Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3725 Nov. 23-Dec 7 | Page 11

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. 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. Lake Lake of of The The Springs Springs (Merle (Merle Collins Collins Res.) Res.) Yuba County Yuba County Natural Natural Tree Tree & & Brush Brush Habitat Habitat Natural Natural Rocky Rocky Habitat Habitat Steep Steep Drop Drop off off Manmade Manmade Brush Brush Habitat Habitat Bridge Bridge Oregon House El. 1530 Pow erlin e Stanfield Stanfield Hill Hill El. El. 1221 1221 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. To To RUN4SALMON ROUTE Brownsville Brownsville Collins Lake Collins Lake Collins Lake Facts 11 Nov 23 - Dec 7, 2018 MAP FEATURE VOL.37 • ISS. 25 Flanly Peak El. 2099 Loma Loma Rica Rica Road Road To To Loma Loma Rica, Rica, Marysville Marysville & & Hiway Hiway 20 20 Collins Lake Entry Entry Station Station & & General General Store Store Swimming Beach Dolan Dolan Harding Harding Road Road Open Camping Area FISHING NOTES FISHING NOTES Dry Creek Dam Chaparral Hill El. 2099 • • Rainbow Trout are are the the most most popular popular species at Collins, the management lake management and in a cooperative program plant loads into of rainbows into in the the reservoir in the Rainbow Trout species at Collins, since since the lake and DFW in a DFW cooperative program plant big loads of big rainbows the reservoir spring and fall. spring fall. While DFW plants catchable trout, the concessionaire trophy trout the lake. Trollers find success nightcrawlers behind dodgers, While and the DFW plants the catchable trout, the concessionaire stocks lots of trophy stocks trout in lots the of lake. Trollers find in success using nightcrawlers behind using dodgers, Cripplures, Needlefish, Rapalas Cripplures, and variety throughout the but the fishing takes place in catch the spring and summer. Shore anglers catch trout and a variety Needlefish, of spinners Rapalas throughout the a year, but of the spinners best fishing takes place in year, the spring and best summer. Shore anglers also trout while fishing Power Bait, spoons also and spinners in the while fishing and in spinners in the Fishing camping areas, the off swim beach at and near the Fishing can be very good off the docks at night during the camping areas, Power off the Bait, swim spoons beach and near the dam. can be very off good the docks night in during the dam. summer. summer. • Brown Trout offer a sleeper fishery at Collins. Most fish are taken by anglers targeting rainbows with minnow imitation lures. To target the browns, trolling or casting Rapalas, Rebels and • other Spotted Bass trout are the predominant bass species structure in Collins, but the lake kicks trophy Largemouth every year. Smallmouth Bass used to be more rainbow pattern plugs around shoreline early and late in the day out during the Florida-strain winter and spring is your top Bass prospect. abundant, but the spotted bass have catches. Collins is Largemouth known for Bass being a good shotting Bass lake throughout the abundant, year,as but well the as • Spotted Bass are the predominant bass largely species replaced in Collins, the but bronzebacks the lake kicks in out the trophy Florida-strain every year. drop Smallmouth used to be more 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 well into as habitat and top Florida spotted bass have largely replaced the bronzebacks in the catches. Collins is known for being a good drop shotting lake throughout the year,as being a enhancement great place to fish water largemouth planting programs at the reservoir. 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 prowl the the waters waters of of Collins during spring summer temperatures are at their The highest. The Dry inlet out also good kicks out good numbers Channel Catfish Collins during the the spring and and summer when when water water temperatures are at their highest. Dry Creek inlet Creek also kicks numbers of catfish of catfish during winter storms lake. Use mackerel, liver for and baits for the whiskerfish. during winter storms when food when washes food into washes the lake. into Use the mackerel, chicken liver and chicken other baits the other whiskerfish. • • Bluegill, Black Crappie Crappie and Redear Sunfish top-notch the and spring and summer. Fish for the crappie with Jigs bluegill and for the bluegill and redears Bluegill, Black and Redear Sunfish offer offer top-notch action action during during the spring summer. Fish for the crappie with Mini Jigs and Mini for the and redears with wax worms, with wax worms, redworms and Fish golden grubs. the on trees and side brush on the the piles. lake and in the brush piles. redworms and golden grubs. around the Fish trees around and brush the east of the lake east and in side the of brush 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 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 will be filled on November 19 by the CDFW, assisted by lake staff and local volunteers. The winner of the drawing for the boat, Bruce Alger, “They’re beautiful fish with won a 14 foot Tracker boat, motor and trailer package, full fins that look much more courtesy of Gone Fishin’ Marine in Dixon Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff. like native or holdover trout,” said Lincoln Young, manager of Collins Lake Resort. “Since they’re Star, Panther Martin, Dodge, Mack’s Lures, already acclimated to the lake’s waters, Pro-Cure, SeaEagle.com, Dick Nite Spoons they’re brightly colored, their flesh is firmer and Thomas Fishing Lures. and they fight harder than recently planted Anglers who finished in the top 50 in trout.” any one of the 2017 NorCal Trout Angler’s The CDFW planted brown trout in Challenge events were qualified to partici- previous years, but they haven’t stocked pate in the end-of-the season championship browns for over 8 years. at the lake. Trout grow big and fat in Collins, feeding The 2019 trout tour will open at San heavily on the lake’s abundant threadfin Pablo Reservoir on February 2nd, 2019. shad and other forage. Rich Moore set the For more information about the NorCal lake rainbow record of 14 pounds, 3 ounces Trout Anglers Challenge, call Vince Harris in May 2009. The lake brown record, set in of Angler’s Press, (916) 768-0938. 1991 by Bill Clutter, is 9 pounds. Collins Lake, located on Dry Creek, a Spotted and largemouth bass offer great tributary of the Yuba River, features 12 fishing at Collins also. Dan Raub captured miles of shoreline located in the beautiful the lake largemouth bass record of 13 Sierra Nevada foothills. pounds, 4 ounces in June 1998 while More than 50,000 rainbow trout are fishing a live crawdad. James Everhart planted in Collins every spring and fall, employed a trout swimbait to nail the lake meaning that Collins Lake has the largest spotted bass record of 9 pounds, 8-1/2 private planting program north of Sacra- mento. Thousands of these trout are trophy- ounces in 2008. “Spotted bass are the most abundant bass sized, planted at 3 to 8 pounds and growing 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. The lake catfish record, set in 2008, is 24 pounds. To supplement the bass and panfish fishery, Young and the lake management in the past have stocked the lake with Alabama spotted bass, black crappie, bluegill and redear sunfish. “We plant the fish at the size that they can spawn that season,” Young noted. 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 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. The smile on the face of Aniyah Tinsey of Newark holding her 2.38 lb. rainbow with her dad, Fred, at Collins Lake shows what the NorCal Trout Anglers Challenge is all about. Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.