Collins Lake

[Curmudgeon]

I was out on Collins on Saturday with my wife and daughter. Left the downriggers at home and let the two of them do all the fishing and netting.

Crazy and comical at times but they still combined to put 5 in the boat with 3 of them between 19-20” and each over 3 lbs.

Got 1 in the main body and the other 4 in the river arm.

[Jfitalia]

I went to Collins during the tournament and got skunked for the first time there. We did have 2 early on that got off before we could land them. Overall I wasn't impressed at all this time. Went to Amador 11/9 and didn't get anything until about 9am. This happened after we finally gave up the slow troll and went for a very fast reactionary bite troll. Caught 2 large rainbows and a 4lb large mouth within about 45 minutes. FYI - Amador is not very full at all. It was difficult to turn around with 80ft of line out.

Dont ever fish any of the lakes during a tournament. It brings too many boats and pushes the fish down

[jlind]

I went to Collins during the tournament and got skunked for the first time there. We did have 2 early on that got off before we could land them. Overall I wasn't impressed at all this time. Went to Amador 11/9 and didn't get anything until about 9am. This happened after we finally gave up the slow troll and went for a very fast reactionary bite troll. Caught 2 large rainbows and a 4lb large mouth within about 45 minutes. FYI - Amador is not very full at all. It was difficult to turn around with 80ft of line out.

[Jfitalia]

Thank you sir. I just did not see any fish at that depth. But that was in a straight line with not much outreach beyond. Maybe 20 feet more one way and they would be there. Need to go back to my old fishing knowledge sometimes and leave the electronics alone for a while. Yes...they are awesome but a crutch for me I guess. Again than you.....

Water temp is 58 to 62 degrees there. You wont normally see fish in the top 10ft anyways. Check your PM

[Jfitalia]

J-fit, I'm sure you mean 500 pounds? Because 500 fish would be an improvement!!!!!

Very true. I did the math last year and it equated to less than 200 fish a week.

[waltc]

You're fishing too deep at collins. Fish are in the top 10ft. Stop chasing marks on fish plugs top lined 80 to 130 feet. If you're dead set on using downriggers, drop a speedy shiner down 7ft. Speeds at 2.6 to 2.88

I landed 13 last week at collins

Thank you sir. I just did not see any fish at that depth. But that was in a straight line with not much outreach beyond. Maybe 20 feet more one way and they would be there. Need to go back to my old fishing knowledge sometimes and leave the electronics alone for a while. Yes...they are awesome but a crutch for me I guess. Again than you.....

[PapaGreg]

J-fit, I'm sure you mean 500 pounds? Because 500 fish would be an improvement!!!!!

[Jfitalia]

Well thats surprising cause they've planted 6K in like a month and theres some nice fish being caught on their fishing report . Now that being said I went to amador for the first time yesterday and threw everything I know works at them and had no fish all day , saw only 2 fish caught from shore all day a #2 and a #4 1/2 that I netted for some kids . There were at least 50 people there on shore and 10 kayaks and at least 15 -20 boats if everyone woulda caught just 1 fish it woulda wiped out their entire planting so far 1250 lbs!!! They are putting in 600 lbs a week which is nothing , really good size fish that fight hard , but to pay around $20 plus the gas my old truck uses to get there its not worth it . I hope they see the errors they are making and fix it . But then thats fishing there are many skunk days in between the good days . Collins has always been good to me never had a skunk day there unless its summer or too hot and like Okie said there are some big crappie in there and they love to inhabit the trout net pens my grand kids had a blast catching them . Just keep at it you will figure it out . Tightlines BF

Amador is only dumping in like 500 fish a week.

[Jfitalia]

This is not really about Collins Lake but more about me the downrigger rookie! Love Collins and the staff.

Trying to make this short.

My first year with downriggers, first time out Bullards. Rookie big time but came home with (7). Not a big score for Bullards but gave me confidence. The next 3 trips to Bullards limit each time. So...figure I got it down! Wrong I think. This was months a go,.

Today and last week same old story at Collins. Zip!!! Okay, 2 rods out (fishing with one is a lot easier! In 6 hours I tried 15', 25', 40' and up all the way to 70'. Speedy shiners, Apex, even a rapala! Numerous marks, big ones, in the 70' area, thinking catfish but maybe holdovers. I tried speeds from .8 up to 2.5.

I have to be doing something wrong. Many boats out today and I did not see any fish caught. I know there were probably many I just did not see them.

Collins can go from 90' to 30' in a heartbeat so I had to baby sit the downriggers.

Anyway I serve cheese with my whine!!!!

Maybe just a fishing day and not a catching day. It was all good just trying to improve on my downrigger tactics. I know I am doing something wrong but what?

Thanks for the shoulder to cry on!!!!!! LOL LOL

Walt

You're fishing too deep at collins. Fish are in the top 10ft. Stop chasing marks on fish plugs top lined 80 to 130 feet. If you're dead set on using downriggers, drop a speedy shiner down 7ft. Speeds at 2.6 to 2.88

I landed 13 last week at collins

[bigfin]

Well thats surprising cause they've planted 6K in like a month and theres some nice fish being caught on their fishing report . Now that being said I went to amador for the first time yesterday and threw everything I know works at them and had no fish all day , saw only 2 fish caught from shore all day a #2 and a #4 1/2 that I netted for some kids . There were at least 50 people there on shore and 10 kayaks and at least 15 -20 boats if everyone woulda caught just 1 fish it woulda wiped out their entire planting so far 1250 lbs!!! They are putting in 600 lbs a week which is nothing , really good size fish that fight hard , but to pay around $20 plus the gas my old truck uses to get there its not worth it . I hope they see the errors they are making and fix it . But then thats fishing there are many skunk days in between the good days . Collins has always been good to me never had a skunk day there unless its summer or too hot and like Okie said there are some big crappie in there and they love to inhabit the trout net pens my grand kids had a blast catching them . Just keep at it you will figure it out . Tightlines BF