Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3908 Mar 27- Apr 10 | Page 9

Freshwater VOL.39 • ISS. 8 Freshwater reports: Continued from pg 4 CAMANCHE LAKE cont. lake during the latest plant, split between the South Shore Marina and the South Shore Pond, bringing the total since October to 45,000 pounds. The trout trolling action has been up and down, mostly down, as the calm water conditions along with falling lake levels seem to have the rainbows off of the bite. Experienced trollers are finding good action with Speedy Shiners at depths from 40 to 45 feet in the Narrows or around the dam. Bass fishing remains slow, but there have been some quality slabs taken on bass gear.. The Wild West Bass Trail is making their inaugural kayak bass tournament on the lake on March 22nd. The lake is releasing water, dropping from 68 to 67 percent. - Dave Hurley Clear Lake Bass Action Busts Loose CLEARLAKE – If you hit the right place at the right time at Clear Lake, you can catch a five fish limit over 25 pounds in a relatively short amount of time. “On my last trip on the lake, my friend and I found realty good bass fishing,” said Dave Burruss at Clear Lake Outdoors. “We caught and released over 50 fish ranging from 2-1/2 to 6-1/2 pounds. Our top five fish weighed 27 pounds; that’s about a 5-1/2 lb. average.” Burruss said he fished “over the lake” in 2 to 25 feet of water with Keitech swimbaits.He said jigs and Lucky Craft LV 500s are also working. “The crappie fishing is getting better,” he 7 stated. “It should improve even more as the water temperature warms up. Shore anglers and boaters are doing best while working small crappie jigs and minnows in the Clear Lake Oaks area. Fish up to 1-1/2 pounds are being caught.” “Bluegill fishing continues to be great at Clear Lake State Park, the Konochti Vista Casino and the Clear Lake Oaks launch ramp,” added Burris. “Anglers are getting their limit while using redworms. The fish weigh up to 1 pound.” - Dan Bacher in what would become a week of big fish to finish February. Ralph Brown of Gridley caught a 8+ pound trout on PowerBait across the lake. Dan Cowan of Vacaville caught a pair of trout, one just under 7 pounds and one just over, both on broken back Rapalas along the main channel. Eric Phillips caught an 8 1/2 pound fish by the dam on a Kastmaster. Matt Garcia of San Jose spent his leap day morning landing a 7+lb rainbow trout, hooked on a worm & dodger combo taught to him by long-time Collins Lake catcher Cal Kellogg. Later the same day he tipped the scale again at 8 Collins Lake pounds with a trout caught Trout Move Off on a Yakima lure. Shore – Fishermen The last catches of the month were both reeled Follow in by Bobby Vyvlecka of OREGON HOUSE – The Woodland who caught end of February was finicky 9.25lb & 9.75lb trout trolling with trout catching coming broken back Rapalas in and going in waves; The the middle of the lake. Nice pattern was almost three catch Bobby! days quiet and three days Since the end of February with a good bite. The it seemed like we might be The Delta black bass bite is underway. This fat largemouth was weather has been much in another lull in terms of caught on a February 25 outing with Don Paganelli. warmer and dryer than usual, in fact, it’s starting to Photo courtesy of PAGANELLI’S trout…and then Mark Evans of Marysville and Dan look full on like spring, and BASS FISHING EXPERIENCE, Sacramento. Mateo of Meridian showed that means the shoreline up for Mark’s birthday has been pretty busy and caught a double limit beach and brought up the five biggest with fishermen casting trolling “Silver Lures” out in the middle. to get a free picture at the Collins Lake Kastmasters and PowerBait. Now as we Hopefully it’s a harbinger of good catching store. get into March it seems that catching is for the week to come. Justin Bullock from Walnut Creek moving off shore as we start to see trolling I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention topped the chart with a 10 pound rainbow pick up. trout caught trolling a Needlefish along Alyssa and Madison caught nine trout Continued on Pg 8 the dam down at 30ft. His catch ushered on gold & silver Kastmasters from the BLODGETT LAKE Fishing & Hunting At It’s Finest! Annual Family Membership Pass Starting At Only $150 Over Stocked With Bass, Catfish, Bluegill & Crappie. Dove & Goose Hunts Available! WWW.SACFISHING.COM (916) 423-1771 Rancho Cordova, CA 3908 • Trout • Bass • Crappie • Bluegill • Catfish Largest Trout Stocking Program North of Sacramento Lakefront RV Camping Mar 27-Apr 10, 2020 Call for Reservations 800-286-0576 www.collinslake.com P.O. Box 300 . Oregon House . California 95962 3908 Collins Lake Offers Big Trout, Great Facilities And A “Family” Environment! As I motored away from the launch ramp I spotted a mature bald eagle setting in a tree on the far side of the lake, it’s snow-white head stood out distinctly against the grey-green backdrop. 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 desti- nations 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, RV sites, rental cabins and trailers, general store, laundry equipment, hot showers, sand swimming beach and a chil- dren’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. If you haven’t yet sampled the exceptional trout fishing Collins Lake provides and you’d like to learn more check them out online at www.collinslake.com.