April started off on fire. Take a look ate the Gomes family who took home 13 trout fishing all over the lake with green and yellow PowerBait.

Bass were also hitting hard – Alex Mckiah sent in these pictures showing off the some of the bass they caught along the shoreline on the east side of the dam. Alex said they were caught using Senkos, drop shot with a margarita mutilator roboworm, and one on a jig.

The surface temperature had been warming up but with cold winds rolling in the first half of this week they have already dropped back down by nearly two degrees. It’s hard to tell whether the weather with delay bass spawning but for now I bet they’re still hungry and catchable any time the wind calms down.

On the calm day, it’s a great time of year to take your kids out. Ethan (above, left) caught a pair of trout using garlic powerbait by the dam while Hailey & Harlow caught theirs on rainbow powerbait in Elmer’s Cove. Of course regardless of what you catch the best way to end the day is with a Collins Lake ice cream!

Shore fishing tends to be strong through at least mid May. And we continue to plant trout rain or shine. In fact we received a large trout plant today (Monday), and because of the suddenly cold winds there wasn’t a single boat stalking the perimeter and not a single line cast on the point next to the plant site.

Low fishing pressure on plant days, combined with cool weather means trout will migrate north and south along the thermocline. Leticia, Alaya and Junior (below, right) caught 3 trout using rainbow powerbait from the shore while Michael Anker (left) hooked a nice bass on a worm.

We’ll finish this report with a pair of 5 pounders caught this week. First, Vern Souza (below, left) caught his 5 pound beauty of a trout fishing with PowerBait on the north corner of the beach. Later that same day Kylie MacNear caught her lunker trout casting a jig along the shoreline by the dam.

The hard truth is that after Kylie fought her fish, things have slowed considerably. Yesterday evening cold 15MPH winds blew in and left only a few souls brave enough to be out on the water and a handful more along the shoreline. Granted our general store is busy pumping out espresso and lattes, and quite a few cold weather ice cream cones.

The folks in trailers and motorhomes are having a good time of it, hot chocolate and coffee abound, but it hasn’t helped the catching.

The current forecast has afternoon winds rolling in most of the week. There might be some some good breaks in the mornings, especially Tuesday & Wednesday. With trout plants continuing unabated and low fishing pressure it might actually even be beneficial for the folks who roll the dice on conditions. Still, come prepared in case the winds kick up or if we benefit from a bit a rain. And if it ends up being pretty rough out there, we’ve got a good deal on ice cream and plenty of hot coffee!