Yuba County Fishing Reports

Collins Lake continues to produce excellent trout action, with rainbows and lightning trout spread throughout the water column and active from the surface down to 30-35 feet. While the final stocking of the season wrapped up in early May, a strong series of fall and spring plants has left the lake well-loaded. Trollers are running spoons, Rapalas, and trolling flies with success... particularly in pink or natural tones. Faster trolls are starting to pull in more fish.

Shore casters are soaking nightcrawlers and PowerBait, landing fish near the campsite. Bass are sliding into post-spawn patterns and pulling back from the banks. Finessse soft plastics are your best bet, and just like for trout, the color pink has been working well. Water clarity is good, and the fishing pressure has backed off a bit since the early spring rush.

Striper fishing is still tangled in the spawn… milting males are being caught, and the occasional dead floater is drifting by. The river jumped a couple of feet after a Shasta release, but flows are settling in and things are starting to clean up. Debris is still an issue though… you’ll want to keep your line clear and check for fouled lures often. Bites are light… lots of short strikes. Full baitfish are working better than trimmed ones. If you’re trolling, stay tight: 10 to 15 feet down at 1.8 to 2.2 mph, and make sure that rod tip is dancing… if it’s dead, you’re dragging junk. Rounded river rocks are holding more fish than jagged stuff. One local reportedly stacked 100 fish in two hours earlier this week… so the bite’s there if you hit it right.