Collins Lake is expanding the successful net pen project for 2008. We are raising trophy rainbow trout in underwater net pens during the winter and releasing them in late spring. There will be a total of 12 pens this winter, each about the size of a bedroom (12′x 10′x 12′) which will be located at the marina. These same trout are expected to triple in size to become 3 to 4 pound trophy-sized fish when released next Spring!
Loading Buckets
Collins Lake already has California’s largest trout stocking program north of Sacramento and these net pens will further increase this successful program. For every plant of rainbow trout normally received from Fish and Game, Collins Lake purchases 3 plants of larger trophy sized trout from private hatcheries. In 2007, there were a total of 28,000 pounds of trout planted. The average size of trophy trout planted each week during the spring was 2 to 6 pounds, with some whoppers topping 10 pounds!
These new net pens will make Collins Lake’s intensive trout planting program even bigger. Depending on the actual growth rates, these pens could add about 15,000 pounds to the existing program.
Dumping Fish
This net pen project is a cooperative effort of several groups working together. Department of Fish and Game provide the fish from their hatchery. Two non-profit groups of volunteers, Kokanee Power and California Inland Fisheries Foundation have been raising money to provide the food. Collins Lake provided the labor and materials to build four new pens and the marina space to keep all 12 of the pens. Collins Lake staff will care for the trout, feeding them daily and keeping the pens clean of algae. Local home school families from H.I.S. Ministries assisted in a bucket brigade to plant the fish from the truck into the pens.
Each group did their part to make this project a success. This project would have been too big for any one group to do by themselves. All groups involved are hoping to build more pens in the future at Collins Lake after this pilot year is completed. Collins Lake is also looking into raising catfish in these same pens during the summer months when it is too warm to keep trout. For more information or to further support projects like this, visit www.kokaneepower.org, or www.kokanee.org.
The State of California should run their state parks like you run this one then they might make some money instead to threatening to close them down. The stocking and pen raising of fishing is just a small part of what makes this such a great place to camp. The staff make this one of the best placed to camp, they are friendly, helpful, and keep this park super clean and in great repair. I can’t belive that you can make this better but some how each year it keeps getting better. Thanks for making my camping experence there so good and your ice cream makes is that much better.
Bill Verstelle