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| Anyone ever been down to the Collins river in Middle TN? I was thinking of taking a trip down there because I've heard good things about it. Any information or fishing reports would be appreciated. |
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Posts: 132
Location: Missouri | I've fished it. It is a very small river. |
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Posts: 406
Location: Stones throw away...finally!! | Contact Dwayne Hickey local guide (Collins River Guide Service I believe). I would go so far as to say no one knows the river as well as he does. I fished with him 2 years ago and had a blast. Yes, it is a very small river. Keyes outdoors did an episode down there a couple seasons back. Might be able to find it online. |
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Posts: 132
Location: Missouri | Marshall is right on about checking into a guide, contact Dwayne Hickey or also another guide to check into is Cory Allen (Stone's Throw Adventure). Either one can/will get you on fish.
Don't just limit yourself to the collins either as there are plenty of fish to catch in the lake itself (Great Falls Lake) which the lake is made up of the Collins River, Rocky River, Caney Fork River and a few other tribs, from the dam all the way to the upper end of the lake.. There's some good fishing to be had through out the system if you can find them , not just the upper stretches of the Collins that you hear about.
Edited by riverrat09 10/3/2012 4:18 PM
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| Do you remember where you guys put in at? I've heard the access is pretty limited |
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Posts: 406
Location: Stones throw away...finally!! | If I recall, there was a very small ramp in the parking lot of a bar/VFW lodge of sorts. Unfortunately I don't remember the highway. Sorry. Dwayne Hickey grew up in the area, knows most that live on the river, and has access to it via private property as well if it is not accessible via the normal launches. |
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Posts: 132
Location: Missouri | What size of a boat do you have? Is your motor a jet or prop? Are you going to fish from a canoe? I don't know what the water level is on the Collins right now, but navigating can be a problem if you don't know what your getting into.
Another reason why i'd have to suggest a guide... On the main lake any boat would be fine, on the upper collins, not so much especially depending on water levels. |
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| riverrat09 - 10/6/2012 1:36 PM
What size of a boat do you have? Is your motor a jet or prop? Are you going to fish from a canoe? I don't know what the water level is on the Collins right now, but navigating can be a problem if you don't know what your getting into.
Another reason why i'd have to suggest a guide... On the main lake any boat would be fine, on the upper collins, not so much especially depending on water levels.
I've got a bass boat and a small jon boat, but was planning on just fishing the river from my jon boat. I'm currently just running a trolling motor on it since I usually don't go too far from the lauch in it. Is there much fishable water close to any of the public access? |
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Posts: 132
Location: Missouri | There is the ramp that Marshall mentioned at the VFW. Its just north of McMinnville where (70 S, Hwy 1) crosses the river.
On low flows you can fish up stream about 1.5 mi where there is a shallow spot youd have to pull the boat through to go farther. If the water is higher you could go farther. You can't go down stream very far with low flows though. I don't know where the next acess downstream is. One rain can raise the water levels a lot though.
This section gets the most fishing pressure cause it's basicly the only access.
There's another ramp about 15 mi upstream but it's pretty skinny waters up there. And I don't recommend trying to float a jon boat from there to the VFW cause unless the water is high, there are some not floatable sections in there. |
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| Thanks for the help guys, I went down there yesterday and put in at the VFW. I'd been checking the forcast for days but apparently I missed that there was a down pour which made the river have about 6 inches of visibility not to mention extremely high making it unavigable with a trolling motor. O well I guess I got a little bit of an education if I go back again. |
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| Thanks for the help guys, I went down there yesterday and put in at the VFW. I'd been checking the forcast for days but apparently I missed that there was a down pour which made the river have about 6 inches of visibility not to mention extremely high making it unavigable with a trolling motor. O well I guess I got a little bit of an education if I go back again. |
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Posts: 132
Location: Missouri | Yeah, I've seen it like that right after a heavy rain as well. High and muddy. |
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Posts: 252
| I've been wanting to go fish the Collins River as well. It's about a 2 hour drive for me. Would be nice to know someone who lives near the Collins River that a person could check with to see what kind of shape the river was in before they headed out.
Might be able to call the visitor center at Rock Island State park and ask them. They were pretty helpful last time I was down that way. |
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| KentuckyMuskie - 10/14/2012 8:04 PM
I've been wanting to go fish the Collins River as well. It's about a 2 hour drive for me. Would be nice to know someone who lives near the Collins River that a person could check with to see what kind of shape the river was in before they headed out.
Might be able to call the visitor center at Rock Island State park and ask them. They were pretty helpful last time I was down that way.
I stopped by rock island but didn't put my boat in and it really wasn't moving too fast, but the rest of the river really was almost unfishable. I did see a couple guys musky fishing out of kayaks though. I talked to a kayak guide and he told me there's usually 10+ ft of visibility and its usually easily nagivable with a trolling motor. Sounds like its definatly worth going back during better conditions. |
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