Collins Lake

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A week ago I mentioned that trout were moving down and to expect to see fewer come in from the shore as temperatures rise.  April ended with a few cooler days and fantastic shore fishing held out about that long.  I was off at the Beale Air Force Base watching the 2018 Expo on Saturday while the trout were hitting hard back at the lake.  Rich & Linda Cassata from San Jose celebrated a birthday with five trout down in front of site #116.  Jonathan & Jonathan brought their four up on PowerBait by the dam, the same way Jose & Joseph caught theirs, and the same way Jeff Neels caught his.  Just about everyone on the dam was using Chartreuse PowerBait, except for Zoey, she caught hers on purple.  Mia Mason was at it again, joining Tyler Wright from Citrus Heights on the dam to catch 7 trout on worms.  We’ve seen a few crappie and other panfish rob worms from folks fishing for trout in the shallows.

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I didn’t mention the beach, did I?  I went down today to check in person and on the far far left, almost nearer the marina, three folks caught three fish and that was about it.  My theory is that the dam has better shore access to deeper water.  Since Wednesday the sun has been out in full force.

For the same reason trolling has been a steady strategy;  Early on Joe & Jake Hutchinson caught seven trout trolling with Needlefish & worms.  Doug from North Highlands caught his 5 1/2 pounder fifteen feet down on a Kastmaster.   Sandy Frizzell from Grass Valley caught her two trout, over 4 pounds each trolling brokenback lures in the middle of the lake and Jim Marino from Petaluma caught his 6 pound trophy trout on a Rapala.  Just yesterday Devin & Lindsey from Sacramento showed off six trout brought in on a pile worm lure.

So over all trolling has been the better bet, especially in the last three days but there are still folks catching along the shore, although most of them didn’t want to give up their secrets.  Hal & Ramona have been coming up for 5 years, I found them fishing from shore with PowerBait like everyone else, but with a stringer of 5 decent trout, all caught in about 2 hours.  Location, location, location.  They asked me not to tell you directly so I’ll just give you a hint, they were not on the beach and they didn’t get a sunburn.

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Fishing out of his campsite #398 Joe Powers reeled in a four pound rainbow on PowerBait.  Sometimes luck will get you there – he admitted that otherwise the shore had been slow, but cold beverage in hand, he said he had no complaints about his Friday afternoon.  As I walked along, camera in hand people told me I had to talk to Wally about his method.  

When I finally found Wally LeBaron him he saw my Collins Lake Staff shirt and wondered what he had done wrong for staff to chase him down.  He was all smiles when I asked him about his catch.  His tale started 20 years ago when he dropped a custom fly into Collins Lake with full sink line to the amusement of his buddies, who had to chuckle when he pulled out an 8 pound trout.  Today his density compensated fly pulled out a 3 1/2 pounder.  He told me a white fly had pulled out others as well in otherwise quiet waters.  When I asked him if his little white fly was a little white lie, he told me it wasn’t but also showed me something more colorful on which his biggest catch was made, but I am sworn to secrecy.  Here’s what I can say: when the usual lake shore strategies are slow try something unusual.

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Yesterday the surface measured at 65ºF and its a few degrees cooler two feet down;  Bass are still pre-spawn and they’re eating in preparation.  Andrew & Steve Sykes from Roseville caught nine spotted bass and a redear casting jigs in the coves.  I’ve heard about a lot of catch and release but this week I don’t have a lot of pictures for you.  I did notice the coves are packed with shad and all the folks I’ve talked to are using live bait or rubber worms.  Later this month the bass may taper off as the panfish pick up but we’ll see how it plays out.

Got a catch for me? Send me an email fishing@collinslake.com and I’ll get you in our report!

Don’t forget to register for the Collins Lake Fishing Derby coming up May 12th– all proceeds go to benefit Yuba Sutter YoungLife.

Until next week, Ed