22 April 27- May 11, 2018 VOL. 37 • ISS. 10

Victoria Reyes of Rocklin and her father, Ben, show off the 2.43 lb. trout that earned her third place in the NTAC youth division at Collins.

Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.

Vince Harris of Angler’ s Press and Sheldon Bright of the Fish Sniffer with the winners of the youth division of the NTAC event at Collins Lake on April 7.

Photo courtesy of CDFW.

Sheldon Bright of the Fish Sniffer poses with the Rooster Tail winner at the Collins NTAC event. Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.

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CAST AND RETRIEVE

Without a doubt, the most popular way to fish a Rooster Tail is to employ the cast-and-retrieve method. It’ s so easy, just tie a Rooster Tail on the end of your line, cast into a lake or stream and reel / retrieve your spinner back to you.

In lakes, most anglers searching for fish, cast-and-retrieve spinners while working their way along the shoreline or from a drifting boat.

The most common method used in rivers is to cast your Rooster Tail out, across and slightly upstream; allow it to sink near bottom while reeling up any slack line, then pulling back on your rod tip slightly, causing the blade to start its spin before beginning a slow retrieve. The current will sweep your spinner downstream as you reel it back. Once your spinner swings in near shore, it’ s time to reel in and cast again.

Choose different colored Rooster Tails for changing light and water conditions. If one color is not working try a different color.

Bleeding Frog

2.56;( 8) Johannes Versendall, 2.35;( 9) Rob Cetinich, 2.22; and( 10) Frank Nitta, 2.22.

‘ I’ m really thrilled by this derby because it is truly a family-centered event that allows anglers to introduce the sport to new people, especially children, within their family or circle of friends,” said Lincoln Young, manager of Collins Lake Resort.“ In addition, the derby is affordable.”

Sponsors included Fisherman’ s Warehouse, Gone Fishing Marine, Atlas Mike’ s, Berkley, Yo-Zuri, Yakima Bait, Costa Del Mar, Silver Horde / Gold Star, Panther Martin, Dodge, Mack’ s Lures, Pro-Cure, SeaEagle. com, Dick Nite Spoons, Thomas Fishing Lures, Hot Spot, Apex, Rapala and Tasmanian Devil.

Anglers who finished in the top 50 in any one of the 2017 NorCal Trout Angler’ s Challenge events are qualified to participate in the end-of-the season championship at the lake.

The 1200-acre reservoir, located on Dry Creek, a tributary of the Yuba River, features 12 miles of shoreline located in the beautiful Sierra Nevada foothills just over an hour northeast of Sacramento between Marysville and Grass Valley.

More than 50,000 rainbow trout are planted in Collins every spring and fall, meaning that Collins Lake has the largest private planting program north of Sacramento. Thousands of these trout are trophy- sized, planted at 3 to 8 pounds and growing even larger.

The resort, in cooperation with the CDFW, Kokanee Power and CIFFI, 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 subcatchable or catchable size. each November. When they are released in increments between mid-March and the end of April, they range from 2 to 3 pounds. The net pens were filled on November 16, 2017, by the CDFW, assisted by volunteers.

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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 at least 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

“ 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 last spring with the rains, it inundated the brush, providing good habitat for juvenile bass and sunfish to feed and hide from predators. We’ re seeing the same thing happening this year also.”

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Ricardo Diaz Jr. won first place in the adult division of the event with his 4.8 lb. rainbow he landed while soaking PowerBait from shore at Collins Lake. Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staffer.

The lake is now full, the result of the heavy spring rains in the Collins Lake watershed.

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.

Call or come in and we will find a model and price perfect for you and your family.

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Spring Frog

For more tips and videos on how to fish Rooster Tails go to yakimabait. com

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Luke Clausen Yo-Zuri Pro Staff