Conditions
Water Temp: 49-51
Water Clarity: Clear 12’+
Air Temp: 42-64
Wind: Slight breeze
Clear skies
Collins trip
Took A trip to Collins Lake Sunday 2/23/20. Had the Champion out for the day, mind you it has no big motor and no electronics. Used the trolling motor all day. The goal for the day was to try and get some bigger fish on the big baits Huddleston, A-rig and Glide Baits. We switched between all three of those baits for most of the day but in the end it came down to Dropshots and Shakey heads. Focusing most of our attention early on main lake points and the inside of those points we had some success with the dropshot. The big baits were not drawing any attention, not even followers.
Finding the fish
Most of the morning was spent trying to catch active fish up shallow but to no avail. Finally we decided to look in deeper water from 14 to 25 feet. This is where we found the fish feeding more consistently. The bite was very soft just picking up the bait and holding it. Usually when the bite is like this the fish don’t want it moving much but for us to get bit we needed to shake the worm a lot then pause.
The Structure
The lake is loaded with different size rock. For us the majority of our bites came on softball sized rock that was adjacent to mud. The bass would be holding on the top of the piles looking for crawdads in my opinion. The main lake points that we tried did not seem to be holding active fish you had to get on the inside of the point or in the back of a pocket but keeping the depth near the 14-20 feet.
The Wrap-up
For our day we ended up catching five bass total all but one were spotted bass. Right now the fish really seem to be related to rock structure in deeper water. Go slow but give your bait plenty of action. When you get bite make a few more casts but don’t be surprised if you only catch one or two off a spot.
Collins is still a little cold I think when it hits 53-55 the big bait bite will turn on. I would also like to see the rain come in and dirty up the water just a bit maybe six foot visibility.
Hope this helps… See you on the water.
Big Ed
Check out video of today’s trip…