Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3625 Nov 24- Dec8 2017 | Page 17

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 .

Merle Yuba Collins County Res .) Yuba County

Natural Tree & Brush Habitat Natural Tree Rocky & Habitat Brush Habitat Natural Steep Drop Rocky offHabitat Manmade Steep Drop Brush off Habitat

Manmade Brush Habitat Stanfield Hill

Stanfield El . 1221Hill El . 1221

Loma Rica Loma Road Rica Road

To Loma Rica , Marysville

To

& Loma Hiway

Rica 20 , Marysville & Hiway 20

Dolan Harding Dolan Road

Harding Road

Willow Glen Road

Willow Glen Road

Entry Station & General

Entry Station Store

& General Store

To Brownsville

To

Brownsville

Powerline Powerline

Open Camping Open Area Camping FISHING Area NOTES FISHING NOTES

Bridge Bridge

Swimming Beach

Swimming Beach

Dry Creek Dry Creek

Lake of The Springs

Lake of The Springs

Oregon House El . 1530

Oregon House El . 1530

Dam Dam

Flanly

Peak El Flanly . 2099

Peak El . 2099

Chaparral Hill Chaparral El . 2099

Hill El . 2099

• 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 Rainbow a variety Trout of spinners are the most throughout popular the species year , but at Collins the best , since fishing the takes lake management place in the spring and DFW and summer in a cooperative . Shore anglers program also plant catch big trout loads while of rainbows fishing Power into the Bait reservoir , spoons and in the spinners spring in and the fall . While camping the areas DFW , off plants the swim catchable beach trout and , in the near concessionaire the dam . Fishing stocks can lots be very of trophy good trout off the in docks the lake at . night Trollers during find the success summer using . nightcrawlers behind dodgers , Cripplures , Needlefish , Rapalas and • Brown a variety Trout of offer spinners a sleeper throughout fishery the at Collins year , but . Most the fish best are fishing taken takes by anglers place in targeting the spring rainbows and summer with . minnow Shore anglers imitation also lures catch . To trout target while the browns fishing Power , trolling Bait or , spoons casting Rapalas and spinners , Rebels in and the camping other rainbow areas , off trout the pattern swim beach plugs and around in near shoreline the dam structure . Fishing early can be and very late good in the off day the during docks the at night winter during and spring the summer is your . top prospect .

• Brown Spotted Trout Bass offer are the a sleeper predominant fishery bass at Collins species . Most in Collins fish are , but taken the lake by anglers kicks out targeting trophy rainbows Florida-strain with minnow Largemouth imitation Bass every lures . To year target . Smallmouth the browns Bass , trolling used to or be casting more Rapalas abundant , Rebels , but the and other spotted rainbow bass have trout largely pattern replaced plugs the around bronzebacks shoreline in structure the catches early . Collins and late is known in the day for during being a the good winter drop and shotting spring lake is your throughout top prospect the year . , as well as being a great place to fish top water

• lures Spotted and plastic Bass are worms the predominant around structure bass species . The lake in management Collins , but the has lake put kicks a lot out of time trophy and Florida-strain effort into habitat Largemouth enhancement Bass every and Florida year . Smallmouth largemouth Bass planting used programs to be more at abundant the reservoir , but . the spotted • Channel bass Catfish have prowl largely the replaced waters the of bronzebacks Collins during in the spring catches and . Collins summer is known when water for being temperatures a good drop are shotting at their lake highest throughout . The Dry the Creek year , inlet as well also as kicks being out a great good place numbers to fish of top catfish water lures during and winter plastic storms worms when around food structure washes into . The the lake lake management . Use mackerel has , put chicken a lot liver of time and and other effort baits into for habitat the whiskerfish enhancement . and Florida largemouth planting programs at the reservoir .

• 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 .

Deputy Bob Hauck ( left ) of the Sacramento Sheriff Sportsman ’ s Project and two other deputies brought 9 youth to fish the NTAC event at Collins .

Photo by DAN BACHER , Fish Sniffer Staff .

Groce of the resort .

The resort , in cooperation with the CDFW , Kokanee Power and CIF- FI , has also sponsored a successful pen-rearing program to enhance the trophy trout fishery at the reservoir .

The CDFW puts the trout in the 12 floating pens at a size of 2 / 3 lbs . each November . When they are released in increments between mid-March and the end of April , they range from 2-1 / 4 to 3 pounds . This year the net pens were filled on November 16 by the CDfW , assisted by volunteers .

“ They ’ re beautiful fish with full fins that look much more like native or holdover trout ,” said Lincoln Young , manager of Collins Lake Resort . “ Since they ’ re already acclimated to the lake ’ s waters , they ’ re brightly colored , their flesh is firmer and they fight harder than recently planted trout .”

The CDFW planted brown trout in previous years , but they haven ’ t stocked browns over the past several years .

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 ,” said Collins . “ We see good numbers of 4 to 5 pounders and fish up to 7 pounds every year . Over the years , we ’ ve weighed in a dozen spotted bass over 8 pounds .”

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 . Anglers use mackerel , sardines , anchovies , chicken liver and anchovies to hook the hard-fighting catfish .

The lake produces some huge cats every year . For example , Bernie and Bonnie caught a 10 lb . catfish and one crappie on worms down by the beach , while Brian Bender of Elk Grove caught a 10 lb . catfish down by the dam using worms also this October .

To supplement the bass and panfish fishery , Young and the lake management every winter stock the lake with around Alabama spotted bass , black crappie , bluegill and redear sunfish to supplement the naturally-reproducing fish populations . “ We plant the fish at the size that they can spawn that season ,” Young noted .

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 has exposed the shoreline and allowed brush to grow around the lake ,” said Young . “ When the lake filled this spring with the rainbows , it inundated the brush , providing good habitat for juvenile bass and sunfish to feed and hide from predators .” For more information , contact the Collins Lake Recreation Area at 530-692-1600 , www . collinslake . com , and Anglers Press at ( 916 ) 768-0938 , www . anglerspress . com .

The winners and other participants in the Tournament of Champions had a great time enjoying the outdoors on November 5 .

Photo by DAN BACHER , Fish Sniffer Staff .