Collins Lake

The weather is finally starting to clear up and the days are getting warmer.  We are several weeks in to our spring weekly trout planting program so the trout population is growing quickly.

Collins Lake – Western Shore 3/15/2019

Fishing while trout start to make the transition away from winter shallows can be tricky and most everyone is still focused on the first 50ft from shore.  Lots of fish in the water doesn’t always translate to lots of catching and PowerBait from the beach is currently yielding about one or two fish a day for each line in the water.  I’ve seen some nice fish like these rainbows caught by Kameron Dansby, Terry Malone of Yuba City & Elaine Breifman:

There are of course always overachievers like Berlin, Logan, Olivia & Vienna who donned their cold weather clothes earlier in the month to catch six trout including a huge 5 pound rainbow.  Just two days ago Tony & Carol Cabral nearly limited on trout and caught a Florida Largemouth to boot.

The biggest shore catches this week were by Martin Luna who showed off a 7 1/2 pound rainbow and then, four days ago as I was talking to folks down in front of sites 402-418, I ran into Bryan & Debbie Durgan who reeled in a massive 8 1/4 pound rainbow trout on PowerBait’s “Mice Tail”.

And the folks in boats?  Well they’re just getting started.  This weekend is the first time in 2019 that I’ve seen more than a couple boat trailers in the lot.  The guys I want to talk to are out in the kayaks, 50′ to 100′ off shore as I write this.  I wish I was there too, even if the bite is average the weather is PERFECT;  I suspect that later this week (and potentially later today) I’ll hear that schools are farther off shore, an ideal target for small craft like kayaks and float tubes…. annnnd I just got interrupted by Ed Johnston of Roseville (above, right) who nailed a massive 8 pound rainbow and a respectable 5 pounder trolling a Blue Broken-Back Rapala.

So there it is folks.  If you’re on the shore, cast as far out as you can.  If late rains stir up the water in the coming weeks check to see if trout return to the shallows.  If you have a boat, kayak or float tube stop reading fishing reports and get on the lake! 

Ed