Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3726 Dec 8-21 | Page 16

16
Dec 7 - 21, 2018
MAP FEATURE
VOL.37 • ISS. 26
Rollins Lake offers spotted, largemouth and spotted bass, rainbow and brown trout, crappie, bluegill and channel catfish for boat and bank
anglers.
Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.
Fall Offers Solitude for Trout, Bass & Crappie Anglers at Rollins Lake
S
ituated amidst a conifer forest
on the Bear River in Nevada
County near Colfax, Rollins Reservoir
is like two different bodies of water,
depending on whether you fish it during
the summer or fall, winter and spring.
In the summer, the lake is a
maelstrom of personal watercraft,
water skiers and recreational
boaters. Fishing for the lake’s
rainbow trout, German brown
trout, spotted, largemouth and
smallmouth bass, bluegill and
channel catfish is best during the
early morning and late afternoon
hours due to the heavy boating traffic
during the day. Concentrating on
the more peaceful 5 mph coves is
also highly
advisable.
In contrast, during the fall, winter
and spring, the lake is known as a
place to find solid fishing for rainbow
and brown trout, as well as black bass
and panfish, amidst
solitude. Bank
fishing and
trolling
are both
effective
methods for
pulling out
trout at this
time of year.
Rollins is
located at an
elevation of 2,100
feet and features a
surface area
of
900 acres and 26 miles of shoreline.
On November 17, the recreational
boats and personal watercraft users
that enjoy the lake during the summer
were gone and anglers dominated the
reservoir.
Richard McGuire of Lincoln and Ron
McGuire of Weimar had a great time
fishing in the lake that afternoon, when
they landed 10 rainbows in less than an
hour while tossing out crankbaits, along
with one spotted bass, in the Greenhorn
arm of the lake.
“This is my home lake,” said Richard.
“I like to fish it year around from my
kayak for trout, bass and crappie.. The
bass fishing has been off and on lately.
On my latest bass trip here, I caught
and released 11 bass while using Zoom
Flukers.”
After a long period without plants,
the California Department of Fish and
Wildlife had stocked the reservoir
with 1,000 pounds of rainbow trout
recently.
I have fished many times from
both boat and shore at Rollins.
Both Cal Kellogg, Fish
Sniffer Editor, and I like to
use the lake as a place to
test new baits and lures for
trout, since your chance of
getting trout is very good
here during the winter
and spring.
The bass fishing has
changed a lot at the lake
over the past decade. The
lake used to be known as one where
you can hook lots of small smallmouths
and a few largemouths. Smallmouth
bass in the 8 to 12 inch range were the
predominate the catch. But as is the
Calvin Frey bagged this smallmouth/spotted bass
hybrid and spotted bass during the Folsom Bass Club
Tournament at Rollins Lake on November 17.
Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.
case on many foothill lakes, spotted
bass now dominate the fishing at
Rollins.
The predominance of the spotted bass
in the lake was demonstrated by the
results of a Folsom Bass Club tourna-
ment out of the Long Ravine Resort on
the same day that the McGuires did so
well on the trout.
Seventeen teams of two people each,
a total of 34 anglers, fished the lake that
day. All of the fish weighed in the event
were spotted bass with the exception of
two largemouths and one smallmouth
bass.
“It was a very tough day, but all but
one of the teams weighed in fish,” said
Jerry Lawler, the club’s tournament
director. ”Drop shotting and fishing
slow moving baits were the most
productive methods. We were originally
scheduled to fish Lake Oroville, but we
decided to change the location of the
tournament to Rollins because of the
Camp Fire.”
The results of the event also demon-
strate another aspect of the Rollins bass
fishery: the lake continues to be known
for the quantity of its spotted bass
rather than its size
Michael Allen caught the big fish,
a 1.88 lb. spotted bass. The two bass
that he landed weighed a total of 3.80
pounds. “I hooked the fish while drop
shotting with a ¼ oz. dark grape Robo
Worm,” he stated.
Ryan Petersen and Ryan McGinnis
won first place in the event with 5 fish
weighing 7.07 pounds.
Chris Brisendine placed second with
5 fish weighing 6.71 pounds, while
Rob Ridge, the club president, and Jim
Vretros third with five fish going 6.33
poundsl
Addison Williams and Shannon
Mason finished fourth with five fish