Monday July 16th 2012

What a wonderful weekend!  Not too hot, a bit of rain and thunder Saturday, then the docks filled up with people taking advantage of the warm sunny weather. 
Lots of swimmers with floats and snorkeling gear during the day. When evening came around a few tried their hand at fishing with little success. An exception on Friday night, a father and his two young girls caught a couple of 4 inch trout.  In such a loving way the father congratulated his girls for their fishing expertise in catching the "smallest ever" trouts.  The girls were so excited and he was one wonderful father! 

Saturday evening ended with residence fishing on both docks, but it looked like no fish for dinner that day.
The view from the lake in a boat it was great to see all the people in residence with small fires, evening swimming off private docks, small parties and glowing lights from so many cabins, trailers and tents. 

As the sun went down over the lake, out came the bats.  Although they are fun to watch in the dimming light, darting back and forth after the mosquito's, nats and skeeter bugs.  It was also noticed the lake was mirror glass flat, not ring one from hungry fish jumping for the same bugs the thousands of bats were gathering.  Why not?

Sunday evening was the monthly board meeting.  I anxiously awaited to hear when the board was going to restock this summer.  The answer that came back to me was........... drum roll.....

 "The fish are well fed that is why so few are being caught " 

Humm,,,, don't think so.  I have put up a survey across from this page.  Please click on what you think?  Are they--- 1)Too well fed. 2) None existent. 3) On strike. 4) Afraid of Bats
Please let us know what you think the reason are.  Not only do we need your donations to restock the lake but we need your involvement and opinions to restore a balance of fish, bugs, frogs and happy people back to the lake. 

This post is not about the board of directors it is about community members who want to see more fish in the lake and are willing to donate their money to get the job done. 

Until next week everyone have a great week. And remember "you create what you think" 
Think fish in Collins Lake! 
Bye for now!
HD
 To donate to the Lake Collins Fishing Club  please send checks to
PMG P.O. Box 1311 Maple Valley Wa. 98038 

Monday July 9th 2012

Absolutely beautiful weekend.  Collins lake was enjoyed by many of the residence of the community. The docks were quite and clean thanks to the efforts of every paid member asking for proper paid membership passes for those on the docks.  The lake was warm with many people swimming taking advantage of the clean warm water.  A few people were fishing but we only heard of two fish caught, both about 4-6 inches long really tiny. Folks there is just not enough fish in the lake to maintain the quality of the water  keep the leeches out and for the enjoyment of those who fish. 

Please consider donating soon.

We have had 2 more checks arrive one from Boots Dolder in Colorado for her handicap grandson to be able to fish. Another donation check from J West for their child to be able to enjoy the trout fishing experience. 

We need more donations to be able to purchase a enough fish to make a worth while stocking before Labor Day.  If we can not get enough funds together we will save all the funds we do gather and stock after the lake closes for the winter.  These will be very little fish but should have time to grow and be much larger when the lake reopens in April. 

Please send checks made out to Trout Lodge to:
PMG
P.O. Box 1311
Maple Valley Wa. 98038 

Your check will be held until enough funds are gathered to purchase fish. Those who donate will be told when the stocking will take place. 

Donations are Comming

We have had 3 committments to donate funds to the Collins Lake Fishing Club to restock the lake mid summer.  Thank you! 

Folks keep them comming it will take many more donations to actually paid for a stocking. Talk to your neighbors, friends, businesses to help.

We have had a suggestion to host a derby for either Wounded Solidiers or Handicap Children.  We host the derby, provide a few boats, BBQ and the docks. They buy the fish to put in the lake? 
Would love and need your comments on these ideas?
The board would have to approve the ideas and we need your comments to take to the next board meeting. 

No More Advertisers

Sorry folks. Google and their advertisers don't want to advertise on this blog.  It only took 6 hours for hackers inside Collins Lake to shut the advertisers down.
Google has the IP address of those responsible they will take care of the situation.

So redirect!  No big deal.  We need direct contributions from Community members who want to see fish in the lake. 
We have a late July stocking planned for as many funds as we can collect.  Sell items on ebay or craigslist or have a garage sale what ever you can do to help fund an additional stocking in the lake is great.

Sorry we tried to create a few dollars for the community but obviously it did not set well with some folks. 
LOL what a life.


Here are the prices of fish again.

Trout Lodge Prices: 

• Diploid Trout  *regular*                            

• 8-9"     $0.85    per fish
• 9-11"   $1.05    per fish
• 11-14"  $2.25   per lb
• 1-3 lbs   $2.55  per lb
• 
  

• Triploid Trout  *Sterile*

• 8-9"      $1.25      per fish
• 9-11"    $1.60      per fish
• 11-14"   $3.10     per lb
• 1-3 lbs   $3.30     per lb
• 4 lb and larger      $3.50  per lb

Lake Collins Yearly Community Meeting

These are not the minutes of yesterdays Lake Collins Private Community Meeting.  Just a thank you to all that came and good luck to all those new members of the board of directors. 

This blog was presented at the meeting and it is our hope all those living in the community will make comments, shop from our sponsors advertisments and send in written blog posts. 

Have a great week Collins Lake Community.

Collins Lake Fishing Club

Anyone who loves to fish, see fish in the lake and lives within the Collins Lake Community boundaries, is part of this project.  This is your information site. 

Over the past several years the board has had their issues with finances.  They stock the lake with about $7.00 to $10.00 per year out of the $50.00 a year dues for each property. At 2010 price list and current prices that is about 7-10 fish per paid dues per year. The very large fish they stock are priced $2.55 to $3.50 per pound. These fish average $20.00 per fish 2 to 4 property dues for just one fish. This stocking makes for pretty good fishing the week of the derby and maybe another month or so, if you have extreme patients.  But as you can see by the amount of money being spent to stock fish there is no way to sustain the limit of 5 fish a day for all the folks who enjoy fishing beyond the opening weekend.  

There are many of the residence who feel this is plenty of money spent on the lake as they never participate in the events going on at the lake. But for a very large portion of the community the lack of fish in the lake is not only a health concern but a huge disappointment through out the summer.  Leaches are a very big health concern for those who swim, be it humans or animals. The over growth of plant life is also a concern.  The health of the lake is a balance of enough fish to be able to remove 5 fish a day for those who fish and enough fish left to eat leaches and plant life through out the year. Working to keep the lake clean and enjoyable for everyone is the goal of the Lake Collins Fishing Club.

2013-2014 Mason County has Lake Collins to be upgraded from a wet lands to an official lake. At which time the stocking of the lake will be very important to USDA. If residence want to keep the lake private and keep the dues low we need another solution.

The board has expressed they simply do not have enough funds to spend more money on restocking fish. We the concerned residence simply can no longer just sit back and be told our property values and love of the lake is not going to be addressed beyond minimal requirements.  

The Lake Collins Fish Club is not governed by the board of directors! The lake has a USDA license to be stocked. Anyone can stock the lake with trout at anytime.

This does not mean a member of the board can not participate! In fact we hope they help fund the project as much as anyone else.

 The fishing club is concerned members of Lake Collins Community that want to see the lake stocked more frequently and are willing to buy fish to help get the job done. 



Below is a link to the Trout Lodge the company that stocks the lake.

SINCE 1945 http://www.troutlodge.com/

Tel +1 (253) 863-0446 Toll-Free +1 (800) 838-7688 Fax +1 (253) 863-4715
Email trout@troutlodge.com Address P.O. Box 1290, Sumner, WA 98390 USA

Those who want to see the lake stocked in July maybe again in early Sept with another stocking of extremely small fish to winter over in Oct.

Make your check out to "Trout Lodge" send it to PMG @ P.O. Box 1311 Maple Valley Wa. 98038 

We will collect as many checks as possible. Trout Lodge will cash your check. When your check has been cashed you know the lake was restocked. When the checks are all gathered for a certain time period we will put a notice on this blog of the estimated date Trout Lodge will stock. If you want your check to go straight to the Trout Lodge please include a note to them to hold unit further monies arrive.  Be sure to call them and let them know when to cash the check.  The more money we spend per stocking the cheaper the delivery fees are. 

If you plan on fishing past the derby weekend please plan on buying fish!  Lake Collins is NOT a USDA stocked lake, it is a private lake strictly stocked by the community members.  Don't take advantage of your neighbor, buy the fish your planning on catching.  If you fish multiple times in the season then buy enough fish to support your entertainment.

Last season 2011 the lake was literally fished out. With avid fisher-people counting the last 2-3 fish swimming around.  This is just not acceptable! Those who are avid fisher-people must be actively involved in raising money to restock the lake. Nothing can sustain its beauty when it is completely drained of the balance that created it.    

There are ways the community can make money to restock the lake. Community garage sale, donations from businesses.  Community pot luck parties at the docks, bring a food dish and $1.00 for the fish fund.  We also feel the derby needs to be for a trophy, a business donation ect.  Those we have talked to all feel funds need to be reinvested into fish.  There are so many other ways to make money to invest in our lake. Please email us your ideas here or leave a comment your input is very important. 

 

 The restocking of the lake falls on those who fish! If you enjoy fishing and take your limit of 5 fish a day out, even just 2 or 3 times a year please help to pay to restock the lake. 

See the chart below for how much you need to write a check for to restock the lake.  It is cheaper than a movie or most any other entertainment these days. 

The prices of fish wholesale are as posted below. If you want to see really huge fish like the board purchases please say so in a note with your check. If you like medium size fish request your funds be used to buy that size fish.  The last stocking in Oct should be large enough fish to survive the winter but small enough to be very inexpensive allowing for a quantity purchase.  In the 7 months the lake is closed to fishing these fish will grow and adapt to a size that is fun to catch and take some skill to do so.  This may require a few folks to throw feed to them threw out the winter when possible.

This blog is open to anyone who wants to have an opinion.  No one is in charge here!  Your thoughts and opinions are extremely important, if you have an idea how to help, go for it, make it happen, no one is going to tell you no!   Please help your community make our lake fun, healthy and an attraction for prospective property buyers. 

Trout Only!  Without a vote of members at a board meeting we can only stock Trout. If you want another type of fish that will have to be taken up with the board not on this forum! We are only legally allowed to purchase trout!  Sorry

Trout Lodge Prices: 

• Diploid Trout  *regular*                            

• 8-9"     $0.85    per fish
• 9-11"   $1.05    per fish
• 11-14"  $2.25   per lb
• 1-3 lbs   $2.55  per lb
• 
  

• Triploid Trout  *Sterile*

• 8-9"      $1.25      per fish
• 9-11"    $1.60      per fish
• 11-14"   $3.10     per lb
• 1-3 lbs   $3.30     per lb
• 4 lb and larger      $3.50  per lb