Collins Lake

Winter 2023/2024 has been abnormally good fishing weather. In terms of wind at least a few days each week have been calm and things have generally been warmer than average years.

The lake has come up a bit with the rain, currently about 30.5ft below spill, but we haven’t had so much runoff that it clouds the water. We’re still praying for rain, but in the mean time we’ve kept on planting trout all winter and have extended the schedule now into May (conditions permitting). Our most recent plant included some unscheduled trophy lightning trout – ostensibly getting too big for the hatchery. They were planted at Collins Lake after all these pictures were taken; I hope to post a video of tomorrow so keep an eye on our YouTube channel.

Headlining this report are three catches over New Years. Joey Rapo ended 2023 with a 4.75 pound rainbow trout caught on worms from the west shore near the mouth of Elmer’s Cove . Jaden Stron caught a jaw dropping 7 pound lightning trout on a jerk bait lure near the dam. And Mason celebrated January 1st with a 7.5 pound rainbow trout he caught from the shoreline below campsite #56 on classic green Powerbait.

Alex Durkin tipped the scales hard with a chunky rainbow trout that weighed in at 9.75 pounds while Grayson’s Beautiful lightning, caught in open water from a boat, registered 8.5 pounds.

Jamee and Luke headed out to the east side of the lake and managed a double limit, most of them caught in the shallows on Powerbait.

Tian and Joey kept their seven biggest of a double limit mostly caught trolling mid-lake under 10ft….and a few on Powerbait. That lunker rainbow in the middle clocked 7.5 pounds!

There were some big catches throughout December including the 8.5 pound lightning trout Ron Cowan or Biggs caught, along with 4 others to make a limit. He was using nightcrawlers over on the eastern shoreline.

Bobby B. & Bobby C. caught a gigantic 9.8 pound rainbow shorefishing Powerbait, and they returned a few days later to catch a limit of trout. Craig Smith caught a limit of all big rainbows down by Elmer’s Cove and added a lightning trout to decorate the center hook of the brag board!

Some other notable catches this winter were David Green’s 8.9 pound lightning trout, caught while dragging a SuperDuper lure up in the north channel. He came back a few days later to catch a limit of rainbows which included a trophy 6.5lb rainbow trout. Mike Astes of Yuba City caught a 7lb rainbow trout trolling around 10ft. Shaun Hanson of Grass Valley caught an 8.25lb lightning trout late in the day using a nightcrawler at the far north end of the beach.

When the wind isn’t blowing it’s still great to be on the lake up here. As you can tell from the pictures it hasn’t been so cold as to wipe the smiles off kid’s faces (and the rest of us). Also, it never seems to be too cold for Ice Cream around here- at the moment we’re serving something like 24 flavors.

This final picture shows some great family fun with Linden & Emmy making great catches with Grandpa Vern and “Dad” Wes. Two big trout, a 6.5lb lightning and a 7.25lb rainbow along with a stringer of keepers caught using salmon eggs!

Keep an eye out for low winds and peaking sunshine in the forecast. Even though yesterday was a windy drizzle today has been pretty much perfect from sunrise….looking out my window it’s blue skies and glassy water. Time to get out of the office and enjoy the daylight!