16 March 2 - 16 , 2018 VOL . 37 • ISS . 06

The electric trolling motor churned silently beneath the surface , pushing me toward the dam as I rigged my rods . On the first rod I tied on a chrome and blue Cripplure , while I armed the second with a 3-inch minnow plug .

I was about midway across the dam when the rod toplining the Cripplure dipped and then popped back up . The fish had missed getting hooked , but a beat later it struck again and this time luck was on my side . The rod drew down into a satisfying arc and line started flowing off the reel before I could get the rig out of the holder . The thick-bodied rainbow put up a determined battle , but within a few minutes it was safely in the cooler . For the rest of the morning I worked back and forth along the face of the dam . By early afternoon I ’ d hooked and landed more than two dozen rainbows . Most of them were quickly released , but I did keep three rainbows and a lone brown in the 2 pound class . As I eased the boat back onto it ’ s trailer I looked across the lake and was surprised to see that the eagle was still sitting on it ’ s perch . Between seeing the eagle and battling a bunch of hard fighting trout it had been a majestic morning at Collins Lake indeed !

Collins Lake , sits at 1,200 feet in elevations , about midway between the cities of Marysville to the north and Grass Valley to the south . When full as it usually is in the spring the lake features 1,600 surface acres of water and 12.5 miles of shoreline

Unlike a lot of the state ’ s premier trout fishing destinations the Collins Lake Recreation Area offers all the amenities an angler requires and is family friendly . The recreation area ’ s facilities include a boat ramp and marina , picnic grounds , camping sites , by Cal Kellogg

RV sites , rental cabins and trailers , general store , laundry equipment , hot showers , sand swimming beach and a children ’ s playground . If you don ’ t have your own boat don ’ t despair . The marina offers outboard equipped aluminum fishing boats , patio boats and ocean kayaks .

So what makes Collins Lake such an awesome fishery ? Well there are a couple of driving factors behind the lake ’ s superb trout fishing . The lake ’ s rich waters provide an exceptional forage base in the form of prolific numbers of threadfin shad . Yet , the most important factor is the recreation area ’ s commitment to providing a top notch fishing experience . Collins boasts the most aggressive trout stocking program in the north state . Spring and fall big numbers of rainbow trout are planted .

In addition to rainbows , the lake is home to a decent population of brown trout . The browns were planted as fingerlings several years ago in hopes that they would grow to trophy proportions . The browns are now showing up in the catches . While none of them have been

the double digit monsters that anglers and the lake management hope to see some day , many of them have been quality fish in the 3 to 4 pound class .

No one is certain how many of the fingerlings survived or how big the largest of them have grown . Research at other lakes indicates that even when the total number of browns in a lake exceeds the number of rainbows , rainbows show up in the catches by a ratio of about 15 to 1 over browns . There are a lot of us that believe Collins now has a strong population of big hard to hook browns lurking among its legions of rainbows .

If you haven ’ t yet sampled the exceptional trout fishing Collins Lake provides and you ’ d like to learn more , visit them online at www . collinslake . com .

3706

7530 Collins Lake Road , Browns Valley , CA 95918