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Saturday, December 9th, 2006

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Sorry - previous report should have been 12/9/06. How time flies!!
    City: Yuba City

Saturday, November 25th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 56

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: On the water at 6:45 trolled for trout towards the dam from the boat dock with no luck. stopped at the dam and caught several bass on the bottom in 53ft of water. moved up into the fishing only section and caught fish under the powerlines in 30-40ft of water also on the bottom. All said and done. 8 spots to 3lbs. and 3 trout to 5lbs. off the water by 11:00.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: gotta go deep! Find offshore structure and jig the heck out of it!

Thursday, November 9th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 53

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I fished Collins twice this week - Tuesday afternoon from 3 pm to 5:20 pm produced 3 largemouth - the first a powerful 13 incher! The last 2 were better - 4 lbs 3 oz and 5 lbs 2 oz! I lost a good one too. They were caught on a brown\orange Rodstrainer jig in about 18 to 20 feet of water. A friend and I went Thurs for about 5 hours and caught 7 bass - all spots. The biggest was near 3 lbs and two were over 2. Spooning a Duh! spoon in about 30-40 feet of water produced the biggest fish. A 1 3/4 oz morning dawn spoon did the trick. Missed a few also. The drop-shot bite was fair for smaller bass and only one caught on a jig. It was a nice cloudy day early and thought the bite would be better. When the sun came out around noon, the bite died!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I am hoping incoming rain will help the bite. Water is still very clear. Bass are still really scattered. Most bass are 20 to 50 feet right now.

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: nothing happening went today got skunked
    City: sacramento

Wednesday, November 1st, 2006

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    Water Temp: 63

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I did a teach-the-lake trip today with a good fisherman - unfortunately the fish wern't very well behaved! They were not very active the day following a lot of rain. They must have feed then. One critter made a mistake of feeding about 11:15 am in the main body - she ate my brown/orange Rodstrainer jig with Yamamoto grub trailer. She was a spotted bass weighing 6 lbs 14 oz - my 3rd biggest spot ever and 4th biggest at Collins. A client caught a 7-1 previously. We fished all over the lake with every bait known to man and only landed 4 bass including one largemouth. The others were in the 2 lb range and we each lost a few. Drop-shotting and spooning did not work for some reason, just jigs and worms.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Fishing should pick up in the next week or so with clouds, cooler weather, and rain moving in. The lake is down 40 feet. The island tops are showing.

Friday, September 29th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I tried Collins by myself for a few hours Thurs afternoon and found the bass fishing fair - though I caught 2 on topwater which was fun! Biggest was a 2 lb 2 oz spot drop-shotting a Basstrix flashtrix minnow. The lake is a little higher than normal so the fish are still spread out some. I caught the 5 bass on off-shore structure in the main body.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: This is the time of year to use your meter at Collins! Locate the bait - and there is more than ever this year!! A big spot was caught last week - over 7 lbs!! Big bass should become active soon!

Sunday, August 6th, 2006

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    Water Temp: ?

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: First time to this small lake. On at 2:00pm off at 6:00pm. 12 fish to hand and several missed. Big fish for the afternoon was 5.2lb. Dartheading a 6" morning dawn worm. Found fish on flats and long points.

    Vaughn
    City: Roseville

Saturday, July 15th, 2006

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: caught a couple of small ones over by the dam on grubs. caught a crappie and bass on a rapala by the dock.
    City: sacramento

Thursday, July 6th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 82.9

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Spent 2 weeks at collins lake and really struggled the first few days. I started to nail them at all sizes on the east side of the lake at the sides of points w/ small sized rocks going all the way down deep. There were also lots of schooling sized bass which bit small plastics. Caught a few on topwater buzz baits early in the morning, caught a couple on cranks, but most on plastic worms. Take time on a point and dont just gun and run all over the place. My trolling motor broke and I was forced to fish from teh opposite shore. I shore fished and wham.. i started to see the paterns. Good luck. I love this lake.
    City: San Diego

    Tips: Fish 8'-10' clear water, slowly with plastics. I used straight tailed chocolate colored / w/ blue vein or green/purple..

Sunday, June 4th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 73

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Cal and I went up to Collins for a morning bite trip. Fished some trees in shallow water with no luck. We then worked our way up the bank toward the bridge (3 hours and nothing). Saw tons of sunnies and bass but they would look at the bait and swim away. Cal and I trew everything and I mean everything we could get our hands on. I was even willing to try and throw the steering wheel for the boat. We then haeaded to the dam and fished it for a while. got a few nibble on a darter head, BAM. Fish ON!!!. At first I thought it was a cat as it wasnt fighitn much and thought I felt a roll in there. Then she saw the boat...and down and away she went. She was a fighting for her life but that darter head was set in there good. Got her to the boat and she was pushing 3lbs. So with that we headed or the docks. Until next time....
    City: Plumas Lake

    Tips: No help here. You wont ever see Cal or I on this lake again. 2 trips 1 fish. No thanks...

Tuesday, May 16th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 75

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Lots of fish visible in the water but not much biting. My wife & Pepper grub and I got one other dink on a Rapala Husky jerk. Threw just about everything in the box. Water was warm.
    City: West Sacramento

    Tips: I hadn't fished the lake in a couple of years and made a last minute trip with the family. I am open for any suggestions after this day.

Thursday, April 27th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 62-65

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I took a client today who wanted to learn good fishing spots in this gem of a lake. We started off about 7:30 am with topwater - first time this year. I got the first one - a 2 1/2 lb spotted bass. After a few more, we looked in a cove on the east side and found a bed fish, about 4 lbs. I showed him how to get the fish to take a white jig. She did not want to cooperate very quickly, though we could have caught her had we stayed longer. The water is still quite murky and so the bite hasn't really turned on yet. We threw Senkos #221 Senkos in flooded trees and caught a few, nothing real big however. We wound up with 8 or 9 bass - nothing over 2 1/2 lbs.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Collins should bust open in a few days as the water clears and warms a bit more. Senkos are deadly in the trees as well as spinnerbaits. The east side warms more quickly as it gets more afternoon sun. Don't forget topwater - I was using a shad colored Lucky Craft Sammy.

Monday, March 27th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 53

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished for a few hours today before the 15 mile an hour wind started blowing. I threw a Norman crankbait pretty much the whole time and landed 2 fish and lost 1. I bass was about 2 pounds. A nice chunky little spot. The other was a dink. The wind was blowing pretty good and the water was still pretty muddy from the rains. I have been doing pretty good at Collins with a Shad colored Norman crankbait between storms. I have been pitching it in tight around trees and slowly wobbling it back out banging limbs when I can. I caught a 4.5 spot last week doing this. I havent been getting a lot of bites but 3 or 4 good ones a day. Can't wait for some stable weather when the bite gets good. I guess a guy could catch more fish on jigs or worms worked slow but I seem to be catching more quality fish on the crankbait than I usually do with the plastics. Good luck. Catch and Release!

    Tips: Have also caught a few slow rolling chartreuse spinnerbats in the trees.

Saturday, March 18th, 2006

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I caught a few while fishing zipper worms.
    City: sacramento

    Tips: zipper worms are doing really good right now.

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    Water Temp: 46

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Collins all day Saturday all for not! My fishin buddy Todd and I threw crankbaits, spinners, grubs, topwaters(early AM), banjo minnows, pitched jigs, well you get the hint. We threw it all and left with nothing. The main lake was still murky, back in some of the coves the clairity of the water was around 4.5 feet down. But the Bass just had lock jaw. Better luck next time I guess.
    City: Plumas Lake

    Tips: The warmest water we saw on the fish finder was 50 back in a few of the coves. But else where any where from 45-48 degrees is what your looking at. It is supposed to rain all this week, so I imagine the first week of April may show some signs of the water warming & clearing up a little.

Sunday, March 12th, 2006

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    Water Temp: cold

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: In a shocker, this mornin at Collins the snow came down in buckets. Naturally this slowed the bite but using power bait on a drop shot rig still brought in a few fish near the dam.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Dress really warm unless you want to lose some limbs.

Friday, February 3rd, 2006

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    Water Temp: 53

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I fished Collins today for about 4 1/2 hours, just checking it out and trying to find some cleaner water. It still had low visability and is still spilling. I tried jigs, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits on the westside from 11am to 1pm without a bite. I switched to a few ofshore rocky areas on the eastside in about 15-20 feet of water, using a brown/orange Rattlin' Weapon jig with #180 Yamamoto single-tail trailer. As my jig got to about 18 feet of water the line tightened and I set the hook. There was no bite. What a great feeling after being off the water for 6 weeks!! I knew I would hook a good one since I left my net at home! Works every time! She fought good in the cold water and soon I lipped a 4-15 largemouth. Close to 5 but no cigar! Still a good start for '06!! I continued to work my way down towards the dam and worked another rocky dropoff with the jig and nailed a 2-2 spotted bass. I switched back to Elmer's Cove and had a feeble bite but missed it and that was it for my first '06 trip! I could have stayed longer but I don't have much success during late-afternoons in the winter. I think the bass need the light of day to get them feeding a bit in winter murky water.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I think spinnerbaits will work well as soon as the water warms up a few degrees and it may this week! I caught a 9 pounder on a crankbait several years ago at Collins on a very warm afternoon in mid-Feb. Jigs should work well also. Always look for the steep dropoffs.

Monday, January 9th, 2006

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: great day considering 2 friends of mine fished out of 2 boats throwing everything including hudds the past 2 days and never got a bump. Pretty amazing. Got any Pics?

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: great day considering 2 friends of mine fished out of 2 boats throwing everything including hudds the past 2 days and never got a bump. Pretty amazing. Got any Pics?

Monday, December 5th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Arrived at the ramp at about 7:00am and found nobody on the lake, not a soul. Can't really blame them. It was freakin cold. It was one of those mornings that you will always remember. The sun coming over the hill, the steam rising off the lake, and the top cap of the boat completly frozen. We did'nt even get the boat on pad until 1:00pm. About ten minutes into it my partner lays into a pig. After a little tug-of-war session, he swings into the boat a toad spot 2 ounces shy of six pounds. The next hour was a little tough as we struggled for bites. We finally found some bait and fish in 30' and caught one large mouth two pounds even and an identical spotted bass. A little down the bank we caught another. This time it was a spot that went 1lb 14oz. Moved over to the dam and started getting them in 20-30' We caught two dinks, another 2lbs even large mouth and three spots that went between 1.6-1.9lbs. Headed up the river at about 1:00pm and that's when it happended. We saw the first boat of the day. It was just the patrol guy doing his rounds. Pretty cool to have the lake all to yourself all day. We spyed a little point with a little brush and a little wind. Banged four in a row 2.4lbs, 2.5lbs, 2.3lbs, and 1.7lbs. Hit all the good stuff to the top of the river and ended up with another 2.4lbs, 1.9lbs, and 2.1lbs. All but one fish in the river were spots. Got off the water in the dark. Man was it cold. The fishing is tough and you have to work hard. Probably missed twenty bites between the two of us. Lost four or five half way to the boat. They did'nt eat the bait real good. You have to feed it to them once you feel them wrap there lips around it. Another week of butt cold night time temps should make them clobber the bait. Once the water temp dips down to 48 or so, those big spots get on the bank and hammer a jig.

    Tips: Fished drop shot 4.5" worms in dark colors SLOW!!!
    1/4oz. Dart head 6" worms SLOW!!!!!
    3/8oz and 1/2oz spider jigs does not have to be SLOW but be thorough.
    No reaction fish. No swimbait fish. They would not follow a reaction bait up to the boat but we had several follow the jig.