trout on 1/9. It was a 2 lb. 5 oz. Rainbow caught on Powerbait in Elmer’s Cove. BIG APOLOGIES TO KRISTA FROM THE STAFF who mistakenly deleted her photo from the camera (before it got saved)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I talked to her today 1/22 and she may be coming back up this weekend. We promise to capture your beautiful face this time!

Matthew Dillin of Loomis ended the year on 12/31/09 with a LIMIT of TROUT, nice fat plumpy ones!  Matt & his Dad were trolling with orange grubs (toplining) with no weight on their lines.  Dad says they worked hard for them but I say that’s a good sign that the fish are getting hungry again after their “fall shad feast”.

Brothers Dominic & Phinnius of Loomis started it off with a nice Trout each. They caught them in front of their campsite using  fake salmon eggs and putting 5 to 7 eggs on a hook at a time.  Little brother Phinnius captured the biggest of the two Trout which weighed in at 2 lb. 4 oz.  Big brother Dominic was perfectly happy with his 1 lb. 12 oz. Trout too.

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Thanks to Dominic & Phinnius’s tips on how to catch Trout, Kameron Fults of Olivehurst scored BIG!!!  Big, like in a huge Trout caught from shore on synthetic salmon eggs.  His big Trout came in at 5 lb. 12 oz. and Kameron deserves a big hurrah for his efforts in capturing his fish.  He fished all morning and had no luck.  He came up to the store to ask if we knew what people were doing to catch fish.  I shared Dominic & Phinnius’s story with him and he did the exact same thing but down by the dam and hooked his big Trout. He was here all day from morning until dark, not giving up until he caught something-that’s determination and commendable as well.

That same day Chuck Beltz & his two girls also caught a 2 lb. 8 oz. Trout by the dam on Powerbait.

HUNTING NEWS

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Forrest Wright of Paradise killed his 1st buck in the Daugherty Hill Wildlife Area on 12/31 which was the last day for the Jr. Hunt tag holders.  He comes from a family of hunters I realized from the stories his Grandpa was sharing with me.  For Forrest however, it was his very 1st Buck and he was thrilled, as he should be-it was a beautiful 3 X 3, shot with his Grandfather’s 270 Remington.