Collins Lake

We’ve received 3000 pounds of new trout so far this month and we’re still receiving weekly plants!   Trout activity is way up, with most of the fish being caught in the top 25ft which indicates to me that it’s mostly new plants that are biting.  There are fish down around 35ft however they don’t seem to be as active.

Lainey Hitchcock from Lincoln landed a 4lb 3oz rainbow trout using a Rapala up near the powerlines along the north stretch.  Her dad, RJ caught his own on a Rebel Craw-Crankbait in the same area- he seemed happy to be outdone by his daughter who was more confident & happy than she was smug.  Great catch Lainey!

Sheen Smith & Nick Miller from Napa showed off a couple shore catches caught on PowerBait down in the open area.  Check out the tail on the trout Jeff is holding healthy and spotted right to the tips!  Often  times planters will spread out along the shoreline as they get accustomed to lake living.  Since we have a weekly cadence there should be decent shore fishing for the weeks to come.   Jeff Clement from North Highlands (not pictured) caught a good eater down by the dam, also on Orange PowerBait.  I would expect PowerBait to be effective anywhere along the western shoreline.

Trolling has been good;  Jeff McCallister of North Highlands weighted in at 8.5lbs caught trolling a Kastmaster in front of the dam.  Darren Demuth from Oroville caught a 4 pounder up by the powerlines using a humdinger/dodger combo.  Just this morning Hector A from San Jose caught a boxy 8 pound trout trolling a speedy shiner 100ft off shore in front of site #64.

The catfish bite is less aggressive this week but we did still see a few brought up including a very nice 8 pound cat caught by Brian Bender from Elk Grove.  He caught this fish in the same area near the dam as he caught the 10.5lb cat from the last fishing report but this time on chicken livers.

Surface temperatures have dropped below 65F so as we get closer to turnover expect to see trout biting anywhere from the surface to 35ft.   Overall weather has been excellent for camping & fishing.

We are experiencing occasional gusty winds that keep boats off the water and stir up the shoreline, but for the most part they last only a day or even hours.  We stay open whether PG&E shuts off our power or not, with the store and office running on generators.  We still serve our famous giant ice cream cones, coffee and espresso every day of the week!