Collins Lake

We had a couple giant catfish caught to remind us of the great summer now behind us- Mike Mariano caught his massive 14 1/2 pound whiskerfish on chicken livers out below site #460 in Elmer’s Cove. Rick Goforth caught a chunky 9 1/2 pound catfish up north near the bridge.

There’s still some bass activity, not as active as early spring, but they can be caught pretty much all through winter if you know where to look. Wyatt Vosburgh caught these two on spoons with corn….but he didn’t say where! A bass angler indeed!

As you well know Trout Planting for Fall/Winter/Spring 2024 – 2025 has begun. Our first load of 2000lbs included 500lbs of lightning trout and it didn’t take long for them to start showing up on brag boards. Travis Miller caught his Golden Rainbow “Lightning” trout on rainbow PowerBait up in the north channel- it weighted in at over 6 lbs. Steven Tomlinson of Placerville caught his four trout from the boat dock. So far 5000lbs total have been planted in last few weeks and we’ll get another 1000lbs this week.

We’ve had more than a couple windy days that have stirred up and cooled off the surface layer and in fact as the last month progressed we’ve seen a definite trend toward PowerBait and shorefishing, whereas before most of the trout were caught trolling around 30ft. Troy and Anna filled out the board with eight trout caught fishing from shore using jigs and Caliboii Custom Lures.

Bruce Oppenheim of Vacaville caught his five-and-a-quarter pound lightning trout from shore on a Panther Martin lure. Long time Collins Lake angler Andie Martin caught this beautiful hefty 6.6lb rainbow trout down below the cement slab near the water’s edge group area using a Blue Fox Vibrax Spinner.

Dave & Daniel of Grass Valley caught 4 trout including a beautiful trophy rainbow using PowerBait.

Emmitt & Steven Baldock bucked the shore trend, reeling in two nice trout they hooked while trolling at 20ft- notably shallower in November than they had been in October – up in the north channel. Finally, Nathan Miller caught a limit by the dam using yellow/green garlic PowerBait.

It’s been a great start of the fall trout season and we’ve scheduled a plant every week through Thanksgiving. After that plants will continue every week or two through winter before resuming a weekly pace for the spring fishing season.