VOL. 44 • ISS. 3 |
MAP FEATURE |
March 28, 2025 |
17 |
Collins Lake Facts
Location and Size: The recreation area, located at 1200 feet in elevation, covers about 1,600 acres when full and features 12.5 miles of shoreline. Collins Lake is about 1-1 / 4 hours northeast of Sacramento and about 30 minutes east of Marysville.
Season: The recreation area is open for day use 7 days a week year-round. Anglers fish for rainbow trout, brown trout, spotted bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, channel catfish, black crappie, bluegill and redear sunfish.
Boating: The water ski season runs from May 15 through September 30. Jet skis and small personal watercraft aren’ t allowed on the lake. A double wide concrete launch ramp with a dock and a full-service marina with moorage and boat rentals are available.
Fishing Access: Collins Lake provides outstanding access for shore anglers and campers. Shore anglers find success while fishing along the dam, on the west shore and around the bridge on the river arm.
Camping: A safe and clean family campground includes hot showers and laundry, RV hookups and tent campsites. The campground is patrolled by security and emergency medical personnel are on call. Groups are welcome. Rates vary on time of year and amenities provided.
Other Facilities: Collins includes a 600-foot sand swimming beach, children’ s playground, beach volleyball, picnic area, general store, laundry and hot showers. Check out their famous huge ice cream cones! Three large group picnic areas located near the swimming beach and playground.
Information and Services: Collins Lake Recreation Area, 1-800-286-0576 or( 530) 692-1600, www. collinslake. com.
Guide Services: Cal Kellogg offers trout fishing trips at fishcalkellogg. com.
Collins Lake
( Merle Collins Res.) Yuba County
Natural Tree & Brush Habitat Natural Rocky Habitat Steep Drop off Manmade Brush Habitat
To Loma Rica, Marysville & Hiway 20
Loma Rica Road
Stanfield Hill El. 1221
Dolan Harding Road
Willow Glen Road
Entry Station & General Store
To Brownsville
Open Camping Area
Powerline
Bridge
Collins Lake
Swimming Beach
Dry Creek
Lake of The Springs
Oregon House El. 1530
Dam
Flanly
Peak El. 2099
Chaparral Hill El. 2099
FISHING NOTES
• Rainbow Trout are the most popular species at Collins, since the lake management and DFW in a cooperative program plant big loads of rainbows into the reservoir in the spring and fall. While the DFW plants catchable trout, the concessionaire stocks lots of trophy trout in the lake. Trollers find success using nightcrawlers behind dodgers, Cripplures, Needlefish, Rapalas and a variety of spinners throughout the year, but the best fishing takes place in the spring and summer. Shore anglers also catch trout while fishing Power Bait, spoons and spinners in the camping areas, off the swim beach and in near the dam. Fishing can be very good off the docks at night during the summer.
• Spotted Bass are the predominant bass species in Collins, but the lake kicks out trophy Florida-strain Largemouth Bass every year. Smallmouth Bass used to be more abundant, but the spotted bass have largely replaced the bronzebacks in the catches. Collins is known for being a good drop shotting lake throughout the year, as well as being a great place to fish top water lures and plastic worms around structure. The lake management has put a lot of time and effort into habitat enhancement and Florida largemouth planting programs at the reservoir.
• Channel Catfish prowl the waters of Collins during the spring and summer when water temperatures are at their highest. The Dry Creek inlet also kicks out good numbers of catfish during winter storms when food washes into the lake. Use mackerel, chicken liver and other baits for the whiskerfish.
• Bluegill, Black Crappie and Redear Sunfish offer top-notch action during the spring and summer. Fish for the crappie with Mini Jigs and for the bluegill and redears with wax worms, redworms and golden grubs. Fish around the trees and brush on the east side of the lake and in the brush piles.
Cal Kellogg caught this handsome rainbow trout during a fishing adventure on Collins Lake this January.
Photo courtesy of Fish Cal Kellogg
Fred Tinsley and his daughter proudly display the rainbow trout that she successfully battled at Collins Lake.
Photo by Dan Bacher planted trout The CDFW planted brown trout in previous years, but they haven’ t stocked browns for over a decade. Trout grow big and fat in Collins, feeding heavily on the lake’ s abundant threadfin shad and other forage. Rich Moore set the lake rainbow record of 14 pounds, 3 ounces in May 2009. The lake brown record, set in 1991 by Bill Clutter, is 9 pounds. Spotted and largemouth bass offer great fishing at Collins also. Dan Raub captured the lake largemouth bass record of 13 pounds, 4 ounces in June 1998 while fishing a live crawdad. James Everhart employed a trout swimbait to nail the lake spotted bass record of 9 pounds, 8-1 / 2 ounces in 2008. Spotted bass are the most abundant bass in the reservoir. The resort sees good numbers of 4 to 5 pounders and fish up to 7 pounds every year. Over the years, a dozen spotted bass over 8 pounds have been caught. Channel catfish also offer an excellent fishery at the lake throughout the year, with the best action generally available during the summer and early fall months. The lake catfish record, set in 2008, is 24 pounds. To supplement the bass and panfish fishery, the lake management in the past has stocked the lake with Alabama spotted bass, black crappie, bluegill and redear sunfish. They plant the fish at the size that they can spawn that season. The lake crappie record of 3 pounds, 4 ounces was set by Probhat Palma in October 2012. In addition to replanting the reservoir with warm water fish, they also have conducted their own habitat enhancement project every 6 to 8 years to rebuild the lake’ s food chain from the bottom up. A positive aspect of the recent drought is that it exposed the shoreline and allowed brush to grow around the lake. When the lake filled after the drought with the rainwater, it inundated the brush, providing good habitat for juvenile bass and sunfish to feed and hide from predators. Located in the beautiful Sierra Nevada foothills, just over an hour northeast of Sacramento between Marysville and Grass Valley, Collins is a 1600-acre lake and recreation area with 12 miles of shoreline. For more information, contact the Collins Lake Recreation Area at 530-692-1600, www. collinslake. com. For information about fishing trips on Collins Lake and Fish Hunt Shoot, go to fishcalkellogg. com