Collins Lake

Looks like Jessica caught one on a stick and the others on a tree!

For mid-June, the lake is higher than any year in recent memory, still nearly completely full. We are into the longest days of summer and the lake conditions are showing it. The surface temperature is stable above 72F. Most days there’s a light breeze moving through the canyon with highs in the 80s & 90s cooling off into the 60s at night.

Weekends have been absolutely packed, especially with the open area still underwater. On the weekdays (Sunday Night through Friday Morning) we typically have 75% of our non-hookups & tent campsites available and typically about 20 with hookups available as well.

There have been quite a number of large 5+ pound trout. Starting off the list we have Jessica Karlonas who sent us a picture of a six pound trout she caught trolling a silver humdinger down around 30ft. Ciara Prior showed us her  5 1/2 pound rainbow caught in Elmer’s Cove on green PowerBait. Jacob Hunter caught his 6 1/2 pounder on a worm up where the powerlines cross the north fork. Mike Erickson & Leah Hubik from Roseville doubled up with two 6 1/2 pound trout and another 5 1/2 pound fish all caught on hoochies up near the bridge. Alan Furber of Cloverdale brought in pair with a total weight of 11 pounds.

In terms of numbers trout fishing has leveled off with most people catching a few each day but not as many limits as we were seeing this time in May.

Catfish, on the other hand, have been chomping on the trout bait as demonstrated by David who caught a 5.5 pound cat by campsite #416 on a minicrawler and Zoey who caught two catfish alongside a limit of trout while bumping chartreuse PowerBait near the mouth of Elmer’s cove. Look at the gut on that big whiskerfish! I wonder what he’s been eating?

While bass activity has slowed their cousin the redear sunfish have moved up in to the shallows along with bluegill & crappie and are patrolling near the surface in large schools with small fry along the dam. Daniel King from Meadow Vista caught a 1 pound redear sunfish on a white crappie jig right out in front of site #56. Most of the panfish in the shallows are about the size of your hand. They are a great target for C&R with young kids who will enjoy watching how the fish react to different baits and techniques. In my experience the most productive bait for these small panfish is redworms. This week we also got some good bites on salmon eggs. If you’re just out for fun use a larger-than-necessary hook like a #8 with a filed barb. Avoid treble hooks. Light tension will keep a redear hooked well enough and the larger single hook avoids gut damage and is quick & easy to remove.

You know how I always talk up family fishing… and how I always want to rent you a boat on a weekday, right? Well we’ve got some new boats. We just have four of them and even before advertising they are already booked up for this weekend. But starting Monday come and rent a Pontoon Fishing Boat!

These are 24′ Pontoon Boats with room for 10 people (up to 1710lbs). They are designed for easy casting and as such they don’t have a toilet or full shade on board, but with 40HP 4-stroke Honda engines they are a smooth, clean & quiet way to get your family out on the water.  Currently $220 on weekdays or $275 on weekends.  Our insurance tells us no towing allowed but you can fish all day or just cruise the lake!   Ask to reserve a Pontoon Fishing Boat and we’ll get you set up.

That, my friends, is all.  Ed