Kokanee Grow Fat And Feisty At Bucks Lake
By Dan Bacher - September 13, 1999

Bucks Lake doesn't have kokanee salmon the size of those found at New Melones or Don Pedro lakes, but this northern Sierra Nevada reservoir can feature fast action at times on fat, healthy kokanee in uncrowded fishing conditions, as I found during a recent trip there with Bob Cherney.

This PG&E reservoir, part of a system established in 1928 to provide hydroelectricity to Bucks Creek Powerhouse, is located in Plumas National Forest at an elevation of 5155 feet. It is a large lake that holds 101,926 acre feet of water when full. The lake's shores, surrounded by a thick forest of ponderosa pine, sugar pine and red fir, adjoin the remote Bucks Lake Wilderness area.

Kokanee are self sustaining in Bucks Lake and the average size has increased in the past several years, probably due to the removal of kokanee eggs by the DFG for planting in other lakes and increasing mackinaw predation. This pretty lake also has fine populations of mackinaw, rainbow, brook and brown trout.

The kokanee at Bucks are known for their super-charged battles, as Cherney, a representative for Universal Telescopic and P-Line, can attest. "I hooked 20 fish early this morning, but only landed one kokanee and two brook trout," he said when I met him at Haskins Valley launch ramp at 10 a.m. on August 7. "The bite completely shut down after 7:30 a.m."

After I got in the boat, we hooked six fish while fishing for two hours, but landed only one small rainbow trout and called it a day.

On the next morning, he launched his Lund boat on the water by 5:30 a.m. After we arrived off Rocky Point, we put down the downriggers and Cherney's kokanee bugs, tipped with white corn, behind Luhr Jensen 4/0 and Abe & Al's Dodgers. For the first fifteen minutes, we didn't hook any fish.

Then the bite broke loose. We lost our first two fish, but the kokanee started hitting the lures more solidly and I landed three fish in a row, all plump 13 to 14 inch beauties. These hard-scrapping fish would start ripping off line as soon as hooked, thrashing and twisting all of the way to the boat.

Bob also had fun landing kokanee on his light Loomis rod. Over the next hour, we had a number of double hook-ups, landing some fish and losing others, while fishing at 25 feet deep. "This kokanee action is as good as it gets," said Cherney, as I netted yet another kokanee, and I quickly agreed.

The bite abruptly shut off at around 7:30 a.m. We spent two hours to catch our last two kokanee, filling out our limits of fish.

Cherney then showed me some of the lake's scenic highlights, including an osprey nest. "Last month I saw an eagle pursue the osprey after it caught a big fish," said Cherney. "The osprey dropped the fish, not wanting to get attacked by the eagle, and the eagle grabbed the trout. That's something most people won't see in a lifetime."

We talked to several boaters, all of whom starting fishing after the kokanee bite was already over. George Courtemanche of Quincy showed us three kokanee he caught while trolling Needlefish. Adam and Blake Damico of Reno reported catching three brook trout and one rainbow while bait fishing with Mike, their father, in Mill Creek inlet.

After we loaded the boat on Cherney's trailer, we stopped by the Bucks Lodge to eat a couple of delicious omelets. We talked with lodge owners Ken and Dixie Nelson about the outstanding kokanee action we had experienced.

The kokanee bite usually starts in May and lasts through August and early September, when the salmon begin spawning in Bucks Creek. Although Cherney concentrates on fishing kokanee, others like to fish for the lake's brookies, rainbows, mackinaws and browns.

Brookies are sustained by yearly plants of 7400 pounds of catchable brook trout by the Department of Fish and Game. Both bank anglers and boaters find solid action on these colorful fish by using meal worms, crickets, baby nightcrawlers and spinners at the mouths of creeks. The fish average 9 to 14 inches long, mostly planters with some quality holdover fish mixed in.

The rainbow trout population is maintained by yearly DFG plants of 4500 pounds of catchable trout from May until September. This year Darrah Springs Hatchery put in an extra 3,000 pounds of rainbows. Bank fishing and trolling for the rainbows is good in the same areas as the brookies.

"A very effective method for catching rainbows is to troll Jay Fair Flies in Olive Leech and Hot One patterns behind a 35 foot leader on leadcore line," tipped Allan Bruzza of Sportsmen's Den. "Beadhead Wooly Buggers in black, brown and green are also productive. When you're trolling flies for the rainbows, you should also catch some brown trout."

The browns are beautifully-colored Loch Leven-strain fish averaging 16 inches long, according to Bruzza. The American River Hatchery plants 1100 pounds of catchable browns in the lake every year. To specifically fish for browns, Bruzza recommended trolling Rebel Crayfish and Flatfish in the spring or fall.

Probably the most elusive fish in Bucks Lake is mackinaw. The DFG plants an average of 10,000 fingerling mackinaw annually in Bucks, but this year stocked a 15,000 fingerlings.

In April of 1998, a Portola woman set the lake record by catching a monster 30 pound mackinaw. The best times for mackinaw angling are in spring and the early summer. Anglers fool the macks while trolling J-Plugs, Tomics and other large lures or while jigging with Gibbs Minnows and Buzz Bombs in around 55 feet of water.

"The mackinaw school on the kokanee, which make up 80% of their diet," he said. "The typical mack goes 8 to 10 pounds, though smaller ones are caught when jigging. Good areas to fish for mackinaw include Whaler Run, Jones Run and the south wend of Rocky Point."

"Leadcore line is most productive, since the mackinaw spook when you troll with a downrigger ball in the clear water of this shallow lake, 90 feet at its deepest," added Bruzza, who recommended releasing the mackinaw to maintain the lake's trophy fishery.

Bucks Lake has excellent campgrounds, lodging facilities and three paved launch ramps. Cabins are available for rental at Bucks Lodge, while Haskins Valley Inn features bed and breakfast facilities. Advance reservations are necessary at both during the summer. The lake freezes over in the winter, but ice fishing is not advised.

For fishing information, call Sportsmen's Den in Quincy at (530) 283-2733. For lodging and camping information, call Bucks Lake Lodge at (530) 283-2262 and the Plumas National Forest, District Office at (530) 283-0555.

Fishing Notes:
N/A

Back to Map Index Page