The Mills family landed these fine rainbows from the bank at Collins Lake. Every spring, more than 40,000 trout are planted here. And this year, anglers got a surprise. Photo by Cal Kellogg.

As I motored away from the launch ramp, I spotted a bald eagle in a tree on the far side of the lake. Its snow-white head stood out distinctly against the gray-green backdrop.

A mantle of clouds hung just above the ridge tops. But there was no rain in the forecast, and the lake’s surface was as flat as glass.

The electric trolling motor churned silently beneath the surface, pushing me toward the dam.

On my first rod, I tied on a chrome-and-blue Cripplure. The second was armed with a 3-inch smelt-colored floating minnow plug.

I stuck the rods in the holders and opened both bails until the lures were about 200 feet behind the boat.

When the boat neared the corner of the dam nearest the spillway, I circled slowly to the left and motored across the face of the dam.

I was about midway across the dam when the rod with the Cripplure dipped and then popped back up.

The fish hit, but wasn’t hooked. A beat later, it struck again -- and this time, luck was on my side.

The rod bent over into a satisfying arc. Line started flowing off the reel before I could get the rig out of the holder.

The thick-bodied rainbow put up a determined battle. But within a few minutes, it was safely in the cooler.

For the rest of the morning, I worked back and forth along the face of the dam. By early afternoon, I’d hooked and landed more than two dozen nice rainbows.

I released most of them, but did keep three, plus one lone brown in the 2-pound class.

Easing the boat back onto its trailer, I looked across the lake and was surprised to see the bald eagle still sitting on its perch.

Between seeing the eagle and battling a bunch of hard-fighting trout, it had been a majestic morning indeed!

As most avid trout anglers know, a number of big Northern California reservoirs are capable of providing this kind of action. But would you be surprised that I was fishing a relatively small lake just a little over an hour’s drive from the Sacramento metropolitan area?

But yes, that’s the case.

That fabulous morning of trout trolling took place at Collins Lake. And though that outing may have been more productive than average, I’ve experienced fishing just as good or better many times.

I remember a trip my wife Gena and I took to the lake one winter. In a single afternoon of bait-fishing from the bank, we put seven rainbows on our stringer that, all together, weighed more than 23 pounds!

FULLY EQUIPPED
Collins Lake lies at 1,200 feet, about midway between Marysville to the north and Grass Valley to the south. At full capacity, the lake has 1,600 surface acres and more than 12 miles of shoreline.

The recreation area surrounding the lake is home to deer, turkeys and coyotes. The oak- and pine-studded ridges create a beautiful backdrop of foothills. Unlike a lot of the state’s premier trout-fishing destinations, the Collins Lake Recreation Area offers all the amenities an angler requires -- and is family-friendly.

Facilities include a boat ramp and marina, picnic grounds, camping sites, RV sites, rental cabins and trailers, general store, laundry equipment, hot showers, sand swimming beach and a playground.

And if you don’t have your own boat, the marina offers outboard-equipped aluminum fishing boats, patio boats and ocean kayaks.

While the recreation area does allow recreational boating, the focus is really on fishing. Water-skiing is permitted in the lake’s main body between May 1 and Oct. 15.