Collins Lake

It’s been a cool July for Collins Lake with highs flirting in the 90’s but not quite breaching the 100F mark.  With summer boating in full swing fewer fishermen are trolling the main channel and more are working the coves and corners behind the 5MPH buoys.  It shows up in the demographics of the fish that are being caught.  While there were a few big trout caught this month folks have brought up many more more catfish, crappie, redear & bass.  Most of the bass have been small/catch & release so let’s talk catfish!

Jerry Freeman from Live Oak spent last night up in the North Channel where he caught five catfish on beef leftovers & chicken livers, although (if you believe him… and I do), one escaped the stringer before morning.   Still with three fish in the 5 to 6 pound range it’s a pretty good haul!  Bryce from Gilroy was surprised to bring in a big 5.5 pound cat while trout fishing from the shore with PowerBait.

Sara & Victoria joined the catfish club fishing a worm down by the dam while Ted Jones from Santa Cruz landed a 6lb fish trolling krock deep in the middle of the lake.  Grant & Hannah both caught a few bluegill & redear which have been hammering redworms anywhere there’s big shady rocks.

Dave Delgado was excited to share his family’s independence day freedom fish topping the charts himself with a five pound Rainbow Trout.  His daughter Jade and Chris Guevera brought up a pair on Rainbow Powerbait in the late evening along with several other fish earlier in the week.  Then we have Dave’s Nephew, “Bro-Bro” fishing with his grandpa, Rick Chapa, who landed another couple dinner-sized trout using PowerBait right out of their boat slip on the marnia.  Finally Bro-Bro’s dad landed a nice crappie with an aptly named crappie jig.  The Delgado family has been coming for six years now and you can bet they’ve already booked a week for 2020!  Thanks for the photos Dave!  

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Lily & Dwayne from Yuba City hooked up a green light for some night fishing and had the crappie & redear swarming around their worms.  Night fishing is a whole lot of fun this time of year, you’ll find catfish trolling the bottom and a fishing light can bring in panfish from all around.

Normally we see a drop in trout activity in the July heat however there have been some notable catches this year including Charles Clemenson who was dragging a tasmanian devil (the casting lure, not the marsupial) for a limit, although he only kept 3.  Judy Davis caught two on rainbow powerbait out in the middle of the lake.  Finally,  Katie Fletcher caught her 6.5 pound behemoth using powerbait on a wedding ring (the spinner, not the nuptial band of precious metal).

The lake will continue to be very busy on the weekends through mid-August.  If you can make time to drive up on a weekday, even for the evening I think you’ll really enjoy it.  If you’re a weekend only camper you should think about booking for fall, sometime after Labor Day- it is a beautiful time of year and it’s looking like the lake may be much higher than it has been in years past.

See you soon! Ed