Collins Lake

Winter can be a mixed bag for fishermen- on the one hand you’ve got wind and rain making for “adventurous” at best, and miserable at worst experience above the water, with rapidly changing conditions below.  On the other hand, when the weather cooperates it’s generally crisp, clear, cool and quiet with a good catching opportunity if you’re attentive to the movement of fish below the surface.  Even when the bite is slow, a chair along the shoreline of calm waters as the sun rises over the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains is worth attending.

Collins Lake – 9AM December 28th 2019

Collins Lake is open year round except Christmas Day.  While fish were being caught on Christmas, all our staff were home with their families and friends but when we returned on December 26th we were happy to see some decent trout hit the scales.  Anthony Alonzo from Lincoln caught a 4 1/4 pound rainbow trout from the shoreline down below the volleyball court using green PowerBait:

And you may remember Phil Rapin from November when he caught a 9 3/4 pound trout here at Collins – well he was back over Christmas and caught more than a peaceful morning on the water.   Phil was casting mice tails our in front of the beach when hooked up and landed an 8 3/4 pound trout.  Very Nice Phil!

Sometimes the winter catch depends more on who is fishing.  Usually catfish slow down as the surface temperature drops, bass settle down for winter, trout follow the thermocline until the lake turns with recent planters following the shorelines.  Last year around this time we had some guys come out to fish deep for crappie with good success- I haven’t yet heard of anyone dropping minnows this winter but if you’re going to now is the time to try before water gets cloudy with runoff.

Collins Lake Shoreline – December 28th 2019

Keep an eye out for clear days and calm winds.  I can’t guarantee quick catching but when conditions are right it’s good fishing, at least today is clear & crisp with still crystal-clear water cold air and warm sun.  Collins Lake is 26ft from spill with a surface temp of 51F.

Hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year