Angler Ron Fournier of Stockton California and his angling buddy Tony Jaehnichen of Mountain House were fishing a trout tournament on 1,000-acre Collins Lake, located north of Sacramento in Yuba County.
Fishing wasn’t good on the first day of the weekend event on Nov. 5 during the NorCal Trout Angler’s Challenge (NTAC). But the action picked up considerably on Nov. 6 when Fournier caught a 7.99-pound rainbow while trolling a pink worm near the surface about midday.
It was the largest fish caught in the two-day tournament, putting Fournier in first place in the event.
“It was a hard bite during the tournament,” Fournier told the Stockton Record.
“We didn’t get anything on Saturday. But on Sunday we caught three trout, including the winning fish, plus a couple trout weighing 2½ pounds.”
While Fournier has fished the NTAC for several years, and has placed high in the event, this is his first win for biggest trout in the 150 fishermen entered event.
“Not only was it the winning tournament fish, but it was my personal best rainbow trout,” he said.
Though Fournier caught his 8-pounder trolling, plenty of big trout also were caught by bank anglers using bait and other lures.
Hot trout fishing has been on-going at Collins Lake recently, reported lake fishing authority Cal Kellogg.
“We’ve been putting clients on big rainbows consistently this week,” Kellogg said. “With water temperatures in the low 60s, the trout are really starting to come alive. Our most consistent offerings have been grubs and small plastic worms (slow) trolled in the top 15 feet of the water column. Big trout have been hitting pink and orange trolling flies in the top 5 feet.
“The bite has been better as the sun gets overhead, with solid action continuing into the late afternoon. Our biggest fish this week exceeded 12 pounds, with several others in the 6-to-10-pound range.”
Located in the Sierra Nevada foothills northwest of Marysville, Collins Lake features the largest private trout planting program north of Sacramento.
About 11,000 pounds of trout will be planted this fall, while over 32,000 pounds of trout were already planted in spring 2022.
